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A cheaper way to phone home

Immigrants use prepaid cards to call family; some cards are better deals than others

MANATEE COUNTY -- Every Friday at about 7 p.m., Yasmin Cerrillo positions herself behind the sales counter at Casa Latina Market in Bradenton, ready to sell as many as 200 prepaid calling cards in one night.

Like clockwork, Cerrillo gets the payday rush of immigrant customers who line up to buy one of the 50 different types of international phone cards hanging on the wall behind her.

Some customers ask for the multicolored "Mi Mamacita" cards, which are priced at $3 and promise nearly 6 hours of time to talk to family in Mexico City.

Others prefer the $5 "Florida A1" card, which allows them to chat internationally for 10 hours.

The flimsy, laminated cards are one way immigrants from around the region stay connected to relatives outside the United States.

They use the cards to tell their families that money has been wired, or just to say "hello" during the long months apart.

Prepaid calling cards -- available in $2, $3, $5 and $10 amounts -- are much cheaper than most long-distance calling plans.

The cards are so inexpensive because there is hot competition for buyers. Also, the service providers can sell cheap minutes because they buy telephone airtime in bulk, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

But not all service providers play fair, and choosing the right card can be tricky. Trial and error is required to find out which cards are scams and which deliver on a promise of hours of conversation for a few bucks.

Store owner Nilesh Vachhani said he researches the latest phone cards to offer customers the best deals and legitimate cards.

Vachhani owns the One Stop Food Store on Eighth Avenue West, a predominately Mexican part of Palmetto. Haitian and Asian immigrants from other parts of Southwest Florida also choose the prepaid card option.

Small and easy to carry, the cards can be used with landline phone services and, if any are still around, a pay phone. Typically, they are sold in large immigrant communities at family-owned minimarkets.

Vachhani has nearly 20 different brands of cards that are stocked in areas accessible only to clerks.

He said he sells about $800 worth of prepaid cards a week, with most sold on weekends. Customers make requests for him to carry certain cards, usually the ones that give the most minutes for the money.

But the deals carry a risk. Some cards have hidden fees and fewer minutes than the card promises. A few cards print disclaimers in hard-to-read print about surcharges and higher rates that are paid by deducting minutes.

One $2 card promises 7 hours and 18 minutes of talk time to Mexico City. On closer inspection, the 4-point font at the bottom says taxes, service and maintenance fees may apply, that pay-phone calls are an extra 79 cents, and calls to cell phones may cost more, too.

And the "minutes" can go fast. A person may only talk for one minute, but lose a whole hour after fees.

Mohammed Samara of Manatee County, who has family in Jordan, said that even if he loses some promised minutes, the cards are cheaper than using a cell phone.

He learned that the hard way. "I had to call my father in Jordan for a family emergency and the bill was about $200," he said.

With a $5 card, Samara said he can get about 25 minutes of talk time to Jordan. Minutes cost more for calls to Middle Eastern countries than to Mexico or Latin America.

Florida's large Latino immigrant population creates a major local demand for cards that can be used to call Spanish-speaking countries.

Occasionally, Samara will use a cell phone, but he tries to cut the gossip short.

"Hello, how are you? That's it," Samara said. "You have to know your limit. It's not like the $5 phone cards when they tell you, 'You have one minute left.' On cell phones you keep talking."

Immigrants such as Abel Cruz, who is Mexican, said he does not have to worry about going over cell phone minutes to call Mexico.

With the cards, the money is already paid up front -- no surprises or large phone bills, Cruz said.

"I can use this one and I get 10 hours," Cruz said, pointing to a $5 card, "Florida A1." "But that's to call Mexico City. It depends where in Mexico you are calling."

Sometimes he will get a "bad" card. It's a chance he and other immigrants are willing to take.

"A lot of them don't have any other choice," Cruz said.