How to use a prepaid calling card

If you intend to buy or have already bought a calling card and you're unsure how to use it, read on and you'll find the answers to your questions.

First, let's clear up some common terms used when discussing calling cards:

• PIN - Personal Identification Number: it is the unique number of your calling card and it is vital to have, as this identifies your account within the calling card company's system. Do not disclose your PIN to anyone, as someone else might start using it.
• Access number: it's usually a toll free or a local number. You need this number in order to connect to the calling card system. After you dial it, you get a voice prompt asking you to enter your PIN.
• Destination number: this is the number you want to call. It can be dialled in different ways, depending on where you're calling to and from. For more information on how to dial, click here. - link catre articolul de dialing instructions.
• ANI - Automatic Number Identification: it is a service offered by some calling card companies. For more information on ANI click here.
• Maintenance fee: an amount deducted from the calling card's balance daily/weekly/monthly having the effect of reducing your minutes.
• Connection fee: an amount deducted from the calling card's balance once a call is connected.
• Rounding: is the multiple of minutes you'll be charged when making a call. For example, 4 minutes rounding means that you'll be charged in 4 minutes increments, like this: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and so on. A call for 9 minutes and 30 seconds will be charged 12 minutes.
• Expiration date: lists the date when the PIN will no longer be usable. Nowadays, most calling cards do not have an expiration date.

Now let's choose a calling card. On the market there are many offers, but you need to know how to differentiate and choose the one that best suits your needs. Forget looking at the name of the calling card - Super Saver, Lots of Minutes, whatever the name is, it will make no difference if you don't look at the Details section. Here you will have listed all the calling card's features and THIS is what really makes the difference between them.

Make sure you get a card according to your calling needs. It doesn't have to have the lowest rate (or the highest) to be the best. If you usually make long calls or if you make calls very often, you can get a card with a maintenance fee or even one with a connection fee, as these types of calling cards offer the lowest rates. Even if you have a maintenance fee, given that you'll make a lot of long calls and use up the balance quickly, the maintenance fee will be only deducted once or maybe twice, but you get a huge amount of minutes to talk.

If you make short or seldom calls, a calling card with 1 second rounding and no maintenance fee is the best choice. You won't have to worry about your balance being deducted if you don't use the card - use it whenever you need it, the money will still be there even in 1 year or more.

Calling cards can be used from any active phone line, even from payphones (from these types of phones a surcharge will be applied when you use the calling card, as imposed by the FCC). However, you need to make sure you are dialing your numbers from a tone-based system. Calling cards use tones to identify the numbers you are dialing (like the PIN or destination number) and cannot be used from rotary or pulse based phones. If you get an error message while you are dialing the PIN, it is very likely that the phone you are using is not tone-enabled.

Don't worry, this is an easy fix: look on the side or base of the phone for a tone/pulse button and switch it in the right position. If you can't find such a button, try dialing * (star key) before the PIN - it will switch the phone to tone dialing for that call only.

For a list of calling cards click here

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