By Tele Bärchen
The money-conscious Tokyoite is constantly barraged by newer and ever more complicated options when it comes to international phone calls. Apart from the larger telecoms that offer International Direct Dialing (IDD) at essentially comparable rates, there are dozens of call-back providers, plus a handful of Internet-voice-call providers. By choosing the right time of day, and depending on the country of destination, the frugal user can sometimes save as much as 80% on his or her calls.
In any case, the above mainly cover stationary services -- calls made from your home or office. Making international calls when on the road is a bit more tedious, especially after the large-scale forgeries of telephone cards that led NTT to limit the number of units per card to 105, and with those special public phones (bearing golden plates, indicating IDD capability) quasi-decommissioned.
So, when outside the home or office, how do you make that international call?
If you don't have a mobile phone registered to make overseas calls, you need to find the nearest gold-plated public phone -- which can sometimes take as much as a two-hour search, depending on what part of town you are starting your hunt from. However, if you are a customer of i-tel, for instance, you can access their number from any public phone, punch in your customer identification code and dial your foreign destination -- all at the cost of a call-back call. I-tel (5366-7129), by the way, is one of the more dominant and reliable call-back services that are definitely worth checking out. They even offer stationary-to-mobile rates that are up to 45% cheaper than domestic telephone services!
Another method for on-the-road international calls is the Prepaid Card call. Here the user simply buys a prepaid card, calls a free-dial number, enters the secret code from the back of the card, and happily dials into the international phone system. Such cards are provided by a variety of telecoms. One of the more recent entries to warrant a closer look is the Harmonix Card (aka MyHarmo Card) distributed by NeXXus Communications, among others. The MyHarmo card gives you high-quality connections (courtesy of British Telecom) at a fraction of normal or "discounted" IDD phone rates. In other words, by using such prepaid cards you don't have to depend on the availability of suitable public phones, and you can save a bundle. By stocking up for manageable amounts of call units you can also condition yourself not to deplete your bankroll. In fact, many users prefer to leave the comfort of their homes for a short trip to the nearest phone booth for just that reason. If they were making the call from home, they might end up talking the night away, but if they use a prepaid card of fixed denomination (usually ¥1000, ¥3000 or ¥5000), they will simply be cut off once the time is up. The MyHarmo Cards from NeXXus Communications provide for bonus units too. Get the ¥3000-card and glean an extra ¥300 worth of units; at ¥5000 you'll get ¥750 worth of additional calls. And that's all on top of the savings you already make!
Hey, perhaps it's time to get some of those nifty cards right now? Call 3984-5406 and ask for George Sack of NeXXus Communications. George is looking for agents and distributors, too. Remember, the early bird catches the worm. Become an agent or distributor of the MyHarmo Card today!