It seems recently AT&T changed the terms of their phone card. It now costs additional minutes to make in state long distance calls. For example, 40 minutes now costs $0.2135 a minute within the state of Florida when the refill transaction cost is included. What a scam. A friend suggested Tel3Advantage.
Update, May 26th. I’ve discovered Tel3Advantage to be average at best. Sometimes when placing a call, it will never ring on my end, but on the other end. Rarely when a connection is made, I can hear but not speak. I have never experienced this before with any other provider. It is disturbing.
42 Comments
Hey - The increase wasn’t something AT&T decided to do for in state calling. The FCC recently made a regulation that increases in state calling with phone cards. Some phone card companies have no choice but to increase the rates, while others are eating the costs. I talked with a rep from Zaptel.com a couple days ago who told me this. I switched to their Everyday USA card which right now hasn’t increased the instate rate. You should give it a shot. It’s worked well for me. You can find them at http://www.zaptel.com.
Hi ya’ll. I buy my AT&T cards at speedypin.com, but have not heard anything about in-state call increases. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if I notice any changes next time I make a call.
I like tel3advantage.
I was using my AT&Tcalling card -that is my only long distance service- suddenly noticed that the minutes were going very fast the last of Jan. and I was on a call (state to state) when suddenly heard “you have 1 minute remaining….” I could not believe it as I knew I should have lots left. I had to call and order 600 more minutes. The next day I made a state to state call (95% of all my calls are state to state). It was approx a 25 min call. The next call I made I heard I had 247 minutes left. I spent 3 days calling the customer service # on card only the be cut off several times during the recordings then on hold 30 minutes 3 times. I got up at 5AM and reached a person. I was told on 1/15 AT&T raised minutes on state to state from 1 minute talk used 1 minute of calling card time to 1 minute of talk uses 8 minutes of calling card miniute charge. I could not believe it. AT&T said this also applied to the minutes I had on my card purchased months ago. I purchased the card knowing it was approx 4 cents a minute and it was changed as of 1/15 to approx 28 cents a minute. This can’t be legal. I went to their web site and entered several rate requestes and depending what phone you call from and what # you are calling there are many different rates. Very few are 1min. talk = 1 min. charge on card. This went from the cheapest way to call long distance to the most expensive way and they broke a contract by raising/changiing the rules without notice of any kind…They suck
I Using them [url=http://www.telthreeadvantage.com] Tel3Advantage[/url] for about 4 years and very happy. No fee, tax, connection + you will get bonus :)
Hi I have been using the phone card with AT&T for the past 10 years and am very disappointed with this sudden chnage in thier rates and calling system. the State to State fees are out of this world. Why could they just leave it the way it was calling family and friends was simple now it is a lot more difficult and costly. Thanks loads AT&T you really have struck a sour note with me why don’t you shape up and go back to the way you were. I paid for my minutes with the understandign it would cost me one amount now it is more than tripled. I just recharged my phone card the other day and it is now empty I baught 800 minuets and only got 172 minuets in state minuets for long distance calls.
I just called into ATT to recharge my calling card, and during the transaction, I was told that the state to state charge was one unit for one minute use, but then it asked if I wanted to know what the “in-state” charge rate was, to hit “1″.
When I did there was a short pause, and then it told me that the “in-state” charge was 8 units for one minute of use.
WOW what a jump. I guess I will be looking for a new way to make my in-state calls from now on.
Does anyone else knows anything about this? Sounds like Att is trying to rob people that have been trusting to use their card.
AT&T won’t say a thing about this until you recharge your card. I’ve been using my card since Jan. 10, 2007. the date they said this took effect.
They didn’t say anything until I added minutes to the card. Then They gave me the message the first time I used it after the recharge. After they got my money. They won’t get another dime out of me.
Thanks for this website and to know that others are experiencing the same problems. I will be giving zaptel or tel3advantage a try. I guess it was my state that raised the rates. Not sure how that works, but we can thank our states for the increases I believe. Must be across the board, or country. I’m done also with AT&T.
Thank you for this website. I had been using AT&T phone card that I purchased at Sam’s Club for my long distance service for about 8 years or more. I had been using it for my long distance as well my calls within the state of Florida. I was not aware of the new charges in the state of Florida or in any other state. I recharged minutes on my card while out of town and when I returned to Florida had 363 minutes on my card. I place five calls in Florida, not long calls at all, I then tried to place an out of state call and I was down to 44 minutes. I took your suggestion and called Tel3Advantage and going to try them out for 1.9 cents a minute plus bonus minutes. I am also done with AT&T, in my opinion they went down hill since they divested years ago. They saw my last dime. I will let you know how Tel3Advantage works out for me.
WE BOUGHT 1000 MINUTES AND MADE 3 CALLS AND HAVE 247 MINUTES LEFT AND THES WERE ABOUT 45 MINUTES OF CALLS.
AT&T NOT ONLY SUCK THEY ARE CROOKS!
