|
How does a phone card / calling card
work?
Pre-paid 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.
Because cards are pre-paid, 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.
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
phone card resellers then send details
to the customer, the details would
normally include :-
Using phone cards / calling cards
Phone cards do vary by supplier. The
following guidelines will explain
approximately how they are used.
(A) Using a touch tone phone, dial the
access number (usually free phone /
toll free or local access).
(B) At the prompt, enter your PIN
number (sent to you via email or on
the back of your phone card).
(C) Your balance for this card is
normally announced at this point.
(D) 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 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
phone cards,
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 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! > |
