Calling from the Road

When you travel, don't forget to packyour cell phone. Using hotel-roomphones or a phone company credit cardcan get very pricey, and using 1 of the"big 4's" collect-call services to call homecan cost you even more. The cheapest ofthe bunch is Sprint (800-ONE-DIME),which charges the recipient of your call a$4.99 connection fee and 10 cents aminute for a collect call. If you use any ofthe other collect-call services, it pays to bebrief. Verizon (800-USE-THE-VZ)charges $5.78 for the first minute and 79cents a minute after that. Both AT&T(800-CALL-ATT) and MCI (800-COLLECT)will set you back 99 cents aminute after a $3.99 connection chargefrom AT&T and a $4.99 fee from MCI.