I use http://www.telthreeadvantage.com for about 3 years and very happy
I just did try http://www.telthreeadvantage.com like you for week and it is working great. They don’t charge any fee and everything online. + Bonus :)
Thanks
Sam
Another good service is http://www.onesuite.com. Under 3 cents/min intrastate and state to state. Good overseas rates. No strings attached. Recharge online, good speed dial setup, review call history….very convenient. I’ve been using them for 4 years or so. Only complaint is that their connection can be flaky once in a while….not often. That was the reason I kept AT&T as a backup card until I found out how bad they sucked with their “unit” screw-you charges.
OneSuite works about the same way as tel3advantage. Might even be run by the same folks since tel3 looks like it could be a onesuite clone.
Hello: we are currently reviewing the issues with the AT&T cards discussed on this page and the possibility that purchasers of the card may be entitled to compensation.
We would appreciate hearing about your experiences.
Please feel to contact us to share your experience.
Thank you.
You can contact us at: bhong@maklawyers.com
No. It http://www.telthreeadvantage.com different than onesuite. It is cheaper (1.9 cents) and no fee,tax,connection fee,speed dial, autorecharge. My friends and I using it for few years and it is working good.
I can’t belive the FCC (Bush Administration) and ATT are putting it to me like this, again. It’s crazy! My son made an instate 20 minute phone call. I lost 100 minutes of time. I thought he was not telling the truth about the minutes. It turns out that ATT had begun a government (FCC) authorized theft of my hard earned money. What I want to know is why? What is motivating the FCC? They already added taxes to my calls a few years ago. What’s the deal? I’m sure it’s a case of another BIG business going to bed with my elected officials and both of them electing me to pay for their love affair.
John
What a scam bags! Tel3Advantage it is subsidiary of NETEL corp company which provide their plans over network of agents.
it is not tel{three}advantage in any means :-)
I suggest http://www.cheap-international-calling-card.com Try it. They give you extra money to your account and by good rates,no fee, no tax you will see that it is much better than att card
Joelle:
“Hi ya’ll. I buy my AT&T cards at speedypin.com, but have not heard anything about in-state call increases. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if I notice any changes next time I make a call.”
You can learn about all of the in-state rates (minute rounding) here: http://speedypin.com/prepaid/phone-card/ATT1200.
- Zach
I have used tel3advantage for over 4 years and has worked great. just recently(August 07), it started to suck (i think they join with AT&T!). Nowadays, I can never make any international calls, either I get “all circuits are busy” or just nothing and before you know it, three minutes are gone. I have to try dialing different access numbers and different destination numbers for a good 5-8 minutes before i get through, and most times when i get through, the call will drop halfway through my conversation… I had been very happy and proud of them, but now I am considering dropping them. Something to note though, whenever I cant get through with tel3advantage and I try calling directly using my AT&T cell phone, I cant get through either, but if i call with my T-Mobile cell phone, works like a charm (only if they had lower rates :( )
I using http://www.TelThreeAdvantage.com for abot 4 years without any problems. Everyday I calling to 3-5 places using them. Good rates(recently they lowered to some rates),no fee. I like it.
The rate increase has nothing to do with the “evil Bush administration”. For years, AT&T has been selling phone cards that have been using it’s data network. So basically, your phone card uses a line dedicated to lines that are meant to be used for transferring emails and other data. These lines are less regulated and a TON cheaper than the regular phone lines, thus, AT&T could clean house with dirt cheap phone rated (4 cents a minute? Holy crap). Anywho, the FCC (not Bush) caught on to that and changed the rules and made AT&T use the regular phone lines again, thus, your rates are back to where they are for normal long distance plans.
It’s not an evil conspiracy, but it does suck because I finally ran out of minutes and I have to pony up 28 cents a minute. Thank God I only call once in a blue moon.
@Tim
And who appoints commissioners to the FCC? The executive branch.
So actually, yes, the Bush administration.
Also see currently pending legislation offering amnesty to telecommunications companies that broke the law by illegally spying on Americans without a warrant at the behest of the Bush “administration”.
From the FCC web site: “The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress.” The executive branch has the NTIA.
“The FCC is directed by five Commissioners appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for 5-year terms, except when filling an unexpired term. The President designates one of the Commissioners to serve as Chairperson. Only three Commissioners may be members of the same political party. None of them can have a financial interest in any Commission-related business.”
That said, whatever this in-state fee’s origin is, I’m sure it is something that AT&T doesn’t HAVE to charge. They could eat it themselves, but they don’t. Therefore, I find another company. I’ll bet the charge roots to Verizon somehow.
Whether it was Bush’s fault or not, I can’t afford AT&T’s rate anymore so what I looked for an alternative and found Tel3. For awhile I can tolerate its call quality issues but it came to a point where its not worth it anymore…and maybe I’ll go back to AT&T again I said to myself. Then by checking online forums like this one, found a Onesuite discussion and I gave it a try.
Onesuite is not only a phone card because they also have voip service which you can use for making calls without additional cost. It’s definitely better than Tel3 though rate difference is very minimal. One thing I like about Onesuite is their 24/7 live customer support who is always ready to take your call no matter what time of the day plus it online access which comes very handy.
