Each month, there are countless Americans who are faced with phone bills that they simply cannot afford. In many cases, they are paying fees that they were never made aware of. Many are being charged far too much for long distance calls, as well. This is especially true for Americans who make international calls on a regular basis. . Many people have turned to cell phones in the hope that their long distance costs will be reduced. However, this can quickly lead to overages and ridiculously high bills. Phone cards are another option, but they do not generally offer low long distance rates. Most phone card companies if not all uses cheap carriers to carry their calls. This can lead to consumers experiencing bad connections and with all the fees associated with phone cards such as connection fees and maintenance fees, leaves the consumer with only a few minutes left on a $5.00 phone card. Is Cheap Long Distance Service Available? People pay for their monthly phone plans whether they are placing 50 or 500 calls. There is a charge for each long distance call, but there is also a service charge that is tacked onto every bill. Due to these and other fees, most people are not getting their money's worth when it comes to long distance. Prepaid Long distance Service Prepaid plans allow a person to spend money only when he is actually talking to someone. If a person prepays $100, he is going to make use of every dollar that he spends. The prepaid plan doesn't expire, so For instance, most calling services charge $.18 or more for calls to countries that prepaid calling plans charge only $.10 per minute to call. Prepaid long distance allows a person to place calls from just about any phone. Whether using cellular phones, home phones or public telephones, you only pay for the actual usage or in other words “talk time”. Prepaid international calling can save people with family and friends in other countries a considerable amount of money. It is also beneficial for people who are traveling. Customers can connect to their accounts through an access number from almost anywhere using any of the 10 phones that they can register on their account. Prepaid phone accounts function in a similar way to calling cards. However, they do not require a pin number to make a call.