Troops in Iraq say caught in phone cards

TheStar-Ledger ^ | 3/6/05 | WAYNE WOOLLEY

[TexKat]

Prepaid cards GIs use to call home yield a fraction of advertised time

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq -- There are many things soldiers assigned to this dusty outpost near Tikrit could complain about.

Long hours. Bad food. And jobs that can be deadly.

But ask what bothers them most, and the answer might surprise you.

"The phone cards are a rip-off, I don't know how else to say it," said Spc. Stephen Wade, 25, of Los Angeles, a member of the New Jersey National Guard's 50th Main Support Battalion stationed at the base. "I get the feeling someone is making a fortune off us."

[TexKat]

What can we do to help our Heros with this calling card issue.

[newgeezer]

I'd think if there's a viable market for cheaper phone cards, someone would fill it.

[lilylangtree]

Rip-off! GGGGrrrrrr!!!!

[calex59]

I don't think you read the article. The complaint isn't about cheap or expensive, it is about cards that do not give the number of minutes printed on the card. For instance they site a 120 minute card as yeilding anywhere from 6 to 30 minutes, far below the minutes purchased. I think there is probably a difference in the long distance rates purchased in the states and the rates that are charged in Iraq. However, if a card is marked for a certain minutes, all cards so marked should yield the same amount of minutes.

I can't say if they are being ripped off or not, but is appears that way.

[TomGuy]

Similar thread from yesterday:

Troops in Iraq say caught in phone cards [Soldiers unhappy with AT&T]

[Born to Conserve]

AT&T is going belly up, so it is hard to say they are ripping anyone off. Additionally, 19 cents a minute, which is what they story states is a typical cost for a call, is not so bad for calling half way around the world. The people who should be getting blamed for the communications problems are all the phone companies that are not over there providing services. AT&T is taking the heat for not loosing MORE then they are. After they go under, then the soldiers will be paying 50 cents or more per minute to some French company.

[ishabibble]

I began complaining about this last spring. My older son was stationed all over the Sunni Triangle and was always out on the roads. Just for him to be able to get to a phone was a feat. I always sent AT&T cards, and he always called from AT&T phone banks. When we realized what was happening with the minutes, I called AT&T, Sam's Club, and the USMC. I was told that it was just too bad. End of conversation.

I hope AT&T ends up right at the top of the Cheesy Company List, along with Starbucks. I also hope that the FTC holds them accountable.

[TomGuy]

It is the fine print that has the 'gotcha' conditions.

Note some of the fine print on one AT&T card:

A surcharge of at least 23 minutes applies to pay phone calls (subject to increase). Calls are billed in 1-minute increments with partial minutes rounded up to the next full minute. Minutes are based on U.S. domestic calling. International flat rates are higher than U.S. domestic flat rates, differ according to destination called, and are subject to change. Rates may be higher from calls to or from mobile phones.

[TexKat]

AT&T spokesman Robert Nersesian said the soldiers' best option is a 550-unit AT&T Global Prepaid Phone Card produced specifically for the military. Calls completed last month on 550-unit and 200-unit Global cards bought at Camp Speicher yielded 185 and 66 minutes, at costs of 19 and 21 cents a minute, respectively.

But rates for cards bought in the United States and sent to soldiers are generally much higher, the other fact that has troops, their families and advocates upset. Some call it price-gouging, and soldiers say they remain confused over the rates and where and how cards can be used.

Among the highest per-minute examples found by The Star-Ledger was a 120-minute AT&T card purchased at Wal-Mart for $7 and sent to Iraq by the Salvation Army. A reporter's call on that card provided eight minutes of service before expiring.

In an e-mail, AT&T spokesman Nersesian said, "U.S. cards are not and have never been designed for optimal use overseas. It's stated on the back of every card and on its packaging. AT&T has never marketed or otherwise tried to make the case that prepaid cards sold in the U.S. should be used by soldiers overseas."

Nersesian last month said the company would provide its military markets director to further explain the cards and how they're used. But last week, Nersesian said the director would not be made available.

[gridlock]

My phone card works the same way. I keep it for when I forget the cell, and it charges me four minutes for a hook up, and then minute-for-minute for the rest of the call. I use it to make one minute calls, because I'm always doing status checks from the road. So if I get 20 minutes of actual talk time out of a 100 minute phone card, I'm doing better than usual.

This is for domestic calling in the Greater NY Metro area. But it is not a rip-off, because it is a heck of a lot cheaper than dropping coins in the slot. Besides, who carrier aroud $2.35 in change?

[calex59]

That is true about having to carry around change, a real pain in the tail! I agree that the cards are not perfect. One poster here explains the Military card as opposed to cards bought here in the states and it sounds like family and friends should send the money directly to the soldiers and let them buy the cards, or better yet, see if ATT will let the families buy military cards here. Would yeild more minutes to the guys and gals over seas.

