Three Calling Card Myths Debunked

I see a lot of the same calling card myths come up again and again, so I thought I'd address three of them today.

1. Your calling card has to be provided by your long distance provider (other versions include "Calling cards will change my long distance provider or other phone settings,"). FALSE.
Reputable calling cards are just legal dial-around services - they make the call for you over the most cost-effective lines and systems, with no changes at all to your existing phone services, plan, or provider.

2. You can't buy calling cards to be used from foreign countries in the U.S. FALSE.
In fact, you can get a better rate than most stores would offer you by buying your calling card online. Just make sure to enter the correct origination country when you search for rates (for example, if you will be using the card to call from India to Canada, make sure to put those countries in the correct areas of the search box).

3. You can't use calling cards with cell phones. Once again, FALSE, mostly.
You should be able to use your calling card from your cell phone with no difficulty at all. If you are calling to a cell phone, be aware that some cell phone carriers may restrict your calls, and higher rates may apply (as determined by the cell phone carrier).

So, enjoy your prepaid calling cards with confidence, call anywhere in the world, and call to or from a cell phone as much as you like. If you have questions about specific calling cards, just leave them for me in the comments and I will be happy to respond to them.

Another Holiday Calling Card

We introduced the Group Talk card almost 6 months ago, but I thought I'd remind you about it since the end of the year is always so full of holidays. If you have family that you won't be seeing face-to-face during the holiday season, consider a Group Talk card.

Group Talk allows you to connect up to 50 people from across the country and around the world in one call. Many members of my family will be traveling on New Year's Eve this year, and I plan to use a Group Talk card to ring in the new year with them once it hits midnight in my time zone! Group Talk is really simple to use and works with any phone. To join your call, your friends and family can call a local access number and enter your call code. An even easier way to connect is to have the calling system dial out to your group - all you friends and family have to do is to answer the phone!

Rates are low, and the quality is much better than online group calls. Besides, I know I could never get some members of my family to join an online call - I'd lose them at the idea of plugging in a headset!

For more information on the Group Talk multiuser card, visit
http://www.callingcards.com/shopping/card_profile_grouptalk.asp

Hate Dialing Calling Card Pin Numbers?

Calling cards are great tools for keeping in touch with friends, family, and business partners worldwide, but many people who make frequent international calls get tired of dialing their pin numbers. There are workarounds, like storing the pin number in your phone's speed dial, but they usually compromise your card's security and just don't save that much time.

Yes, you heard it coming - we have a solution! We have added pinless dialing capabilities to many of the calling cards that are available on CallingCards.com. (Mobile Caller is another pinless dialing option.) We've also added speed dial to these calling cards, so you can complete your call with just 5 or 6 digits rather than having to enter your pin number and destination number. Add in auto-recharge and you've got a calling card that's just as convenient as a long distance calling plan, but with rates that are up to 90% lower!

To see whether or not the card you're interested in has these features, just:
1. Search for a calling card using the search box below the header on CallingCards.com
2. Select a card that looks good and click "More Info"
3. Look near the bottom of the "Card Info" tab to see what features come with your card

If you have any questions about pinless dialing, prepaid calling cards, or speed dial on a calling card, feel free to leave a comment below so I can help out.

Save Money...and The Earth

As part of Blog Action Day, I'd like to remind you that online calling cards aren't just great for your wallet. Sure, you can get the best available rates by shopping around and reading all of the fees before you buy. And yes, you can customize your card to your calling area to get the features and service you need. What else is so cool about buying prepaid calling cards online?

There's no card.

When you buy a plastic calling card at a store, you get the card for your wallet along with the piece of plastic or cardboard that was used to hang it, plus maybe a plastic bag and a receipt. That's three extra pieces of trash that you don't even need in order to make your call!

Suppose you could just buy the card itself. It's just a plastic rectangle, about 2.5 by 3.5 inches, no harm done. It wouldn't be noticed in a landfill. Now think about scale: over our network alone, over 100,000,000 (one hundred million) cards would be purchased each month. If each card weighs just .03 ounces (one gram, about as much as a paper clip), that would put 2,204,622 pounds (1102 tons) of plastic in the landfill each month.

The next time you need a prepaid calling card, be sure to shop online. That goes for other purchases, too - see what you can buy in digital form rather than buying the actual object.

Don't forget the classic advice - reduce, reuse, and recycle. If you already have a stash of used calling cards (or gift cards), use them for bookmarks, cut them into custom guitar picks, make your own art or craft from them, or check out these ways to reuse them:
(Note: the links below are to outside sites. CallingCards.com is not responsible for the content of these sites.)
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/plastic_gift_cards.php
http://faerieluna.blogspot.com/2006/09/recycle-those-plastic-gift-or-coffee.html
http://www.funqa.com/environment-ecology/2776-1-environment-3.html

Let me know if you think of any other ways to reuse plastic cards!

Affiliate Update - New Programs!

We've expanded our affiliate program! It now contains four exciting brands: OneTranslator.com, MobileCaller.com, CallingCards.com and CallingCard.com! For full details, visit callingcards.com/ap.

