Family Forum / Marriage / Marriage / July 2009

Short Story:
   I'm looking for a great deal on an intrastate (Ohio to Ohio) phone card.
Can you recommend a card?  I need something I can grab at the store now, and
would also consider something I might need to purchase online for long term.

Long Story:
     Until roughly 6 months ago, we were using an MCI card that was giving
us 2.9 cents a minute.  However, when I went to refill it, the cost had gone
up to nearly 5 cents a minute, and they also wanted to add taxes and fees
when I recharged it.

 I ended up switching to pingo (www.pingo.com), which gives us 1.8c a
minute.  It works great for all of my calls, and I like the fact that I was
able to set up speed dial shortcuts for friends and relatives.

 The trouble is that, although it has no problems calling just about
everybody I try it with, it will NOT successfully call my wife's parents 80%
of the time.  That is a big issue, because most of the time she wants to
talk to her Mom or Dad when she does long distance.  They are out in the
boonies, and it MAY have something to do with their small telephone company
way out there.

 Anyway, today we were in a Wal-Mart, and intended to get her another phone
card so she could call them.  We found an AT&T card for $40 that had 1000
minutes.  Sounds good, right?  Well, in the fine print I discovered that 2/3
of those minutes disappeared if you were going to use it for intrastate
calls.  That means instead of the 4c a minute, we would be paying 12c a
minute!

 I felt that was unreasonable, paying 6X a minute what I pay for all of my
long distance calls, so we put it back.  I told her I would try to track
down something else she could use today short term, and then maybe a better
card over the long term.

 On the way home, she was upset and crying, and telling me that I'm too
controlling, and we should have just bought the card.  Today is her
birthday, and I guess I'm in the doghouse, even though I explained I would
still have her a working card today.  She acts like she doesn't believe me.

 I simply come up with what I feel are reasonable prices for things ahead
of time, and if something does not fall within the parameters, I pass it by,
and look for a better deal.  I've always done this, and feel it is an
important part of doing my job - "husbanding" our resources so we have $
saved back for tough times.  It is also just natural for my personality, and
probably something I got from spending a lot of my childhood around my
grandfathers on both sides - both of whom grew up during the Great
Depression.  They instilled in me a strong sense of always saving back for
bad times, and never overpaying on a whim - especially on anything with
recurring charges.

 So now I'm doing research, trying to figure out where I can get a calling
card that doesn't lop off 2/3 of the minutes for intrastate calling, like
the AT&T card at Wal-Mart did.  Can anyone recommend one?

 I am also interested in thoughts on how I could have handled this
situation better.  My wife does not seem to understand that I'm not trying
to keep her from calling her family - I just want her to be able to do so at
a reasonable cost.

                                     Thanks!