Dial Around Your Phone Service to Save Money

What if you really like your current phone service but would like to save money on those expensive long distance calls. You probably think that you either have to grin and bear it or switch to another service altogether. But actually you have a third choice. Keep what you have now and use a lower cost long distance service only when you want to.

So, how do you have your cake and eat it too? You use a service called a dial-around. That's exactly how it works. You dial a toll free number to access the dial-around service. In some cases, you'll need to enter your special PIN number so that the dial-around knows who to bill for the call. Other suppliers have more sophisticated systems that recognize your telephone number when you dial in and let you skip entering the PIN number.

Once you've called the dialaround service, you'll hear a voice prompt that will tell you to go ahead and dial the number you want to call. At this point you are using the alternative long distance service instead of the long distance service you currently have. Your credit card will be charged for these long distance calls and you current phone company won't be the wiser.

So why do this dialing around? One word: money. Dial-arounds do one thing well. The offer cheap long distance rates, especially on international calls. Say you want to call Australia from anywhere in the lower 48 states? With PNG PowerDial you'll pay just 4.4 cents a minute. With CogniDial, just 4.9 cents a minute.

Which dial-around service is best for you depends on where you are calling to and from. Fortunately, there is an easy way to check out the rates and compare vendors. You can use our handy international best rate calculator which lets you specify where you are located, where you are calling and how long your typical call is. Be sure the box marked Dial-Arounds is checked before you click on the go button.

This calculator will also let you compare rates for other long distance services including calling cards, VoIP broadband phone, and direct dial 1+ which is standard competitive long distance phone service. These services are automatically included in the rate comparison unless you deliberately uncheck them. With this additional information, you can decide if you might want to switch to an alternative service after all, or keep what you have now and dial-around when it's cheaper to do so. To learn more about each provider, find our dial-around long distance services.