How to Compare ChitChat's Rates to the Competition:
Everything you wanted to know about phone card rates but were afraid to ask (or too busy to read about.)

If you think our rates aren't good enough, we think we know why. You and millions of others are unfortunately victims of misleading and false advertising in this industry. We're trying to change that, one customer at a time. Some of our customers, especially value shoppers, take some convincing on this front. If you are naturally skeptical but at the same time smart, you may find the following information and examples convincing enough to win you over.

Pricing in the phone card industry is confusing and full of deception. In order to make an informed decision, you need to know what you are really paying for. That's what this section is about. We are going to show you that pricing rates to different countries is all about making bets. Phone companies bet that you won't read the fine-print. And, they bet that like all people, you want the best possible rate and want to believe you are getting the best deal. So, they will do anything possible to make their rates seem lower than they actually are.

We like to teach by example, so here are some of the most common issues we hear, along with a hopefully educational response to them:

We are surprised by how often even the smartest people, sometimes Masters and PhD students at the world's best universities, are misled into believing that they are getting the rates they think they are. Phone card companies do all sorts of tricky things to make you think you are getting amazing rates when you actually aren't. Use common sense. If it costs around 4 or 5 cents a minute to get long distance in the USA (one of the most competitive markets in the world) how can it cost 1 cent to send that phone call all the way to the other side of the world?

But people just believe it all the time. They think that a $5 card from a gas station or a shady looking website can give them a million minutes to anywhere.

We let you log in to your account online and see how much we are actually charging you. Do the phone card companies let you do that? And, we charge per minute, without hidden fees of any sort, so we don't penalize you for short calls like most other companies do. Don't believe us? Try us for $10 and then log-in to your account and see all the details about ALL the charges on your account. A happy customer keeps using our service. We don't make money off of you once... it's just not worth it to us. We'd rather convince you that our rates are real and keep you with us for the long-term.

If you don't think our extra features are worth anything, then you need to be convinced that we are actually more affordable. Under normal use, your rates won't be cheaper with our competitors. Sometimes you make short calls, and other times you make long calls, right? A cheap-o phone card might be better for a really long call (like over 60 minutes) but not under typical repetitive call usage patterns. Not every call you make will be a super-long phone call. Here are some of the ways phone card companies hide the extra charges.

Connection fees are only part of the picture. Lots of phone cards charge you fees after you hang up the phone. These are called 'end of call' fees and can range from $0.35 cents per call and up.

Another thing they do is set the amount of rounding to 4 or 6 minutes. Rounding determines how accurate the billing is. The lower the rounding, the better. So, for example, if a card has 6 minute rounding, that means that they bill you in 6 minute increments. So let's say you make an 8 minute call. You will actually be billed for 12 minutes because every 6 minutes they bill you once! Crazy? That's what we think. When you look for a provider, find one with lower rounding. We charge based on 1 minute rounding.

Sure, there are certain scenarios where a competitor will be cheaper. WE WILL NEVER BE CHEAPER ALL OF THE TIME. And we admit that openly. For example, if you make one long phone call and use up an entire phone card at once, you might be getting a great deal. BUT, under normal usage, WE WILL COME OUT CHEAPER BASED ON AVERAGE USAGE. Why? Because there will sometimes be disconnections or other reasons that shorter calls occur. And it only takes a few short calls to make an apparently great competitor rate suddenly get much more expensive than our rate.

An Example:
Let's focus on the bad-case example where you normally get screwed with a phone card...the 1 minute call. Once you understand the logic, you can use the same test to figure out the true rates for a 5 minute call or a 10 minute call or whatever you like.

Why does the 1 minute call happen? Either there is a disconnect and you have to call back, or you get someone's voicemail, etc. Sometimes it is someone saying to you, "I'm busy, can you call me back in an hour?" You guys get the point.

A smart potential customer who often calls Kuwait wrote us and said, "you are charging X cents more per minute than the card I buy called The XYZ card. This card gives me nearly 3 hours of talk-time to Kuwait. That means their rate is cheaper. So, unless you beat that, I won't switch."

Our reply? Always read the fine print on the card. We did some research and here's what we found:

• Rates for calls to cellular phones maybe higher.
• Announced minutes are based on per-minute rates before fees and surcharges are applied.
• Card expires 90 days after first use.
• A 69¢ weekly maintenance fee will apply next day after first use.
• Disconnection fee may apply depending on country called.
• 3 minute rounding may apply to certain destinations.

Remember that with ChitChat, it's easy to understand. We bill you 1 minute at a time, with no other fees, EVER.

We are going to assume that they have no disconnection fee. (Do they? We don't know, there terms say they might, but we'll be nice and say they don't.)

Their per minute rate is 10 cents per minute. That sounds cheaper than our rate of 10.9 cents per minute.

But...for a 1 minute call, their 0.10 per minute becomes $0.99! How? Take the 1st min (0.10) + plus the 3 minute rounding, which means they bill 3 minutes even if it is just 1 minute call, that's an extra $0.20 to tack on. Now we are at $0.30 cents. Then there is a 0.69 fee applied the day after first use. So if you didn't use up this card right away, you need to add on that charge too, and that comes out to $0.99 for a 1 minute call. As you talk more of course, the average rate you are paying will go down.

If you use up the whole 3 hour card at once, you will get a lower rate than us. But who is going to talk for 3 hours non-stop? And are you going to be able to do that every single time? Since we cost $0.001 more than this card's rates (before their fees), we would cost $0.18 more for the entire 3 hour call. Are you going to try to save that amount of money by making the bet that you will never make a shorter phone call?

So, do a similar analysis for the cards you currently use, and you will find similar situations. The industry is absolutely full of these examples, The more aggressive the rate sounds, the more hidden charges there are going to be. That's just the way it is. And since they are disposable cards with no customer loyalty, how are you going to check to see what they really charged you? The designers of these cards make bets. They bet that on very long calls, they might lose money, but on short calls, they will always make money! And they also bet that you aren't smart enough to figure this out. They bet that if they say their rate is X, you are just going to believe it without doing the math. But we urge you, if you are the analytical type, do the math. You will be better off with us. And you will have the peace of mind of knowing that you aren't going to be penalized on short calls with extra fees that eat up your balance. So, if you believe us, sign up. If you aren't sure, please ask us questions. And if you simply think you are getting a better deal somewhere else, bookmark us and come back later if you ever change your mind!