I had to buy time to make Landline calls in 2006. But it is so cheap I still after spending two weeks away from home, making one hour calls every second night had $10.00 left over. I originally bought $15.00. In fact I had to just phone home locally a month ago to keep the account active. Perhaps the $30.00 is now a surcharge on top of their regular rates. Either way you cannot beat it if you are travelling for more than one week in the entire year.