Go Green: Buy Phone Cards Online
July 13, 2009
Phone cards are the latest addition in telecommunication industry, making it cheaper and easier for customers to reach out to their near and dear ones. It is convenient to use and easy to purchase.
Phone cards may be used to make local calls as well as international calls. It is suitable for use in any phone – a fixed phone or a cell phone. It is your ideal companion while traveling, as it works perfectly on pay phones and hotel phones as well. This facility will save you many a dollar in hotel surcharges and hyped-up rates offered by pay phones.
With all these advantages, phone cards are becoming immensely popular across the population. Due to this, it is available in your nearest convenience store, gas stations and places where people frequent. Some web sites are also offering phone cards online.
Even though phone cards are available everywhere around you, buying online has its own advantages. This method is faster, easier, and cheaper than buying it from a store. You get to see different brands with enticing features and take your own time to choose the right one. You can also read reviews online to select the brand most trusted by people and that has a proven record of accomplishment. Read more
Advantages of Using a Calling Card
June 10, 2009
Nowadays, phone cards are considered very helpful. Many people spend most of their time talking with family, friends and even with their business partners. Usually, people call their relatives and let them know what is going on in their lives and they may also talk with their business partners to discuss their business matters, deals and projects. Calling cards provides you the best way to call people anywhere at any time from almost any telephone. Telephone cards were first introduced in the 1970’s. Now, they are widely used by most of the people in different parts of the world. Phone cards may let you to save a lot of money, since it provides low price. Another advantage of using phone cards is that it provides a simple and easy way to dial international calls.
Phone Cards – or How to Spend Less on Long Distance Calls
May 27, 2009
When it comes to long distance or international calls, many people keep on using phone cards or their phone company’s international plan to get them a best deal. But such calling procedures are not necessarily the best. Both service providers and phone cards usually include hidden fee or multiple minutes to increase their profit margins. Moreover, international calls from a mobile or cell phone often have the highest fee and rates which results in steep monthly bills. So what is the best way to make long distance calls, both from cell phones and landlines? And how you may be sure that you are getting the best deal out there? Read more
Buy calling cards online – here’s how
April 2, 2009
With so much advancement in the telecommunication industry, it has become a boon for the folks as there is absolutely no necessity for people to strain themselves to get things worked out. They can just squat in front of their laptops and search for the articles to be brought and then proceed with the transactions just by one click of the mouse.
However, a sense of insecurity creeps into the mind of people when they come across the word “buy online”. This arises due to the exponentially increasing number of cyber frauds where the accounts of people are accessed and the transactions are carried out without their knowledge. However these companies which sell calling cards have got greater security measures to prevent any kind of foul-play by the computer hackers.
Was Your Phone Card Stolen?
January 23, 2008
Card Loss and Theft
Everything you wanted to know about the Card Loss and Theft
It is generally good practice to keep a record of all your phone card, calling card, credit card, bank account, passport, ID, Social Security, tax and driving licence numbers in one place. We recommend a small notebook which should be locked away in some secure place or kept in a safety deposit box,strongroom or safe. Many financial institutions have safety deposit boxes at a minimal annual rental.
What To Know When Buying a Phone Card?
January 23, 2008
What pitfalls are there when I choose a calling card?There are a whole series of things to watch out for:
- Phone cards Expire.
Many phone cards have an expiry date. Normally this begins the first time the card is used. You can call up to the value available on the phone card until you reach the cutoff date. Typically ranges are 14 days, 30 day, six months, or one year. Generally all unused minutes are lost when the card expires. (This is not always the case and on some cards lost minutes can be recouped by upgrading) - Billing Increments.
This is the minimum call duration and the increment used to calculate the call cost. Typically calling cards have a one minute minimum. Beware the cards that have minimum times of two to three minutes. You should consider cards that have a 60 second minimum and have a low billing increment. Low billing increments start at 6 seconds
Phone Card Billing 101
January 22, 2008
Who keeps the score and how are the minutes used recorded?As calls are made, the numberof usable minutes is automaticallydeducted from the card balance bythe phone card provider. Connectionfees and surcharges are convertedinto minutes and deducted in the sameway as the call is made. This is normallyrecorded on the calling card company’scomputer system. Some cards (particularlythe early calling cards) record theusage on the actual card itself.
How do I know how much time, (or money) is left on my card?Your balance is normally given each time you call the access number and enter your PIN.
How do I know I am running out of minutes on a prepaid card?On most cards you are notified how many minutes are remaining at the beginning of each call. In general you will be interrupted during your conversation when you are down to the last two or three minutes.
Ins & Outs of Phone Card Charges
January 22, 2008
Phone Cards have become sophisticated and there are many ways for phone card companies to charge you more. All phone cards have a combination of one or more of the following charges:
- Timebased charge:
The actual time you spend onlineeither in units purchased or a timeincrement in seconds. The time incrementsvary from 1 second to 5 minutes. - ConnectionFee:
A one off charge for initiatinga single call. Each and every timeyou use the card and your partyanswers, you will be charged a connectionfee which will be deducted fromthe available minutes. This amountis deducted from the card valueeither in money or in minutes. Ifa calling card has a very low perminute rate, the chances sare ithas either a high connection feeor a surcharge. It is a logicalextension that cards with a connectionfee are hopeless for short durationphone calls whereas they may behighly effective for long duration calling.
What is a Phone Card?
January 22, 2008
Everything you wanted to know about Calling Cards
A calling card or phone card is defined as telecommunication credit card with an Identification Code for using a pre-selected long distance carrier when the customer is away from their home or office.
Phone cards are now being used extensively for residential calls. Phone cards are often considerably cheaper than collect calling, coin operated payphones or having the phone call charged to your hotel or motel room.
Phone cards or calling cards are available in prepaid and credit (monthly billed) forms. Typically a calling card user will pick up a phone anywhere and dial a predetermined number (often Toll Free).
The phone card user is then prompted for a user ID and/or a Password or both, before dialing the number they require. “Cards” is a misnomer as some calling cards are available without the issue of an actual plastic “credit card” and are delivered in PIN only from.
History of Phone Cards
January 18, 2008
Prepaid phonecards were invented in Europe in the mid Seventies. Calling cards took another 11 years to reach the US. Since then the calling card and phone card industry has grown exponentially worldwide. Today, phonecards are sold in over 185 countries across the world.
1975
Phone cards were invented in the fall of 1975. The company involved, SIDA, was not in the telecocations industry, but was a manufacturer and supplier of vending machines.
1976
The first prepaid phone cards were produced and put on the market in Italy to combat payphone vandalism. In fact there was a shortage of coins in Italy at the time and payphone theft was common. Cards were introduced with a magnetic strip on the back for use in special phones to combat the coin shortage. The first cards were too thin and jammed frequently.
1977
Prepaid calling cards using magnetic strip authorization spread to the rest of Europe. In particular to Austria, Sweden, France, and Theb United Kingdom. They became reasonably popular.
1978
Inductive technology was invented in 1978 by Nelson G.Bardini in Brazil. The system uses a series of coils embedded in the card including on which blows when the card is used up. The card was first shown at a national inventors’ exhibition in 1982.
1982
Japan’s Nippon Telephone and Telegraph introduced the first Japanese pre-paid phone card. Japanese commuters had to use a large coin to operate payphones on their subways. The Japanese card was considerably more convenient and was sold to tens of thousands of daily subway riders in Osaka and Tokyo.
