Juicy Tools

We have family in Trinidad and Tobago. Chaguanas to be exact. They have both landlines and Trinidad cellphones. For a long time, we’ve been using AT&T’s Long Distance to call Trinidad and Tobago for $0.34/min. I finally got tired of the $200+ phone bills and started looking around for Long Distance providers that would offer a cheaper calling rate to Trinidad and Tobago. Looking was a pain in the ass. But I finally found a decent one that was NOT a 1010 dial around and NOT a calling card. They are a true Telco with good rates. There are catches but I still feel it’s better than Bellsouth/AT&T’s $0.34/min rates to call Trinidad and Tobago.

The Catches
There’s always a catch. Any company you switch to will have a catch. That’s why I’m telling you all the catches up front in the spirit of full disclosure.

• $10 Monthly Fee (waived if you make a minimum of $10 in calls/month) Basically, you’ll need to call your loved ones in Trinidad and Tobago for a minimum of 76 minutes each month (1 hour, 16 minutes). Or, all cumulative long distance calls need to total up to $10. It’s $0.05 cents a minute for state to state calls in the US.
• It’s $0.13/min to Trinidad Landlines and $0.15/min to Trinidad Cell phones. Still a huge savings.
• $1.50 Local Connect Surcharge per month. They made it up. Sorry.
  
• $1.00 International Connect Surcharge per month. They also made it up. Sorry again.
• $0.99 Payphone Use Charge if you originate calls from a payphone with one of their optional calling cards. I doubt many people will do this.
• $2.00 for One-time web payments or telephone payments. In other words, sign up for auto bill or mail a check.
• $5 fee to cancel.

In a Nutshell

If you make a minimum of 76 minutes in calls per month to Trinidad and Tobago and mail a check, you will only be paying $2.50 a month plus $0.13/min or $0.15/min for long distance calls to Trinidad and Tobago. I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty damn cheap. My last Long Distance bill would have been cut in half, dammit!

Switched Voice Service

One last thing. It’s a switched voice service. That means it is NOT Voice Over IP. So your chances of echoes are nearly eliminated.

Want to know the company? There’s a catch.

If I tell you, please tell them I referred you. Fairs, fair. I’m saving you money on long distance every month and saving you from hours of research online. All I ask is that you help me call my mom more often by telling them I referred you. Email me and I’ll happily send details and the PIC code.

Update on April 24th, 2008

We’ve been using the service consistently for the past 3 months. Calls always go through, voice quality is clearer than Bellsouth and the bills are so low! We are so happy!

• February:  $26.66 for 161 long distance minutes to Trinidad.
• March: $73.85 for 469 long distance minutes to Trinidad.