You can promote any of these sites from the same affiliate account (and if you're already an affiliate, you can get started right now), and track your performance by individual site or all together. Our graphic library is full of dozens of new banners for all of these brands, so you can be up and earning in no time. The commission is still the same - 10% on all successful sales, plus 10% residual commission on your customers for life.

OneTranslator is currently the only site of its kind with an affiliate program, so don't wait! If your site visitors could benefit from on-demand phone interpreters, you could be earning.... OneTranslator's customers include students, doctors and other medical staff, travel agents, professionals, and individuals from many other sectors.

Of course, if you're not interested in becoming an affiliate, you can check out OneTranslator for yourself and see how this service can help you break down the language barrier. I'm definitely looking forward to having OneTranslator with me on my next trip abroad.

If you have any questions about OneTranslator or our affiliate program, including co-branding, please feel free to drop me a note in the comments.

Calling Cards: The Perfect Gift

Some friends of mine are getting married in a few weeks, and I knew just what to get them (along with something off their registry, of course): a calling card! Since I knew they'd be honeymooning in Cancun, I got them a calling card with enough minutes to call home from Mexico at the best rate (I chose the World Access Card - no connection fee, 3.7 cents/minute, 1-minute billing increment). With the calling card, my friends can spend their hard-earned money on fun in the sun, not on calling mom and dad.

Calling cards are a really thoughtful gift for many occasions. Weddings and other big family events that demand a lot of phone time are good candidates, but so are housewarmings and going away parties (since the recipients will have lots of talking to do with old and new friends). Students and travelers always welcome calling cards, especially if they'll be going abroad, and if you shop carefully you can get much better rates online than the recipient would be able to find in his destination country. If you have friends or family who live in another country, consider tucking a calling card into your next birthday or holiday card - it will make staying in touch so much easier.

A calling card is an unexpected but useful gift that fits any lifestyle (no clutter, nothing to maintain), but is much more personal than a gift certificate or cash. Online, prepaid calling cards are also convenient, even for last-minute gifts, since they're delivered within minutes! What other occasions would be good for giving calling cards? Fall and winter holidays are right around the corner, after all....

Free Calling Cards (365 Days a Year)

Every so often, the free calling card offer we developed for Montel viewers gets republicized on "deal" and coupon websites across the internet. You don't have to wait for your budget-conscious peers to drop you that link again - you can get a free 10 minute calling card any time just by visiting CallingCards.com. You can use your free card to call from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world, landline or cellular. You don't have to give us any credit card or other payment information - just some basics like name and email address to protect you from fraud.

As I've noted in recent posts, there are a lot of consumer concerns about prepaid calling cards, many of them well-founded. Our free card offer is our way of proving to you that we won't sell your information, misinform you about rates and fees, or offer poor call quality - we've been in this business for more than seven years, and we take our customers very seriously.

Keep our free calling card in mind when you're traveling, too! International students are also fans of our free calling card...sometimes 10 minutes is all it takes to get back in touch with friends and family.

Avoid Bad Calling Cards

I just read a CNet article about prepaid calling card scams that was written about seven years ago. I think the industry has cleaned up its act a lot, but there are still things consumers must do to make sure they're getting the best deal. (This is true of any purchase, so keep your eyes open the next time you buy anything!)

Here are some things you can do to make sure you're getting what you think you're paying for in a prepaid calling card:

1. Check for fees
A reputable calling card provider will always detail every tax, fee, and surcharge that goes along with each card. This information is usually on a card's profile page or in its details (not the most obvious locations), but it's worth finding. I gave a detailed breakdown of calling card fees a while ago.

2. Check the billing increment
There are some notes about the billing increment in the article that's linked from #1, but here's the bottom line: big billing increments can eat away your minutes if you're not careful. If you buy a 100 minute card with a 10-minute billing increment and use it to make 10 calls that last 20 seconds each, your card will be used up. 10 calls x 10-minutes each = 100 minutes. But, you say, I only talked for 3 minutes and 20 seconds, not 100 minutes! Remember: the billing increment is the unit in which you will be billed, so if it's 10 minutes, anything up to 10 minutes will be billed as 10 minutes, and any calls from 10 minutes and 1 second to 20 minutes will be billed as 20 minutes, and so on.

3. Make sure you can contact the company
And that there's a customer service number for your card. Our contact information is readily available on our website, and each calling card comes with a customer service number that's printed near the top of the purchase receipt. If you can't find contact information for any company, why would you consider purchasing from them, for calling cards or anything else?

This was inspired by the Prepaid Calling Cards section of the How Stuff Works coverage of long distance scams. It's a good article, and definitely worth checking out. Some more notes, based on their information:

• CallingCards.com has been around for more than 7 years, and we won't be going anywhere any time soon. We are one of the premiere providers of online calling cards.
• We fully disclose any fees that might be associated with our calling cards, and we do our absolute best to ensure that card information is accurate across our huge inventory.
• We deliver all of our cards online, and we have a variety of measures in place to protect you against fraud at many levels. You won't ever have to worry that you will be billed for a card you don't receive, or that you won't receive a working PIN number.
• There are some things over which we have no control, like pay phone and cell phone surcharges. These are determined by the carrier, not by us.

