"doubter" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 9 Oct 2005 21:57:02 -0400, "Phil Terry"
wrote:

No it doesn't help. I use several different services to call, mainly to
South Africa, and they are all cheaper than your 2nd cheapest. My primary
service is cheaper than your cheapest. So AT BEST your web page is only a
guide for those using the most expensive services.

If someone wants UNBIASED information they should visit
www.clarkhoward.com
and drill down throught "telephone services" to "long distance deals."

Full disclosu Clark Howard has a syndicated radio show that offers
consumer tips and help. I have nothing to do with the radio show.


Sorry you didn't find Billzilla helpful, doubter. Thanks for the info on
Clark Howard's long distance deals page. I have listened to his radio show a
few times and found it to be informative. I checked out the deals he lists
and some of them do look quite good. Unfortunately, his site does not offer
a comparison calculator and some of the company Web sites do not list all
the info necessary for full comparisons, but one can get it if one is
willing to call those companies.

I would need to know what services you are using in order to compare rates.
Would you be willing to share with us one or more of the services you use so
we can compare?

BigRedWire looks like it offers the lowest costs on Howard's page for a long
distance service that does not require a calling card or VOIP and does
provide international service. The Web site lowermybills.com, which I am not
affiliated with, rates BigRedWire as being one of the lowest cost providers,
but it rates Pioneer as even cheaper. The problem is, I discovered that the
Billzilla site I provided the link for did not list Pioneer when I tested
it, so it probably does not show up for you either--I apologize for that. I
have only recently started using the Billzilla site and had not run into
that situation before. My own site (http://www.LD.net/?terryusa) has a less
fully-featured calculator that does list Pioneer when I try it. My site also
listed IBN-Tel 1+ long distance as being even cheaper (for the usage figures
I plugged in) than BigRedWire or Pioneer. The rates are low and pretty close
for IBN-Tel, Pioneer and BigRedWire, so one would probably do well with any
of them, though I can't vouch for the quality of service provided by
BigRedWire, since I do not offer their service (but I did see one positive
review of them).

It obviously can be useful to try more than one online comparison service
when looking for the lowest rates, to access a broader range of companies,
and in case there have been recent rate changes. Regarding the latter, since
rates change frequently, it's a good idea to again check the rates of a
company again when you go to sign up with them, as you may find that they've
fallen further and you also want to make sure they weren't mistyped on a
comparison list.

Total Call International (listed on Clark Howard's site) also offers some
good rates, but Cognistate, Pioneer and Unitel are all ranked better than
Total Call International by reviewers at this consumer site (which I am not
affiliated with):
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/ho...fullstory.html
(scroll down to the "Consensus Report"). This site was rated "Best of the
Web 2001" and "Best Expert Review Site" by PC World. ECG (Enhanced
Communications Group) is listed as best of all by this site. Of course,
which company and calling plan is best for each individual depends on that
individual's calling patterns and needs, and which companies and plans are
cheapest will vary over time, as rates fluctuate and new plans are created.

Phil