“Zap” Your Long Distance Bill
Written: Aug 08 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: "Free" Long Distance
Cons: No Calling Cards
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| benagee's Full Review: Archived Web Services Reviews |
Are you tired of paying long distance phone bills? Have you tried all of the PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone programs? If you are like me, you have tried every way possible to reduce my long distance charges. PC-to-Phone programs and PC-to-PC programs are too much like talking on a radio as far as quality. These programs work fine (when network traffic is light) to talk with your family and closest friends. However, the phone is still necessary when calling others and much more convenient for friends and family. So what new information do I have for you?
”Free” Phone-to-Phone Long Distance
Yes, you read it right – free long distance! Now I have you wanting to know more about how this works. BigRedWire (www.bigredwire.com) is an actual long distance company that has a website where you can go and deleted your calls from your bill. Now that is way cool! If you sign-up, you will be switching your actual long distance carrier to BigRedWire and all of your long distance will then be carried through their system. BigRedWire claims that the calls are routed over actual phone lines and not over the Internet. I really do not care how the calls are routed as long as the quality is good. I cannot tell the quality from any other long distance carrier that I have ever used.
The “Catch”
There really is not any big catch. There are a few limitations, but nothing major. Only state-to-state calls of 100 minutes or less can be “zapped” (deleted). Also, you can only delete one call in a 24-hour time period. In order to “zap” a call, you must have enough “volts” (points). I started out with 1,000 volts (promotion that has ended) and currently have more than that in my account. I have not really done anything special to earn volts. The only other negative that I can think of is that BigRedWire does not seem to have a calling card, so you will have to make other arrangements for long distance while you are on the road. Prepaid calling cards can be great for this purpose.
The Details
State-to-state rates are $0.05 per minute. Even if you never zap a single call, this is a great rate. In-state calls in Texas are $0.14 per minute (varies from state to state). International rates are also very good, but vary from country to country – check out the site for specific rates.
Each day, you can visit the site to see if any new state-to-state calls have appeared on the bill (calls normally taken 24-48 hours to appear) and delete the most expensive state-to-state call. If you make multiple calls in one day/night you can still zap them all, but you will have to do only one call per 24-hour period.
When you sign up for BigRedWire, you will have to provide a credit card number to which unzapped calls will be billed monthly. Also, if your balance ever exceeds $40.00, they automatically charge your credit card for the balance. I am not sure if you can zap a call once it has actually been charged to your credit card – I doubt it.
In order to zap a call, you must have enough volts. The number of volts required to zap a call depends on the cost of the call.
Earning “Volts”
There are several ways to earn volts. The easiest way to earn volts is to make phone calls. Every call that you make earns some volts. If you make enough unzappable calls (in-state, international, etc.), you earn more volts and may never need to earn additional volts.
The second way to earn volts is by visiting the www.bigredwire.com website and clicking on the sponsor links. I have clicked on some of these just checking things out and the number of volts earned seems to be pretty good.
The third way to earn volts is to run the “voltmeter”. The voltmeter is a web frame that allows you to visit any webpage and earn points. The voltmeter displays adds in the top frame and your webpage that you are viewing in the bottom frame.
The final way to earn volts is to refer someone to the service. You get 1,000 volts for every person you refer that switches their long distance service to BigRedWire.
I highly recommend that you switch your long distance to BigRedWire. Even if you never delete a single call, you will get a great rate for no monthly fee.
SITE LOCATION: http://www.bigredwire.com
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
benagee
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Member: Ben Agee
Location: Fort Worth, TX
Reviews written: 23
Trusted by: 40 members
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