Pre-Paid Phone Cards: Part 1
Pre-paid phone cards represent telephone time you buy in advance. You pay from $5 to $15 or more up-front for local or long-distance phone time; the amount of time you buy depends on the rate-per-minute you’re charged. For many people, pre-paid phone calls offer the ultimate in convenience along with their cell phone family plans. The phone time’s been paid for in advance; the card can be used from any phone; and there’s no need to think about carrying coins or paying a bill later on.
First marketed as clever novelties, pre-paid phone cards now are sold at newsstands, post offices, travel agencies, retail stores, and grocery and convenience stores. They are used mostly by travelers, students, people who regularly call overseas, and those who may not have long-distance telephone service. Some pre-paid phone cards can be recharged, usually by billing the additional cost to your credit card. And some cards have advanced features like speed dialing for frequently called numbers and an activity report of called numbers, which may be handy for business purposes.
Occasionally, pre-paid phone cards have a hidden cost: because you’ve paid up-front, you may be out of pocket – and out of luck – if you discover a problem trying to use the card. That’s a big difference between pre-paid phone cards and traditional long distance calling cards, where charges don’t appear on your bill until after you’ve made the call. Some issuers provide a replacement number on a separate document when you buy the card. If your card is lost or stolen, give the issuer the number to recover your unused calling time.
How Pre-Paid Calling Cards Work
Most pre-paid phone cards display a toll-free access telephone number and a personal identification number (PIN). Pre-paid phone card companies have computers that use your PIN to keep track of your card usage – how much phone time you have on your card in minutes or units. To make a phone call, you dial the access number, enter your PIN, and at the voice prompt, enter the phone number of the party you’re trying to reach. A computer tells you how much time – or how many units – you have left on your card, and how to use other features your card may offer. Typically, each unit equals one domestic minute. If your pre-paid phone card can’t be recharged – that is, if you can’t buy additional minutes by phone for the card – you’ll need to buy another card once you’ve used up the time or minutes.
Several key players are involved in making sure your phone card works:
Carriers are responsible for the telephone lines that carry your calls.
Resellers buy telephone minutes from carriers.
Issuers set the rates and provide toll-free customer service and access numbers.
Distributors get the cards to retailers.
Retailers sell the cards.
Carriers and resellers can issue their own pre-paid phone cards; but if they don’t issue the cards, they’re not likely to be responsible for any problems you may have.
When you buy a pre-paid phone card from a store, it’s important to remember that you’ve bought a telephone service, not a product. The store doesn’t control the quality of the service. To make sure you’re getting what you’ve paid for, you may want to buy a small denomination first to test out the service, and check with friends or relatives to find out their experience with the card.
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