I am sure most of you have problems when you buy calling cards to call India or international. Most cards these days come with 'no connection fee'. Do they give you the actual minutes for the $ amount ????
The other day i bought a card called 'BELAIR' by 'basetelecom'
The $5 card said 35 minutes when i dialed a home number in Dubai.
After 7 minutes i got a message saying 'you have one minute left'
I tried to call the customer service. The number is a long distance and when you get through you get a message saying 'mailbox full'
Is there a better calling company ? It will save lots of aggravation and time that we spend not getting through or bad connection.
Any canadian desi willing to contribute your experience ?

I have been using a company called Goldline. They sell cards under brandname Cici. I have never had problems with them in terms of money or minutes - yes, at times the connections to some countries are not so clear.

This company offers another service called D-call. In this, you can register yourself as a customer and the service is prepaid too. The advantage is that you can register upto 8 different telephone nos from where if you call their access no, you will not have to dial a pin - it will recognise the no and immediately thereafter they will tell you what is the balance in your account. That way you can give home no, cell no. office no, spouse's cell no, spouse's work no, home fax no, office fax no etc etc, all billed to one account!Not only that, as soon as you dial the international number, it will automatically calculate the maximum no of minutes the present call can be for the balance you have in your account.

Added feature to this service is, like a calling card, they have various local access nos in various cities and some other countries too. So in case you are travelling, you can access a local no (if available) and make a call, I think at the same charges that you would otherwise make from your own city. And in case you are in a city (in North America) where there is no access no, you can still call a toll free no and get the connection by inputting your pin - there is an extra charge of I think 8 cents per minute for using a toll free no.

The customer service is available 24 hrs, and you can top up your account by credit card either thru calling customer service or thru Web. Also a detailed statement can be downloaded from internet every month.

Don't I sound like a salesman of this company? No I am not. I am just a happy user of this company's products.

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!

Thanks Chandresh. Do this company have a website. I mean is there a way to check how many minutes i get for a certain amount to any country.
I call often and always depend on calling cards. Sometimes when it is an important call, the call never goes through with these calling cards.

http://www.goldline.net/" target="_blank">http://www.goldline.net/</a>

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!

i am a happy user of INDO PAK CARD and heard good reviews abt 20-20
both $ 5 Cards availabl;e for 4.50 and they say it would last for 42 mins but they surely give around 35 mins
.

from general review use calling cards for making a call of longer duration or try exhausting a calling card the same by you first use it else it starts losing money.

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Sucess is not an accident it is a result of hardwork with intelligence.

In the card I have mentioned, I have never had that problem of trying to exhaust the card in one go - and that is why I use it regularly and recommand the same.

And as I have written earlier, their D call service is very good - it gives you your statement and so if there is anything wrong, you can challenge it. I have even visited their office in East Beaver Creek in Markham I think - or Leslie, I do not remember exactly - and it is quite a big company.

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Chandresh

Advice is free – lessons I charge for!!

Thanks Chandresh and Nishit for your contribution. There are so many calling cards in the market. It is like trying a new 'cocktail' and wondering if you like it. I wonder if someone will come out with a card named 'Canadian Desi' Won't it be nice