Cheap phone card for Alaska?

May 9, 2005 12:58 PM

My boyfriend will be spending the summer in western Alaska (sans cell coverage or reliable access to Internet), and he's looking for an inexpensive calling card to use from a landline.

He'll be calling Minnesota and Michigan primarily, and his calls will likely last 30 min or more. Has anyone had luck finding a calling card company with decent rates? Thanks for your help.

posted by hamster to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

I have yet to find something better than Net2Phone or PennyTalk.
posted by xammerboy at 1:09 PM on May 9, 2005

ABTolls is full of information on phone plans, but not really any AK-specific info, except for AK-to-AK plans (which are expensive!). If all else fails, you might start there and call the operators of some of the cheaper CONUS plans and ask how much to call from AK.
posted by grouse at 1:26 PM on May 9, 2005

If you don't mind the evil WalMart and know somebody who has Sam's Club membership, they sell an AT&T phone card that comes out to 3.4 cents/minute. I checked this on AT&T's ratefinder with a random Alaska and Maine phone number using a Sam's card I've had for a few years now.

The only caveat is I believe all phone cards will tack on a surcharge if you're calling from a pay phone.
posted by SteveInMaine at 1:46 PM on May 9, 2005

I second Sam's Club. The prices on calling cards (and most everything else) are amazing.
posted by Sheppagus at 2:46 PM on May 9, 2005

May I put in a plug for Costco's phone card? Not only is it 3.4 cents a minute to call anywhere in the US, but you can renew it over the phone, with a debit or credit card, as much as you like. They make great gifts, too!
posted by Lynsey at 3:01 PM on May 9, 2005

Third the Sam's Club cards. The AT&T service number for them, if you want to try to bypass Sam's, is 888 854 6740. I also bet I have an empty one I could send out if you want.

(These cards can be recharged over the phone by credit card, sometimes at less then 3.4/min. The access for payphones is something around the actual price of a phone call - I think 10 minutes.)
posted by whatzit at 3:54 PM on May 9, 2005

I've used 1.2 cents a minute cards from 1st-usa.com
posted by banished at 7:19 PM on May 9, 2005

Thanks, folks. I should have mentioned that I'm anti-Evil Walmpire because I work for an NGO that supports rural communities, but knowing that I can get the cards direct from AT&T (and that he can recharge them while he's up there) is a big help.
posted by hamster at 7:56 AM on May 10, 2005

Go to phonecardonsale.com -- they sell a wide variety of phone cards (actually, everything's virtual -- you just get the numbers to call, and a PIN password). You can compare each card's attributes to find the best value for the most common place you're calling. As most of my calls are domestic cross-country I use Telespeed (although I'm not sure how good their non-CONUS coverage is), and I pay way less than that rate quoted above for AT&T.
posted by Rash at 9:04 AM on May 10, 2005