I’m just joining the comments so I wanted to add another interesting note. My son is in the Army and is stationed in Iraq. The only service that you can depend on their to make international calls is…you guessed it… A T & T. All other carriers are either none existent now ( he was in Iraq 1 yr ago) or the phones only are set up for AT & T calling cards. So our service members are being ripped off big time, just to call home and when we at home mail calling cards to them we are being ripped off. My son said an hour card only gives you 20mins. This is a disgrace.
Anyone out there have any suggestions?
I know this might seem different because most of us think of work when somebody says conference calls, but I see that Speedypin now has a conference call prepaid product (http://conferencecalls.speedypin.com) that has good rates. There should be no reason you can’t use this to call one person at a time, and what’s cool is that you can use it in the US and from other countries. For 3.4 cents per minute in the US it is a good rate because you can use it to call in-state (more than likely). This might be cheaper than what the big brand names offer especially considering the new in-state rate increases by some-yuk! I’ll more than likely give this a try over Christmas and come back to post my feelings.
http://conferencecalls.speedypin.com
When I realized I was being screwed by AT&T, I dropped their phone card and bought something called “PhoneShark”. It was about 1.9 cents per minute. A really good price but you get what you pay for. The connections are absolutely horrible. You literally cannot carry on a conversation. Every call I make is terrible.
Don’t buy a PhoneShark calling card. You’ll be sorry.
In Wisconsin, you now have to pay 10 cents a minute for the AT&T in state calls. Horrible rip off.
After much comparison shopping, I’m switching to mobilecaller.com, the Mobile Clear Plan. There are several different cards to get for your needs.
You can even sign up to get 10 minutes free. Their plan is 2.9 cents a minutes and add 10% for Communication Fees to each call that bring it to a little over 3 cents a minute.
No other fees. Some companies add Connection Fee, Maintenance Fee etc. Hope this helps.
In May 2006, I purchased an AT&T phone card through Sam’s because my son was in the hospital taking chemo and I had to be with him. At that time, I was getting all calls for about 3.5 cents/min. I have used that card for a year and a half, then suddenly the minutes were going fast because we have to be back at the hospital. I went to Wal-Mart to recharge the card, asking for 1250 minutes. It cost, with tax, over $60. When I tried to use it, I discovered that the 1250 was for state-to-state calls, and I only had 1/5 that many in-state calls. Now my son is dying and I have to stay with him, and I am so angry and frustrated that all that money I paid for a phone card has just been stolen from me when I needed it most. I have less than 5 minutes left and I will either have to let them screw me again or leave the hospital and go on a search for another phone card. I am so mad I could chew nails (steel - 16 penny). The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, they say, and I guess it is obvious that AT&T is truly making out like a bandit, thanks to their good friends in high places.
Why pay more? telthreeadvantage.com just 1.9 cents a minute all the time without any fee or tax.
I remind myself that phone cards still allow me to call very cheaply even if companies like the one Jane mentioned make it more expensive to call in-state than state-to-state. I’m pretty familiar with phone cards now and have used quite a few being offered from the companies being mentioned (children are traveling abroad).
Just be aware that you can find really low rates on the Internet, but take a good close look at the fees that some of these cards come with. With a bit of quick math you should be able to see what card is best for your use. In some cases, the cards you see with a rate just a couple of pennies more and no fees ends up being better than the cards with super low rates and additional fees. Just do a bit of research before you buy, and you should be OK. I buy mostly from http://speedypin.com because their rates are good, but more importantly their guarantee makes me feel good spending my money with them.
When I realized that my minutes were gone too soon with AT&T I did some research on the internet and found this site. I bought $100 worth of minutes from teltrheeadvantage.com. It works OK most of the time. On weekends in the evening, our calls don’t always make it through. I end up talking to people in Portugal. I don’t understand that. Other than this small problem I find the service to be price worthy. Because I live in Michigan I have to pay 3.something per minute. You can get on-line and see who you called, when you called, and how long you talked.
I am happy with telthreeadvantage.com too. They lower rates couple weeks ago. Can call from cell, home, work
My daughter only has acsess to a pay phone, she wants a phone card so she can call us at home. WITHIN SAME STATE, MASSACUSETTS.
I have tried several cards, none last more than one or 2 short calls, one or two minutes calls. HELP me find her a decent card please.
—– >>> 3longdistance.com/free_long_distance.htm
sharing introductory offer which will be valid till the end of the summer !! :-)
By the way to France only 2 cents per minute without playing with Skype
are they also agents to Tel3Advantage ?
Also like telthreeadvantage.com Did sign up with them few years ago. They often lowering rates, no tax,fee. I can call from my cell or work phone.
I just want to share that I’m also an AT&T phone card user and I think I’m getting cheated on the minutes. I also tried Tel3 but I experienced intermittent problems regarding call quality. Now I am using Onesuite ( http://www.onesuite.com )prepaid service (for about 3 months now) and so far so good, I get the right minutes and quality seems better than the others I’ve tried. I am crossing my fingers on this one.