Phonecard general user guide
How
does a Phone Card / Calling Card Work?
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 such as $50 or $100, and they may be available in other currencies such as sterling
(GBP).
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 numbers.
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 dialling 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 who in tern retail the cards. We, 1st4phonecards.com, are one such reseller.
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.
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 dialling 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 739222 would be a valid number.
Example 2: From the UK to US dial 00 1 212 ...... would be a valid
number, etc.
-
Please note that with some of our Global cards you do not need to precede the country code. In example
2 you would dial 1 212.... with these cards. You will be given more specific information about this on the card product page under 'Usage
Instructions'
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.
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).
Hotel charges
Some hotels charge for calling the toll free access number. Please check this before you purchase/use
your calling card.
Connection Charge
Some phone cards / calling cards have a connection charge. A connection charge is a charge that is
charged to the phone card at the start of every call. It actual amount usually varies by the country you are calling. Cards with connection charges are
design to people wish to make longer calls, sometime even using up the entire card in none call.
The connection charge is made to each phone call. I.e. 1 connection charge per connected call.
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.
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.
Global Calling cards
Some
cards operate from multiple countries such as the Card4Anywhere.com card. If using this type of card be sure to take a copy of the access numbers with you
before travelling ! For this type of card you usually get all of the access numbers listed on 1 page, click
here for example.
Q. Can I use phone cards from a laptop?
A. Yes, you can use phone cards with most laptops. Care must be taken to set this up and we recommend that you use high quality cards for data
calls. Click here to download laptop set-up guide (in Adobe .PDF format)
In
Summary
Whilst understanding all the charges for phone cards may seem
like an onerous task, having looked at all of the point above, phone cards 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.
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