Using Yak for Long Distance Calling
You might think I'm getting paid to write this article, but I'm not. Just writing about something else I'm thinking about. I was sick of not feeling like I could make a long distance a few years ago, because I didn't have a good plan and didn't want to pay for one because I didn't use long distance enough. Plus, my girlfriend was on overseas holidays periodically and I wanted to be able to call her. Anyhow, I found one company that did the trick for me.
If you use a fair bit of long distance on your cell phone (or land line) and don't have a good plan for it. Then Yak might be a good system for you. I have been using these guys for about 4 years now. They offer reasonable long distance rates for the casual user (no minimum fees).
I live in Canada and they give me 3.5 cents/minute on my cell phone to anywhere in Canada or the U.S. and 5 cents/minute from my land line. There is no minimum fee and no special criteria. If you don't use it for a month then you don't pay anything.
Land Line
Just dial 10-10-YAK and then your number. It will go through and you will be billed on your next statement from whoever provides your landline service. You can set them up to be the default long distance provider so you don't need to dial 10-10-YAK everytime as well. I think you need to set up an account though.
A lot of you have good monthly plans so that is still probably offering cheaper per minute rates, but if you don't use up all your minutes every month this might be a better idea.
Cell Phone
This is a bit trickier. They need to enter your phone into the system and you need an account. You can do this online if you want. I have a mastercard set up with them and I am automatically billed every month (they email me my statement). Basically, there are Yak numbers located in different cities. You dial this number, wait to hear a dial tone, and then dial as you would normally. The rate is only 3.5 cents/minute to anywhere in North America. There are even 5 cents/minute to some European countries. Below is screenshot from the top of the cell phone rates page.
The only thing I don't like is that they don't let you use them as your default long distance provider, so you have to dial the local access number every time you dial long distance. I imagine the cell phone companies have some sort of block on this, but who knows.
Trick With Bell and other Cell Phone Companies
Some of you will have older plans with Bell and have the TouchBase feature (I believe they don't offer this anymore) and other telcos might have it. This is where you are allowed 20 calls a month of unlimited duration to a specific number that you choose. It was intended for the number you call the most so you don't use up all your air time. I set this number to be the Yak long distance line for my city. This way, I can place long distance calls in the middle of the day without it using up my air time (unless I do over 20 calls) and only pay 3.5 cents a minute for the long distance call.
All-in-all Pretty Good
If you want to do long distance calling, but won't get better the 3.5 cents a minute out of a regular monthly plan on average, then I would recommend checking these guys out. And if you know of some calling cards or other plans that are better, please post a comment. I would gladly switch.
You can check out Yak here.
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