There are many types of telephone services in the Canadian market. In general, the following types are distinguished:

• Calling Cards – you must first call the switchboard (local number). When the control panel answers, you must enter the Card number, then the secret code (PIN), and only then the telephone number where you want to call. Calling cards are usually prepaid and come in various denominations ($5 – $50).

• Other “call switchboard first” – Similar to calling cards, but usually you don’t need to enter a Card number or PIN. The line number from which the call is being made (CallerID) is used by the PBX to recognize the client. This number must be pre-programmed on the control panel in order to start ringing.

• Codes – sometimes called “Casual Calling”. You have to dial a seven-digit code before each phone number. This type is faster than the previous two, because you do not have to wait for the switchboard before it picks up, the phone number is dialed right after the code. Codes allow you to have phone lines registered with one phone company, but call “occasionally” using another company’s service (with lower rates).

• Direct Calling – The fastest and most convenient type of calling, this is sometimes called “Equal Access” or “1+” calling. You don’t need to dial any additional numbers or codes, just the phone number where you are calling (1+ for North America, or 011+ for other countries). This type requires the most advanced technology and is usually offered by large companies. To use this type, you must first register your lines with the telephone company (often referred to as “changing the telephone company”). Direct Calls are preferred by most customers.

Poltel Communications offers Direct Calls for convenience and speed, and Codes for those who do not want to change their telephone company.

There are a lot of phone companies in Canada. They offer different types of service and it is often very difficult to compare their rates. Most of the “not much advertised” details are found only in the “fine print”. Here are some general tips on how to compare different offers:

• Choose the type of service that suits you (described above) and when comparing the rates of different companies, make sure that they refer to the same type. Poltel: Direct Calls and Codes.

• Sometimes the advertised rates are very low, but companies charge extra for the connection (e.g. $1-$2 extra for each call), for the first minute (e.g. 50% more for the first minute), for account maintenance (e.g. accounting, sending bills) , for monthly payments (e.g. when the bill is below a certain amount), or for other things. Poltel: no extra charges, you only pay for the number of minutes you call multiplied by the rate of the country you are calling.

• Some companies offer lower rates for normal voice calls and higher rates for sending faxes (only advertising lower rates). Faxes cannot be sent using voice calls and rates, possibly due to reduced call quality, unsuitable for fax data transmission. Poltel: same voice and fax rates, same high quality voice and fax.

• Some companies offer lower rates in the evenings and on Saturdays and Sundays, and higher rates during normal working days and hours (only advertising lower rates). Poltel: same rates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

• Some companies count the call time in full minutes, while others with an accuracy of 6 seconds (from 1 minute or 30 seconds minimum). While 6 sec. accuracy is generally better than 1 minute, the true cost of a call depends on the basic minute rate and the length of the call (where the longer the call the better to have a lower minute rate than better time counting accuracy). Poltel: low basic minute rates, talk time in full minutes.

• Sometimes advertised rates are low, but only available after signing a long-term contract with the phone company. Poltel: no long-term contracts to sign, you can cancel at any time.

Many other things can be taken into account when comparing different companies, including customer service in the native language, presence in the local environment, other service offerings, etc.

We usually need about 1-2 working days to activate code lines, and about 3-5 working days for Direct Calls.

No, there are no fees to activate lines and start using our service.

No, you do not need to change the company, the lines will remain registered with the current telephone company (this company will not even know that you are using our service). You just need to give us your line numbers so we can program our Codes service accordingly.

In most countries, there are special phone numbers that cost more to call. Most often these are mobile numbers where the caller (and not the recipient) pays for airtime. A list of special numbers in each country can be provided.

Poltel Communications and My Free Telecom are branches of the same company VSOFT Inc. My Free Telecom offers free calls throughout the GTA (around Toronto), while Poltel Communications offers competitive and low-cost calls to other destinations not covered by My Free Telecom’s free service. By offering free calls to as many destinations as we can afford, we can save our customers even more on phone calls.