[mystery-ak]

This has always been the case...I used to purchased the AT&T cards at Sam's...on the front of the card it says US/International flat rates vary....I've forgotten what the ratio was, but hubby's minutes were never what was on the card...I just made sure that I kept the minutes charged up for him..

[TexKat]

Only AT&T cards can be used in the call-center trailers. Callers trying to use a competitors' card in the trailers hear a recorded message saying the call can't be completed.

Critics note that blocking phone card calls in this country is banned under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

"They wouldn't be able to do that anywhere in the United States," said Jonathan Marashlian, a McLean, Va., attorney who specializes in communications law.

Marashlian said AT&T could allow the use of competitors' calling cards at its Iraqi centers under negotiated access agreements similar to those in use for phone card calls in the United States.

"If the issue for AT&T is recovering its costs, they can contract with other people that want to have access to the network," he said.

He acknowledges AT&T's investment in Iraq, but believes the company already has recovered those costs and is now just making a profit.

"They have personnel over there; they have facilities over there," he said, "but I can tell you they have probably more than made up their costs in setting up those facilities. What they're doing is really gouging the soldiers."

Gene Retske, editor of a calling card industry trade publication, The Prepaid Press, and a former AT&T employee also is convinced the company is profiting handsomely.

In a story in the Jan. 15 edition, Retske estimated that if each of the roughly 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq make two 15-minute calls a week, the volume of minutes in a year would be 234 million. At 19 or 21 cents a minute, the amount of revenue generated would be $46.8 million a year, he wrote.

[newgeezer]

I don't think you read the article.

Sorry but, (1) I'm not registered on nj.com, (2) bugmenot.com was having tech difficulties a moment ago, and (3) I hoped you had posted the relevant parts.

However, if a card is marked for a certain minutes, all cards so marked should yield the same amount of minutes.

I would agree, as long as we all understood there is likely going to be a difference between domestic and international rates. If I bought a 120 minute card and were "shocked" to discover the international rate was 20X the domestic rate -- just because I think that's unreasonable -- let's just say I have no sympathy for consumers who operate under faulty assumptions.

Every card I've ever seen -- I have them from 3 different providers in my billfold at this moment -- is very clear on the fact that the stated number of minutes applies to domestic calls only; "international flat rates vary."

If it's not obvious enough on the card, it was also on the cardboard to which the card was originally attached. But, in any case, it should come as a surprise to no one that international rates are significantly greater than domestic. I sure wouldn't want to pay international rates for domestic calls.

[Just another Joe]

If you buy a long distance calling card in the states, the price of the number of minutes will be much less if you're calling from Missouri to Kansas than if you are calling from Iraq to Kansas.
Simple economics folks.
From Missouri to Kansas the price might be 5 cents a minute. From Iraq to Kansas it might be $2 a minute.

AT&T should honor other calling cards in their centers but I don't think, outside the USA, it is lawfully required.

[miskie]

As a former AT&T employee, I can actually explain this. (I left to go independent, the company's Noncompete Clause kept me from doing so) Anyway..

Since the call needs to be carried in part on another countries lines, that country gets part of the per minute rate. That rate is based on negotiated agreements between the originating country and the destination. That's why Card units vary widely from location to location. the biggest variance comes from calling card companies that multiplex lines (basically they take one long distance line and shove 10,000 or so calls down it, reducing the quality of each one in exchange for more calls at once, to drive a lower rate) -- These tend to have crazy 1 to 2 cent per minute rates and offered by companies that many people have never heard of -- once they go outside the USA, they may no longer have an agreement like that to use with the originating country so the rate goes way the hell up because they are forced to use whatever that country allows. This is probably why cards that are resold from one place get more minutes then from other places, even though they have the same company logo on them.. Although I don't know this for sure (since Ive not been at AT&T for years) It could be that AT&T/Walmart cards go thru a lower quality multiplexed line whereas straight AT&T cards don't - that would create the apparent rate-per-minute differential.

[Born to Conserve]

And these gus are using cards that say "only for use in the United States".

So? Why don't you start a telecom company and go give away your services?

[StarCMC]

Critics note that blocking phone card calls in this country is banned under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

"They wouldn't be able to do that anywhere in the United States," said Jonathan Marashlian, a McLean, Va., attorney who specializes in communications law.

Just what I need. I'm grumpy - now I got someone to yell at! :o)

Troop phone card ping

[TexKat]

So? Why don't you start a telecom company and go give away your services?

[HiJinx]

The phone card that Nersesian was talking about is available for anyone and their brother to purchase from the US Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES, or the Post Exchange/PX).

The web address is:
https://thor.aafes.com/scs/default.aspx

They have a chart that shows exactly what you're going to pay for calls from Iraq - 3 units/21 cents when you buy the 550 minute card.