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International Calling Cards:
US to Abroad International Calling and International Origin to U.S.
Compare International Calling Cards Rates for Calling Internationally from the United States
See below for a comparison of rates and services for several stand alone international calling cards. These cards offer low rates for calling out to other countries from the United States. These cards can be used to make international calls from any phone and are billed separately from your home phone long distance. Simply dial an access number and enter a PIN to call internationally from a cell phone, hotel phone, pay phone, work or home.
Actual rates are shown below for a sampling of frequently called foreign countries. Note that rates to mobile phones are higher for countries in which users receive free incoming calls on their cell phone calls due to the “calling party pays” structure. The lowest rate for each country is highlighted in bold green.
To view all international clling rates click the company name or logo at the top of the column to go to that company's website or call Communicaiton HQ at 1-800-383-9545
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All rates are U.S. ¢ per min. |
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Company |
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Sample Country Below |
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Brazil |
3.6 |
3.9 |
27 |
7 |
9 |
4 |
16 |
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Brazil cell |
19 |
31.2 |
27 |
28 |
25 |
17.5 |
16 |
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China cell |
1.8 |
1.5 |
9 |
7 |
7 |
2.5 |
4 |
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France |
2 |
1.3 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
2.5 |
4 |
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Israel |
2.4 |
1.6 |
15 |
5 |
7 |
2.5 |
5 |
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Israel cell |
9.0 |
11.2 |
30 |
21 |
17 |
14 |
14 |
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Mexico |
6 |
9.2 |
19 |
15 |
14 |
5.5 |
6 |
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Mexico cell |
20 |
19 |
19 |
22 |
44 |
13.5 |
35 |
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UK |
2.5 |
1.0 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
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UK cell (incl. NatGeo SIM) |
15 |
16.7 |
18 |
35 |
49 |
16 |
42 |
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To view all international rates click company name or logo at top of the column, or call Communication HQ at 1-800-383-9545 |
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Company / PLAN DETAILS
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Prepaid or Billed |
Prepaid in amounts of $10, $25 (plus $3 free calls), $50 ($6 free calls), $100 ($9 free calls) |
Prepaid in amounts of $2, $5, $10, $20 |
Billed monthly to credit card up to preset limits of $25, $50, $100, $200 |
Billed monthly to credit card or bill sent by mail |
Billed monthly to credit card up to preset limits of $25, $50, $100, $200 |
Prepaid with credit card in increments of $20, $40, $50 or $100 |
Can pay monthly bill online with credit card |
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Auto-recharge /Recurring billing |
Default auto recharge for when balance reaches $3 |
No, but can add more money online to existing PIN |
Usage billed monthly |
Usage billed monthly |
Usage billed monthly |
Usage billed monthly |
Usage billed monthly |
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Billing Increments |
1 minute |
1 minute |
6 seconds, 1 min. minimum |
1 minute |
6 seconds, 1 min. minimum |
1 second billing |
6 seconds, 1 min. minimum |
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Additional Fees |
No connection fee, monthly fees, or minimums |
No connection fee, monthly fees, or minimums |
$1 activation per PIN, up to 6 PINs per account. $1 monthly fee for months with no use |
None |
None |
There is a $2 processing fee on the $20 card only |
$1.95 Billing Fee if monthly bill is under $20.00. |
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Expiration |
1 year after last use |
One year from first use |
None, ongoing billing |
None, ongoing billing |
None, ongoing billing |
One year after last use. |
None, ongoing billing |
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PIN-less Dial Around |
Yes, register up to 10 numbers |
Not available |
Yes, register 3 phone numbers per PIN |
Yes with their Dial Around service, up to 10 numbers |
Yes, up to 5 phone numbers |
Yes, register 6 phone numbers per PIN |
Yes with their Dial Around service, up to 10 numbers |
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Instant Access |
Yes – after verification phone call during business hours |
Yes – after verification phone call during business hours |
No, packet received by mail in 2 to 10 business days |
No, packet received by mail in 2 to 10 business days |
Yes – after verification phone call during business hours |
Yes |
Yes – after verification email |
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Other Notes |
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Buy low denominations and use on one call to avoid losing minutes to rounding over many short calls |
When pre-set limit is reached, card won’t work until next billing date. |
Must provide SS# for credit check |
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Offers international origination for calling the U.S. from abroad. See below for rates and details. |
Must provide SS# for credit check |
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CONCLUSIONS |
Instant access (after verification), automatic recharge (on by default, can be turned off) and low rates make Tel3Advantage a good choice for easy international calling at low rates. |
Instant access (after verification), low rates and prepaid service perfect for short term use. Ability to add more funds to existing PIN allows for easy ongoing usage too. |
No instant access; must wait for cards in mail. Six-second calling and monthly billing are convenient, but check for competitive rates for country(ies) frequently called. |
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Note: When comparing options on the Nobel website, the highestper minute option usually is the best choice. The lower per-minute cards have hihg minimums and maintenance fees. |
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For SpeedyPIN add 1 cent per minute for calls made using the toll free access number rather than a local access number. Local access numbers are plentiful.
