Consumers have been warned to be aware of hidden fees and charges from pre-paid international phone calling cards on sale in Australia.

A Choice report into the cards, which are typically sold in newsagents and elsewhere as a cheap way to call overseas, found some had charges only disclosed on company websites.

Lime Telecom’s Ezy2Call card had a disconnection fee of 15 cents for every call lasting more than five minutes, a statement from Choice said.

“The same card also included a disclosure that each call is `billed with an additional 300 seconds on top of actual duration’, without offering any explanation as to why,” the consumer group said.

Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn said the large number of terms and conditions attached to phone cards made it confusing for many consumers.

“It’s as if some of these companies have a competition going to see who can come up with the most unwarranted charges possible and then give them strange names so they can advertise they have no connection fees,” Mr Zinn said.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) recently took three phone card companies to court for misleading customers.

“They (the ACCC) found Tel.Pacific’s claims about the advertised minutes available on just one card could only be realised by one continuous call of over 33 hours,” Choice said.

In the year to June 2008 the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman received 906 complaints relating to misleading and out-of-date calling rates advertised by phone card companies, compared to 561 a year earlier.

The Choice report also found consumers could get a better deal on phone cards if they shopped around.

“Choice found cards with a $10 face value could be bought for $8.50,” it said.

Calls to Lime Telecom from AAP were not immediately returned.

AAP