Phone cards, also known as calling cards and calling accounts, have become the most economical way to save your hard earned money when calling International destinations.  In the past, there was only one way to make an international long distance call and that was by using your phone company’s long distance service.  This meant very expensive international long distance rates loaded with fees and followed by a monthly bill which was often a shocker.  Phone companies then offered “international long distance plans” that lowered the international calling rates to more reasonable prices but that came with a monthly fee to enjoy those rates.

At the same time, numerous calling cards were offered in a multitude of places such as small grocery stores, convenience stores (e.g. 7 Eleven) and mostly, ethnic grocery stores.  Each calling card claimed to be the best and the cheapest calling card you can buy but none of them lived up to such claims.  The statement “best phone card” means different things to different people, and the statement “cheapest calling card” was almost impossible to verify due to a combination of shady terms and undisclosed phone card fees or calling surcharges.  This meant that it was impossible to compare various phone cards in any meaningful way.  Additionally, most of those calling cards offered decent calling rates to ONE or TWO places while charging above average calling rates to the rest of the world.  So unless you call one place, and only one place, you may find yourself giving back much of the savings you made when calling one place by paying high rates calling the other. 

The biggest problem with such calling cards was the unusually high rate of the issuing Calling Card Company or International Long Distance Company “going out of business” or discontinuing the service for a phone card you just bought.   Many people found themselves left with a $10 or $20 laminated card that give you nothing but grief for the money you lost.  Tens of such shady ‘fly by night” calling card companies would come and go in a timeframe of weeks or months making people wonder whether they were ever legitimate or they were simply collecting money for phone cards and calling services that they never intended to support.

As the internet has become the medium of choice for retail, many calling card companies moved their activities online.  Instead of getting a physical phone card that you can hold in your hand, you buy a virtual calling card (or calling account) where the PIN number is emailed to you.  Such phone cards are called PIN-Based phone cards.   Calling card companies will offer you toll-free or local access telephone numbers to access their phone card system.  You will then be asked for your PIN number and that will allow you to gain access to your calling account.   You are then directed to dial your international long distance phone number and you are connected.  Another phone card system, an easier system, is the PINLESS calling card.  This system allows you to register your phone number with the phone card company (without having to change your local or Long Distance Phone Company).  Once you dial their access number, the phone card company will sense your phone number (similar to how Caller ID works) and will give you instant access to your calling account.  No PIN or access code needed. 

Note: United Globalnet's International Phone Cards offers the convenience of ONE ACCOUNT that gives you both kinds PIN-Based and PINESS phone card features.  There are no fees, no surcharges, and no taxes whatsoever.  United Globalnet's International Calling Cards offer one minute rounding.  United Globalnet's International Calling Cards offer a universal card with one rate to each locale.  Instead of buying a calling card for each country, you buy one calling account and you get the best rate to each and every country in the world. 

United Globalnet's International Calling Cards is so confident of the quality of the service that it absorbs the cost of any call made that is of unsatisfactory quality as long as you terminate the call within the first minute.  You do not have to contact United Globalnet for a refund.  If the call disconnects or you hang up within the first minute then the call is FREE!  

Phone Card Call Rounding:

An interesting trick that some calling cards do is to have rather high increments for minute rounding.  You would expect the calls to have increments of ONE minute since you are quoted the rate per minute but some phone cards see it differently. While they quote you the calling rate per minute, the calling increments can be up to 5 minutes or more!  Therefore, if you are making a quick 30 second call to your international destination,  let's say calling India, then the cheap calling rate per minute is irrelevant because you will be paying 5 times that rate!  Let's say that the phone card is quoting you the rate to call India of  5¢ but that same phone card is also doing 5 minute rounding.  Then, for that quick 30 second call, you will be charged 25¢.  You will be paying the same amount if the calling card disconnects your call in a few seconds!  So not only did your call get interrupted seconds after you call India, you are also paying the phone card's  5 minute calling rate to India as well. Not a bargain phone card or a cheap calling card after all.  With that same calling card, if you talk for 5 minutes and one second, you will be paying the 10-minute price and you will pay the same if that cheap calling card disconnected you seconds after your first five minutes of calling India as well.  So for the example above, using that cheap phone card to call India will cost you almost twice as much as what you would have calculated according to their calling rate to India.  You will pay 50¢ for a  call to India that should cost you around 25¢-30¢.  Phone card companies who do this will offer very low calling rates since they make much of that by rounding your call up to the nearest 5-minute increment and other calling tricks as well.  Therefore, the  cheapest India phone card may may end up being a lot more expensive than other India calling cards with cleaner terms but higher published calling rates.