In some cases rates have been rounded up to the nearest cent or the highest rate when there are multiple rates within a country.
Assume up to $0.99 cent per call surcharge on calls made from a payphone. Significant additional per-minute surcharges typically apply when calling from AK, HI, PR or U.S. territories. Call Communication HQ at 1-800-383-9545 for surcharges details if you anticipate making many calls from payphones, AK, HI, PR or U.S. territories.
International Calling Card with International Original Access Numbers – Call the U.S. from Abroad
An international-origin calling card is a calling card designed to be used from other countries to call the United States. These calling cards make it easy and economical to call the U.S. from another country. Nobel is an international calling card company that provides calling card access numbers in most countries around the world. Below are sample rates for calling back to the United States from frequently visited countries.
Click here to view a list of all international countries and rates or call Communication HQ at 1-800-383-9545
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International Origin Calling Card |
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U.S. cents per minute |
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Calling FROM |
to United States |
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Brazil |
26¢ |
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China |
97¢ |
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France |
24¢ |
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Israel |
24¢ |
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Mexico |
52¢ |
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UK |
20¢ |
Nobel's ’s prepaid calling cards are sold in increments of $20, $40, $50 and $100. There is a $2 service charge for purchases at the $20 level.
The rates above are calculated using the 1-second card option. The one-second card is the choice farthest to the right on the Nobel web page and appears to have the highest rate. However, note that the so-called lower rate cards have multiple minute minimums, per call surcharges and maintenance fees that reduce the value of the card, especially when many brief calls are made.
For this reason, we recommend the card with the highest per minute cost because it has none of the additional fees and minimums and is therefore the best value.
Click here to sign up online or call Communication HQ at 1-800-383-9545.
Follow Me Toll Free 800 Numbers
Compare Re-routable Programmable 800 Numbers
A programmable toll free 800 number (or “follow me” number) is a toll free number phone number that can be instantly routed to ring any phone number you enter. It allows friends, family and coworkers to call a single toll free number and reach you at home, work, on a cell or even internationally at no cost to the caller. Some programmable toll free numbers can also be set to forward calls at specific times of day or based on the area code of the caller.
Rates include a low activation fee, monthly charges of a few dollars a month and a per-minute rate that’s charged only when the number is used. Charges are billed monthly to a credit card on file. Below are rates and details for two toll free 800 number service providers, Kall8 and AccuDial.
Kall 8 is a twenty-two year old company that offers easy to use, feature-rich toll free services at reasonable rates. This service provides a toll free number and the ability to route calls made to that number to a home phone, work phone or cell phone or any other phone number in the world.
