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A few weeks ago one of our russian lady friends posted here about a phone card with good rates.  Sorry, I can't remember her name and am too lazy to check back through the posts.  I checked it out and am quite pleased with the rates and quality.  I am calling St. Petersburg for around 5 cents per minute which is about same for many long distance calls just within the USA.

Previously I was using a card for around 11 cents per minute.

The card comes from www.masterbell.com and I am using the one called Euromamma.  It has no connect fees and no weekly or monthly fees.  Sounds almost too good to be true, but so far I have found no catches.

JR

... in response to Best Phone Card Yet, posted by juio99 on May 22, 2002

Hi, I guess it was me who first posted about this here.
I am glad you like thier services, I translated to English the Affiliate part in thier website. :)

Best regards,
Anastassia

Notarized and Certified Russian/English Translations
Moscow Diploma with Honors; Cambridge
http://www.translation.wasem.net

... in response to Re: Best Phone Card Yet, posted by Anastassia on May 22, 2002

Hi Anastassia:

Thanks for your note.  Sorry I was too lazy to look up your name before my post.  And thanks much for your original post that gave me the info to purchase the Euromama card.  Like you, I have not had any problems with the service.

Ciao,

JR

... in response to Best Phone Card Yet, posted by juio99 on May 22, 2002

You are NOT really paying only for talk time!!!!!!!!!

They charge you a minute or two to get connected while you follow the directions. I have watched this closely.

Example:: I made a call to Russia from the $10 Euromama card. I believe that card had a 150 minutes to start with.

Well I only talked less then ONE minute {she didn't answer, got her voice mail}. Then the next time I called, I had a 147 minutes left on card. So they are charging 3 minutes.

I done this a few more times and it was the same. They charge 9.09 cents a minute but it was really NOT!!!

I know it's not much money, but IT IS mis-leading. I not longer use them.

... in response to One problem I have found with them........., posted by JR on May 22, 2002

asd

... in response to So.. who do you use then?   n/t, posted by MarkInTx on May 22, 2002

10 minute minimum charge per call. That's why I tired the phone card. They recently raised their price to 13 cents per minute.

http://www.worldXchange.com

... in response to One problem I have found with them........., posted by JR on May 22, 2002

Hi 'Other JR'

Here is what I found.  They tell you how many minutes you have left when you punch in the full phone number you are calling in Russia.  When the line is busy and I dial back, they tell me the same number of minutes as the first time; hence indicating there is no charge for the attempt to connect time, punching in numbers, etc.

However, there are some taxes added to the usage and this is noted in the info they sent me when I got my first card.  For instance, they say a call to SPb will cost 4.2 cents per minute.  I have figured out, based on minutes subtracted from my card compared to actual minutes I was on the phone, that the call costs closer to 5.1 cents per minute, so that is the effect of the taxes.

OK, but still, at 5.1 cents it is the best deal that I know of.  If you or anyone knows of a better deal, please let us know.

I guess everyone is realizing there are two JRs here on this board.

JR

... in response to Not my experience, posted by juio99 on May 22, 2002

That is a good deal and I have not seen or heard of anything less then 5.1 cent per minute. I do remember something about Moscow being 3 cents a minute with that phone card, though.

... in response to One problem I have found with them........., posted by JR on May 22, 2002

I don't know, I have a better experience, I have used and am using Eromama, Cardinal cards and whereever I call they don't charge me more than they should, there can be 49c monthly fee on Cardinal card (if i am not mistaken) that is subtracted right when you start using the card, that's it.

Anastassia
http://www.translation.wasem.net

... in response to Best Phone Card Yet, posted by juio99 on May 22, 2002

Do you get through??? Tim

... in response to How's it work---------, posted by tim360z on May 22, 2002

Tim, in my original post I said I was quite pleased with the rates and service.  Perhaps that wasn't specific enough, but what I was trying to say was that "I had used the service to place calls and it was good."

I have made three phone calls so far using that service and have had good connections.  No excess noise on lines, no echo effect, no delay in voice transmission, etc.  I have encountered all of the above problems with some other phone cards.  

But this all may be a crap shoot.  I have the feeling that these phone card outfits rent time on the lines from major carriers.  So what lines your calls go through on any particular call is just a gamble.

Anyone know anymore about the actual mechanics (discussed above) of these calls?

JR