Calling Cards Minute Calculation:

When you purchase a phone card, you have certain international destinations that you intend to call at calling rates that you have looked up.  You then figure out an approximate number of minutes you expect based on your purchased calling card balance.  When you dial your international destination, the phone card will often tell you how many minutes you have for the call.  After you start talking, and well before using the calling minutes you were expecting, you hear a notification that you only have one minute remaining!  How can that be?  Welcome to phone card minutes that are different than the normal minutes we all know.  Calling card minutes can be any number of seconds that the phone card company has set.  United Globalnet calling cards use the normal (and universal) 60-second minutes but not all phone cards do the same.  Some phone cards set their minute to be 50 seconds, 45 seconds or even lower!  So, when the phone card says that you have "X" minutes to call Egypt for example, while setting the minute to be made of 45 seconds, then that phone card just ate up 25% of your calling time regardless of where you call or how long.  So, if your Egypt phone card quotes you 10¢ per minute to call Cairo, or to call Egypt anywhere else, while the same phone card sets its calling minute to be made out of 45 seconds, then the calling rate for your call to Egypt just went up by 30%.  If you call Egypt for 10 REAL minutes, that cheap Egypt phone card counts those 600 seconds as 13.3 minutes.  Your cost for this call to Egypt is not $1 as you would expect but you will find your calling balance dropping by $1.40 if the calling card round up to the next minute.  If your cheap Egypt phone card  rounds up on 5-minute increments then that's $1.50 taken from your balance...a 50% increase over the calling rate you expected.  Effectively, your minute rate to call Egypt is now 15¢ per minute.

As part of our commitment to clean and quality phone card service, United Globalnet supports the Calling Cards Bill introduced by Rep. Engel.

Details on the progress below: 

REP. ENGEL CALLING CARDS BILL PASSES SUBCOMMITTEE

When we say “honesty is the best policy”… we mean it! In fact we believe that honesty is the only policy, especially in an industry that is known for double talk, fine print, creative calling fees, and questionable ethics. We pride ourselves on being different.  Unlike many calling cards, we have committed to being completely honest with our customers and will tell you everything you need to know upfront.  When we say “no fees” - it means no fees of any kind or under any other name… i.e. no surcharges, taxes, debits, or anything else. 

We, at United Globalnet, are proud to stand behind our Seal of Honesty 100%.  It is the way we do business with our vendors, our customers, and our employees. 

Our Seal of Honesty means:

1. We will explain the features and benefits of our products fully and truthfully.
2. We will fulfill our promises and commitments.
3. We will help our customers with honesty, sincerity, attentiveness, and understanding. 
4. We will strive to resolve any customer concern with 100% satisfaction.
5. We will clearly disclose any conditions or terms related to our products or our policies.
6. We will introduce products and services that bring true value to our customers.

Our Seal of Honesty is a constant reminder that we are 100% committed to honesty because our customers deserve nothing less from us.

1. If you live outside USA you can recieve up to 10 mins of free calling time to phone a friend or relative in USA.
2. If you are a webmaster, you can get $5 Free Calling Card, if you place a link to our website for 1 month.
3. New Customers: Purchase $50 or more worth of Calling Card and get 10% more absolutely free.
4. Existing Customers: Recharge your card with $100 or more and get 10% more absolutely free. (limited time offer).
5. Refer a friend or family member, and recieve $5 of Free International Calling Time when they purchase $50 or more.

Visit www.unitedglobalnet.com for more info.

We just completed full rollout of our local access numbers.  Now customers will be able to save up to 50% more on their international calls, and enjoy super call quality.

• Local access numbers will not be available in all area codes.
• Callers can still choose to use the toll free access numbers with an additional charge of half (0.5) a cent per minute.
• If you can't find a local access number in your area, it is most likely that you can still choose to use any other access number without incurring long distance charges, (Please make sure to check with your phone service provider).
• To check available access numbers in your state log on to www.unitedglobalnet.com/accessnumbers.php.
• You can also check our new rates at www.unitedglobalnet.com/callingrate.htm.
• For more infomation or help please contact us at www.unitedglobalnet.com/contact.php.
• You can also join our online group at http://www.ugether.com/pg/groups/582/united-globalnet-corporation-customers/ to share, discuss, and help us improve our services.

Regards

AT&T is running trials of the enhanced 3G service in two markets.  The improved HSPA will allow download speeds of up to 3.6 Mps vs. the current 1.7 Mps. You can read more here  http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10225495-94.html?tag=mncol

Our calling card rates have been reduced by up to 50%. You can check our new rates at http://www.unitedglobalnet.com . 

Very, very useful info.

4 THINGS YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW YOUR MOBILE PHONE COULD DO

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!'

THIRD Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.

FOURTH How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 #

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends

Poverty kills children, deprives people of the means to live, and most important destroys a person's will to BE!  so let's join together to make poverty history! http://www.ugether.com/pg/izap_videos/unitedglobalnet/play/64

This is our first blog post for unitedglobalnet.com.