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Service Type |
Activation Fee |
Monthly Rate |
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Numbers with 866, 877, 888 prefixes |
$2 |
$2 |
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Number with the 800 prefix |
$5 |
$5 |
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Vanity numbers. Vanity numbers increase company and brand name recognition and enhance image. The numbers translate into a word, name, or acronym spelled out on a numeric touch pad. (Examples include: 1-866-4-VOYAGE and 1-877-GOT-MILK.) |
15+ |
$15+ |
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Premium numbers usually begin with the 800 area code and are valued for being easy to remember.(Examples include: 1-800-333-1111 and 1-800-333-1234) |
$25+ |
$25+ |
Kall8 Billing Details
The domestic rate is 6.9¢ per-minute for all number types above and when using the virtual calling card. There are no minimum usage fees or requirements.
Kall8 Sample of International Rates (per minute)
France landline 7¢/min.
France cell 37¢
United Kingdom 7¢
UK cell 38¢
Brazil 24¢
Brazil cell 29¢
Israel 9¢
Israel cell 17¢
China 7¢
Mexico 20¢
Mexico cell 46¢
Surcharges
Calls to toll free numbers that originate in these locations will be charged the following additional per-minute rates:
Activation and features - Kall8’s toll free phone number activation is instantaneous with online sign up and Kall8’s call forwarding web page is very easy to use and their service has a variety of useful features, such as email and online voice mail retrieval, incoming fax receipt and incoming call filters (limit by time of day or area code, etc.)
Standard Features (included with rates above)
- Voice mail fax receipt with email and online retrieval
- Caller ID
- Virtual calling card
- Instant conference calls with up to 25 people
- Call routing and blocking by state, area code, area code + prefix, or time of day and more
- Call notification by email
For complete call forwarding and international rate information click here to visit the Kall8 website or call CommunicationHQ at 1-800-383-9545 to order.
Local Phone Numbers from Other Cities and Countries
In addition to U.S.-based toll free numbers, they also offer local phone numbers for U.S. cities (a Denver, CO phone number, for example) as well as local numbers for other countries (a local Paris, France phone number, for example). Or get an international-based toll free numbers for use from other countries. Click here to see their Business Class phone options.
Follow Me Toll Free Number Option with Calling Card
AccuDial is a dial-around long distance carrier. This means you can use their service from any phone (home, business, cell, hotel, etc.) by dialing the AccuDial access number and entering the calling card PIN.
Rate for Follow Me Number (866, 877, 888 prefix)
The follow me toll free number rate is $2 a month. Occasionally an actual “800” prefix phone number will be available, however it is best to assume the choices of available toll free numbers will have the 866, 877 or 888 prefixes. All three-digit prefixes beginning with 8 are toll free for the caller.
Activation – Instant access not available. Packet with PIN is sent by mail and should arrive 7 – 10 days after purchase date.
Billing - Calls are billed at AccuDial’s rates to a credit card number on file. At sign up customers choose a pre-set limit of $25, $50, $100 or $200. Once this limit is reached, calls cannot be made until the pre-set amount is charged and approved to the credit card on file which may take a few days to process. There is a $1.00 minimum charge when calls are made in a billing cycle. Business customers can apply to have the pre-set limit waived and be billed monthly for calls made rather than have them paid by credit card.
AccuDial Sample of International Rates (per minute)
France landline 6¢/min.
France cell 38¢
United Kingdom 7¢
UK cell··· · ·· 43¢
Brazil 17¢
Brazil cell 30¢
Israel 10¢
Israel cell 26¢
China 5¢
Mexico 9 to 23¢ (varies by city and state called)
Mexico cell 46¢
AccuDial Domestic Rates and Billing
Domestic calls are 5.9¢ a minute. Activation is $1.00 per PIN number requested.
Surcharges
Calls within the continental
For additional internationa rates, click here to visit the AccuDial website or call Communication HQ at 1-800-383-9545.
U.S. to Overseas International "Dial Around" Calling Cards
Both kall8 and AccuDial include dial around or stand alone calling cards that let you call internationally from any phone in the
These dial around calling cards are useful when making international calls from work, a cell phone, a payphone or from a friend’s house, without incurring any cost to that phone. To make a call simply dial the toll free access number, enter a PIN (that you select) and the charges are billed to your calling card account.