Consumer Report: How To Purchase Phone Cards Online

How do you do it? How do you buy a truly low cost phone card online without incurring extra costs and minimized minutes? It’s best to start by reading the small print.

With a pre-paid phone card, telephone minutes are bought in advance or paid, upfront. The cost of domestic or international service ranges between $5 to $15 or more – depending on the amount of time you buy and on the rate-per-minute charge rate. Generally, consumer are attracted to the convenience of pre-paid phone calls. The flexibility of phone cards alleviates the need for coins or having a bill. Originally, calling cards were marketed as a clever calling novelty. Today, pre-paid phone cards are sold at post offices, travel agencies, retail stores, newsstands, and grocery and convenience stores.

Typically, calling cards are used by travelers, students, people who regularly call overseas, and people who do may not have long-distance telephone service. Certain phone cards are rechargeable, usually by billing the additional cost to your credit card. Moreover, some calling 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.

The Way Phone Cards Work
Generally, pre-paid phone cards display a toll-free access telephone number and a personal identification number (PIN). Phone card service providers have computers that use a PIN to track calling card activity. Most phone cards work by three steps:

1) Dialing an access number
2) Entering a PIN
3) During the voice prompt, enter the phone number of the contact party
4) Next, a computer generated voice provide the remaining units left on the, and how to access other card features. Normally, each unit is equivalent to a domestic minute. If the calling card is non-rechargeable or, if you can't purchase additional minutes by phone for the card, a new phone card will be needed after the minutes have been used.

As the phone card industry has expanded, unethical service providers have sold calling cards with hidden fees, poor connections and a slew of other consumer complaints. To avoid being scammed or buying an “low priced phone card, online,” use the following checklist when shopping for a calling card:

• Beware leery of extremely low rates, specifically for international calls. It can be an indication of po poor customer service or connection quality.

• In addition to reviewing the rate-per-minute or unit, review disclosures on surcharges, monthly fees, per-call access, taxes and so forth (Certain calling cards add a surcharge to the first minute of use or charge an activation fee for recharging cards.

• Read the expiration dates. (Generally, phone cards expire one year after first use). If there isn’t an expiration date, the card is considered "live" until all the phone time is used.

• Always look for a toll-free customer service number. If the customer service number is NOT toll-free or displayed, contacting the company with a problem may be difficult. (A perpetually busy signal on the customer service line may be a sign of a rip-off

Learn more about extra online phone card fees

Don’t forget to drop us a quick report after you make your calling card or phone card decisions. We plan to add any good or bad phone card shopping experiences to our site.