Prepaid phone
cards sometime know as "calling cards" are purchased in
denominations, such as $5, $10, $20, or in other available
denominations, or in other currencies such as sterling.
When you
purchase this card, the card is pre-charged with a value of
call credit which is usually the same as that of the card
value. (Sometimes cards may give extra value such as a $25
for $20).
Callers can
then use the card to call from almost any touch tone
telephone to call either domestic (local) or International.
Phone cards
Because cards
are prepaid phone card producers are able to purchase
'minutes' in bulk from line carriers such as MCI, WorldCom, Deutche Telecom, BT, etc. Purchasing in bulk means savings,
and these savings are passed onto the phone card user.
Typically, on international calls, callers can save over 80%
over a standard dialing service, and in some cases over 90%,
thus making phone cards a very attractive method for calling
abroad.
Prepaid Phone cards are then
generally supplied to phone card resellers.
Normally
first line customer services are supplied by the card
operator, details of which are normally sent with the order.
As the physical card is not needed, many orders are now made
via email or over the phone. The prepaid phone card resellers then
send details to the customer, the details would normally
include :-
Using
Prepaid phone cards / calling cards
Phone
cards do vary by supplier. The following guidelines will
explain approximately how they are used.
1) Using a
touch tone phone, dial the access number (usually free phone
/ toll free or local access).
2) At the
prompt, enter your PIN number (sent to you via email or on
the back of your phone card).
3) Your
balance for this card is normally announced at this point.
4) You are
next asked to dial your destination phone number. In many
cases this will be the full international dialing code.
(International Access Code, 00 in Europe, 011 in the USA,
then the country code for the country you require).
- Example 1:
From the US to UK dial 011 44 1772 493226 would be a valid
number.
Example 2: From the UK to US dial 00 1 212 ...... would be
a valid number, etc.
5) With most
prepaid cards you are then informed of how many remaining minutes
you have for making a continuous call to this number.
6) After
finishing the call you can then normally enter a follow-on
call using a code (phone card specific). This normally is
the ###, or **, at which point you go back to step 3).
7)
Alternatively you may hang up the phone.
The next time
you use the prepaid phone card, repeat step 1).
With each
call, the balance of your phone card / calling card will be
reduced until the value on the card is reached or expires
(which ever comes first). You then simply purchase another
card.
Not only can
you use the prepaid phone card to make great savings on international
calls but they also make it easy for budgeting the money
spent on such calls.. so no more nasty phone bills at the
end of the month!
Other
considerations when selecting phone cards / calling cards.
Payphone
surcharges
Some
payphone providers charge for using pre-paid cards. Usually
this is done by either an upfront surcharge or a price/min
surcharge. If using from pay phones please check this before
purchasing your card (s).
Quality
considerations
The
quality of phone cards may vary from card to card and even
from month to month. The line quality may vary by country
and by time. When considering purchasing multiple cards we
suggest that you try one to begin with, and if happy with
the quality/reliability, etc, then purchase more.
Maintenance
charges
Some cards may
have a daily maintenance charge. You should check the
product details before ordering.
Expiry date
Most cards will
expire a certain number of days after first use. Typically
this is 90 days for many cards.
Minute
billing
Billing is
sometimes done by the minute, or every two minutes or even
by the second. Please check with the card specific details,
again before ordering.
Mobile
charges
When calling
mobiles (cell phones) calling rates usually are different to
that of calling a land (or geographic specific line). If in
doubt please confirm with the customer services number or
phone card reseller.
Free calls
Some card
suppliers state that a card has £5 or $5 worth of extra
calls. The supplier should make it clear if the rates shown
include (i.e. have been adjusted for) these extra calls.
Local access
or 1-800 / 0800 toll free / free phone access
If the access
number is a toll free of free phone number then the line you
are calling from will not normally be charged with accessing
this number. Cell phones / hotel phones / pay phones, may
charge for toll free or free phone numbers. Our job is not
to question whether this is ethical or right but to make you
aware that it exists.
When using a
local access number, a local call rate is normally charged
to the line you are calling from. This is in addition to the
charge made to the card.
For example, in
the UK, accessing an 0845 number is normally charged at
1-3p/minutes depending upon time of day and supplier. Mobile
phones may be charged more.
In Summary
Whilst there are
things to watch out for when using calling cards they still
remain probably the best method of making cheap long
distance or international phone calls. This may explain the
explosion of pre-paid phone cards sales all over the world
in the past few years.
Search here for
the cheapest calls anywhere in the World!
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