To Argentina international calls for a couple of cents/min from the USA... Is that possible?

Yes of course it's possible to make to Argentina international calls for a couple of cents/min, that's exactly what I'm paying when calling my family back in Buenos Aires. How? you might be asking... using an international call phone card to avoid the abusive "basic rates" that telephone companies charge you.

But when shopping for a calling card to make to Argentina international calls you need to be aware that their advertised very low rates might go along with other hidden fees and surcharges that end up affecting the quantity of minutes you get. Please read these articles from some consumer help websites to see what I'm talking about: "What consumers should know about International phone calls pre-paid cards" and "Tips for pre-paid international phone calls cards".

I'm currently living in Arizona, so one of the first things I had to do when I moved here was to find a cheap card for my international phone calls to my family in Buenos Aires and some friends I have living in Europe. After searching on many websites, reading terms and conditions of many cards and talking with some other argentineans living here in the US this is what I found...

All the cards I checked have surcharges if you call from a payphone, so try as much as you can not to call from them. Cards usually have a general rate for Argentina, and some other lower ones for specific cities like Buenos Aires and others.

Argentina international calls cards without hidden fees

These kind of cards are great because you can easily understand what you are charged for, their rate per minute is final, no hidden fees, no surcharges, no nothing... so if you buy a 10 dollars card, 10 divided by the per minute rate is the minutes you get, as easy as that.

• Momentos Telecom Argentina USA (0.034 US$ per minute using local area access)
• Cloncom Connect (0.045 US$ per minute using toll-free access)
• International Clock (0.049 US$ per minute using toll-free access)
• Momentos Telecom Argentina USA (0.074 US$ per minute using toll-free access)

So which one is the best?, well there isn't only one answer for that question it depends on your personal circumstances. For example, for a friend of mine living in Los Angeles (CA) the best one is Momentos Telecom Argentina USA because he can make use of the local area access number, but for me that I'm in Phoenix the best one is Cloncom Connect because there isn't a local area access here for Momentos Telecom. But if you are always making very short calls it might be better International Clock because it's rounding up the call to the next second instead of the next minute like the other cards.

Argentina international calls cards ONLY with "Maintenance Fee"

These kind of cards have a maintenance fee that every certain period of time reduce your card balance, so let's say you bought a 10 dollars card and on the first call you use 1 dollar, there should be 9 dollars left on the card, but in fact there is only 8 left because of a 1 dollar maintenance fee charge after the first use and then, for example, weekly .

• LatinAmerica (0.026 US$ per minute using toll-free access / Maintenance Fee: US$ 0.69 weekly)
• LatinCities (0.044 US$ per minute using toll-free access / Maintenance Fee: US$ 0.69 weekly)
• Globe 4 Less (0.050 US$ per minute using toll-free access / Maintenance Fee: US$ 0.50 weekly)

So again what is better with or without maintenance fee? and again the answer is it depends, these cards have a lower per minute rate than the previous ones. So if you plan to use all the card balance right away these ones are definitely more convenient. Otherwise if it takes you months to consume the card, stick to the no hidden fees type and watch the expiration date, or get one without it.

Argentina international calls cards quality of connections

On this matter I can tell you that Cloncom Connect has an excellent connection quality, my mother always says she hear me like if I was there. My friend in Los Angeles is also very happy about Momentos Telecom. The others I've never tried them, so if you ever used any of those please let me know what you think.

Well that's it, I hope this will help you save some money... and please leave me a comment if you find any better Argentina international calls card!