Long distance telephony has indeed become very economical and simpler with the advent of calling cards. However, a host of offers from different players has made choosing the right card a tough job.

Also, one has to find out the advantage of using local telephone booths for domestic travel against a calling card. Similarly, while travelling abroad one is not sure whether it is better to buy a calling card from India or buy it overseas.

Globally, calling cards are the most economical telephony option as tariffs are the lowest. This is largely owing to the fact that the consumer has to pay in advance and the shelf life of the card is not long - 15 to 90 days depending upon the cost of the card. Moreover, the card enables a customer to make local, STD or ISD calls even from an STD-barred telephone.

Reliance Infocomm, Tata Indicom (VSNL), Bharti, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd are the key players in this segment.

Almost all service operators have similar charges for the most-common destinations. Reliance, Tata Indicom and Airtel offer Rs 7.20 a minute for calls made from India to a landline in the US, Canada and Europe, while MTNL charges Rs 9 a minute.

Calls made to mobile phones in Europe are charged at Rs 13.99 by Bharti, while MTNL charges Rs 9 a minute. Reliance and Tata Indicom are the cheapest at Rs 7.20 a minute.

If you intend to call South East Asian countries, the cheapest option is MTNL's calling cards wherein the rates are Rs 9 a minute compared with Reliance, Tata Indicom and Bharti which charge Rs 9.60 a minute.

In case, calls are outbound for Middle East, the best option is to go in for Bharti's Airtel cards at Rs 16.99 a minute, while MTNL, Reliance and Tata Indicom charge Rs 18 a minute.

A customer who is travelling abroad can also go in for Tata Indicom's global calling cards. With this new card, customer can make calls from abroad as well.

On his return to India, a customer can used the residual balance on the card to make ISD/STD calls from Indicom phones. Further, the customer can also connect to the Internet using the card while travelling abroad.

Calls made from the US to India through Tata Indicom's Global Calling Cards are charged Rs 11 a minute, while from Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Korea Rs 12.99 a minute, Europe Rs 12 a minute, while from Saudi Arabia it will cost Rs 30.50 a minute.

Alternative options such as Net-telephony cards too offer lower tariffs. World Phone Internet Services Pvt Ltd offers calls to the US at just Rs 1.60 a minute, while calls to western Europe or the Far East are priced in the range of Rs 2 and Rs 8 a minute.

But in case of World Phone's international calling cards, the user has to download the dialer from the company's website and then use the card to place an international call anywhere from India from a computer.

The customer can also install an internet-protocol phone or an analog telephone adapter and place an international call using his account ID number.

But a customer who can hook on to a PC with an IP phone and similar devices can get voice chats almost free -- using Yahoo voice chats. They will only have to shell out only Internet connectivity charges.

But travellers do not prefer voice chats over the Internet because of their poor quality.

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