zoneld.com long distance - 4 to 4.5 cents/min (essential.com sold, rates might be going up)

[foo]

The selling of essential.com prompted me to look for another provider. www.zoneld.com seems to have good interstate rates at 4.5 cents, no fees. After signing up, you can use their "rate smasher" to get the rate down another half cent for calls to five states.

Will probably sign up with them, but don't know much about this company.

 

[m0ssie]

They have good rates. Maybe someone can comment about their service.

I've gone back to the calling card method. but it's a little more trouble with another number to dial, but speed dial helps. Onesuite.com (2.9 c/min) is nice though, and with their zipdial option you don't have to enter your pin # when calling from your home phone. You can also purchase AT&T calling cards at Sams Club for 3.47 c/min. The onesuite 2.9 c/min rate is tax included, whereas the 4.5 c/min rate with zoneld.com will have applicable taxes added and will probably end up over 6 c/min.

Question
If you choose not to have a long distance carrier at all, will your bill be any cheaper than having a long distance carrier without making any long distance calls?

I hate all those other fees and taxes that get added in on my bill!

 

[HoosierDadE]

Why do you say rates are going up for Essential.com? They sent an email saying they expect rates to go down.

 

[Healey]

I love onesuite.com, and so do several of my friends who have recently swithched.

 

[jasonjm]

do not get zoneld, I had them and they suck, because they have
the worst customer service ever, if you have a problem, you are dead in the water.

You will pull your hair out of your head trying to make 1 simple account change. Also their web interface account management system is buggy as hell.


try www.sonix4u.com

much better

 

[Aar0n]

bigzoo.com is also a good company for nat'l and int'l LD. They charge between 2.9 and 3.9c depending on if you use a local access # or a toll free.

aar0n

 

[foo]

HoosierDadE - Their email is deceiving. What they are actually going to do is impose a 90 minute minimum to receive 5.6 cents for interstate calls. They don't say yet what the rates are if you don't meet this minimum. Take a look here and tell me how you interpret it. I don't always make 90 minutes of long distance calls per month, so for me, the rates will probably be higher.

 

[LurkingInNC]

Count me as another satisfied Onesuite user (2.9/min.) with Sams club AT&T prepaid card as a backup.

Best thing about both of these is that they can be used for in-state L.D. calls as well (cost at least 10 cents/min with regular L.D. carriers in NC).

 

[foo]

Those of you using onesuite.com, do you continue to have a direct-dial long distance carrier on your phone line? If not, what does your local phone company charge you for that?

 

[Souka]

<< Those of you using onesuite.com, do you continue to have a direct-dial long distance carrier on your phone line? If not, what does your local phone company charge you for that? >>



To answer your question, "yes." But, I do not pay for it. I only pay for my local service (like $14/month incl. tax). If I make a LD call, it's expensive during the day, and rates don't drop off till like 7pm or 9pm at night....lame.

I have onesuite.com....bought a $10 card about 2 months ago....just about used it up. It's saving us about $40 a month in bills.

One little gripe with onesuite.com, you have to use your minutes up within 3 months (correct me if I'm wrong), or they're erased. Well, you have to purchase/add minutes every 3 months or they erase your account....no biggie, but it's prevented me from plopping down like $50 or $100 for a big block. I now just buy the mininum amount, knowing it'll last less than 3 months...

 

[Richard98]

If you don't mind dialing access numbers and entering a security code, Sams Club has the AT&T prepaid calling cards for less than 3.5 cents per minute.

 

[Gilby]

Anyone using any of the other low cost carriers? I don't want to bother with calling cards, so I shopped around and ended up with PowerNetGlobal. I'm getting either 4.6 or 4.7 cents a minute, billed in 6 sec increments. No minimums or add-on fees, which is nice.

 

[clunk]

I've had ZoneLD for almost six months now. I like the fact that there is no monthly fee to get 4 cents/min to your five favorite states (4.5 c/m to others). Haven't tried their international service yet. They also offer a free calling card (relatively cheap) and free toll free number (even cheaper rates than calling card). To get the cheapest rates, you must sign up for online billing (so I get another 1% back from Citibank!).

When I first signed up, they promised 100 free LD minutes. When this didn't show up after the first month, I contacted customer service and they quickly credited my account ($4!). Their online support was difficult to navigate at first, but it seems to have gotten better. I recently asked if their CS if there was a monthly fee for 800 service (no) and got an e-mail answer the next day (acceptable turnaround). While looking through their help files for that answer, I came across the fact that they will reimburse you for the switching fee (up to $10) if you fax them your bill showing the charges.

BTW, it seems that they are just a broker for long distance. Although they are the onew that bill me, the actual service is provided by Sprint. Probably different carriers in different areas.

 

[clunk]

Anyone else remember the great long distance wars of last year (and before)? I keep waiting for another $150 deal to switch to MCI or ATT or whoever will write me a check. ZoneLD was s'posed to be my temporary parking spot until those superdeals came around again.

 

[Insomniac]

foo: After speaking to someone from essential.com, he told me the web site is ambiguous. He said that the rates are staying at 5.9 cents/min, and if you have 90 mins of calls, the rate will be 5.6 cents/min. There will continue to be no monthly fees and rates will not go up.

I like others just have essential.com because I'm required to have a LD company. I use onesuite.com and couldn't be happier.

Souka: I don't think you have to use up your minutes in 3 months. I think this is what you were thinking about:

Q: How long does my account with OneSuite.com last?
Your OneSuite phone service will last 6 months from the date of purchase or six months from the date of your most recent recharge. Hence, in order to keep your account active, you simply need to recharge your account at least once every six months.