CALLWATCH SAVES MONEY ON LONG DISTANCE BY DIALING AROUND

‘Dial Around’ service saves customers money by offering rates less expensive than the customer’s regular long distance company. CallWatch picks the best rate available, automates the dialing, and then keeps track of calls and call cost.

‘Dial Around’ service allows callers to bypass their usual long distance company in favor of another by dialing an access code before dialing the phone number. Mandated by the FCC to expand competition in the long distance market, the program has been so successful that in July the FCC added two additional digits to the original 5 to allow for more ‘Dial Around’ companies (existing companies are adding a '10' to the old access code).

The ‘Dial Around’ companies range in size from small players up through the telecommunication giants. The type of promotions vary by company size -- the smaller companies preferring direct mail while larger companies use TV advertising. Telecom USA (actually MCI), uses actor John Lithgow as its pitchman on its TV commercials. ‘Dial Around’ companies hope that the customer will remember only their access code, often providing a code sticker to place on the customer’s telephone.

It would be difficult for the average consumer or small business user to keep track of all the offers they get in the mail or do regular comparisons of each carrier’s rates, so they can use the least expensive service to place their calls. "With dozens of ‘Dial Around’ carriers available for most users across the US, it takes a program like CallWatch to keep track of the changes in rates, promotions and discounts to find the best company to place the call," said Skip Singer, President of Beagle Software.

CallWatch provides a way to keep track of the companies’ rates, using its internal database it selects the company with the best rate for the time of day the call is being made and the place the call is being made to. Registered users of CallWatch have access to the latest rate tables from Beagle Software's web site, giving them access to call rate changes from all the major ‘Dial Around’ carriers. Trial users of CallWatch have experienced savings of 15 to 66% percent off their regular monthly long distance bill.

CallWatch takes the hassle and grunt work out of using ‘Dial Around’ services. CallWatch:

• Picks the best company with the lowest rate for the place and time called, in or out of state.
• Automates dialing the 7-digit access code and the phone number.
• Times calls and keeps track of their cost.