In 1990 almost all international phone calls from the United States were made through the large monopoly phone companies like MCI or AT&T. An international phone call from the USA to Europe would have cost a caller $0.50 per minute or more. Due to deregulation of the telecommunications industry, increased competition and the advent of new technology, the same call today could cost as little as $0.01 per minute. An amazing occurrence if one considers the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the United States has nearly doubled during the same time period. International calling from the United States today is cheaper than ever and consumers have a wide array of calling products to choose from. In some ways this has made the hunt for the “right calling product” more challenging.

The newer INTERNET based technologies like Voice over INTERNET Protocol (VoIP) and PC to Phone have likely changed the communication landscape forever. There are currently over 10 million VoIP phones in the United States and that number is expected to grow to over 40 million over the next few years. Many individuals and business now use the INTERNET for nearly all of their telecommunication needs. VoIP has become very popular because it can be used for low cost local phone service as well as cheap domestic and international long distance. In some cases the call quality is not as good as more traditional phone service but the technology continues to improve and, in most cases, the cost is far lower than any other option.

Now there are also several choices for consumers who use cell phones or traditional (land line) phone service. A trend that is becoming more common is the use of multiple service providers instead of relying on single carrier for making both local and long distance calls. Many consumers now use one company for their local phone service and another, lower cost, service provider for making their domestic and international long distance. Most of the low cost long distance products are phone card or some other prepaid calling product like Tel3 Advantage. In the past, many of these low cost products also had low quality and were difficult to use but times have changed. Now there are many high quality discount long distance products that function almost seamlessly with any local phone service provider a consumer may use. An example is the new Tel3 Mobile International Calling Plan, it is used to make cheap international calls seamlessly from any Smart Phone. Tel3 Mobile can be used with any local service provider so there is nothing to change. . Gone are the days when it was necessary to dial PIN codes and account numbers when placing a call with a phone card. Prepaid calling products continue to gain popularity because they offer convenience, low cost and a great way to budget telephone expenses.

Long distance phone service has never been more affordable and consumers have never had more choices than they do today. Anyway using high cost long distance has just not bothered to explore the market and see the large number of innovative products available to significantly reduce the cost of making domestic or international long distance calls.

Visit the International Calling Guide for information on low cost options for making domestic or international long distance phone calls.

rdgraham535 :: Nov.08.2008 :: General, Technology :: No Comments »