Knowing as much as you can about your purchases is definitely a smart decision. If you have any questions about prepaid calling cards or CallingCards.com, please feel free to leave them in the comment below so I can help you out.

Avoid Calling Card Fraud

Many people worry about calling card fraud and scam calling cards that change your long distance service or max out your credit card with hidden fees. Rest assured that none of the cards from CallingCards.com will ever play any tricks on you (and since all of our cards are prepaid, you will never face any surprise charges). Here are some tips for avoiding other kinds of calling card fraud:

Look out for "Shoulder Surfing"
Experienced phone card thieves can steal your information by watching from an adjacent payphone while you make your call. If you have to call from a payphone, do your best to cover the keypad with your hand or body. (This is a good idea when you're using an ATM, too - don't let anyone watch you enter your pin.)

Ask for real credentials if someone calls about your card.
Generally, the only time we will contact you by phone is to verify your first purchase (another way we protect you against fraud). If someone calls you and claims to be from the phone company, our calling card company, or any other company and asks for your calling card information, ask for their employee information and then ask to speak to a supervisor. You should never have to give your calling card information to anyone else.

Keep track of your card using our Online Account Management tools.
Unauthorized users can get your calling card information through many forms of theft and fraud, and even from dumpsters (some hotels record it as part of the number dialed, then dispose of it with the rest of the phone reports). If you are careful with your email and account passwords, you should be fine. Just to be safe, log into your calling card account every week to make sure that no unauthorized calls have been made. If you find suspicious charges, be sure to discontinue auto-recharge right away to prevent additional charges.

What if someone has stolen your prepaid calling card?
As with cash and most gift cards, it is your responsibility to safeguard your calling card. If you discover that your card has been compromised, you will be liable for any unauthorized charges, so be sure that auto-recharge isn't on. You may wish to open a new account, change your password and email password, and check your other online accounts, especially if you don't know how your information was stolen.

Remember:

• Keep your calling card information in a safe place
• Don't share your calling card information with anyone
• Change all of your passwords frequently to prevent unauthorized account access
• Watch all of your accounts for suspicious activity
• Be careful with all personal information, especially credit information

5 Tips for Calling Card Affiliates

We have many satisfied affiliates who work with us through our c2 affiliate programs, as well as through our private label options. Here are 5 tips that can help boost your calling card affiliate results:

1. Customize the "calling from" country to match your target audience.
Did you know that you can set the "calling from" country in your search box to display the country of your choice? If you know that most of your site traffic is from China, or that you are writing specifically to appeal to people in Turkey, this can help boost your conversions because your visitors will already be halfway done with their purchase!

2. Promote your site!
There are lots of calling card customers out there, so if they're not buying from you, it could just be because they don't know about your site. Make a quick post to let your visitors/readers know why you have chosen to offer them inexpensive, high quality calling cards along with the rest of your site's offerings.

3. Promote the free card offer!
Each new customer can receive a free 10 minute card to call anywhere in the world, so make sure your visitors are aware! Who doesn't want a free long distance call?

4. Avoid technical problems.
Make sure you have set up your links correctly, or you won't be able to track (and won't get credit for) your sales. Detailed linking instructions can be found in the marketing tools section of your affiliate account.

5. Consider a Co-Brand
Co-Brand sites feature your logo and choice of site theme - it's like having your own calling card site, but setup takes only a few minutes. If you already have a strong site brand that your visitors trust, you might want to create a co-brand site.

Three Life-Saving Uses of Phone Interpreters

If you or someone you know will be in a country where you aren't fluent in the native language, consider bringing along a prepaid interpreter card from OneTranslator.com. These cards provide pay-as-you-go interpretation between English and a number of other languages, and keeping one in your wallet might just save your life.

Use #1: Medical Emergencies
If you are sick or injured in a foreign country (including America, if you don't speak much English), you need to make sure you get the right treatment. If your illness or injury is critical, every second can count! Bringing a prepaid interpreter card with you is a good way to make sure that you will understand what's going on, and that your doctors and nurses will be able to understand you. Cards work from any phone, so you can use a hospital phone or a cell phone to connect to an interpreter.

Use #2: Transportation and Taxis
Airplanes, trains, buses, and taxis can be difficult enough to navigate without a language barrier, but what happens when you need to change a flight and you don't share a language with the service agent? Or if your luggage is lost in a foreign country? What if you need an emergency taxi but don't speak fluently enough to tell the driver where to go? OneTranslator's services are perfect for any of these situations; once you get an interpreter on the phone, you'll be back on the road in no time.

Use #3: Public Emergencies, Disasters, and Other Unforeseen Events
Even something as small as a power outage can be frightening if you don't speak the language well enough to know what's going on. What about a flood, fire, or earthquake? What if a political rally is taking place and you are questioned by the police -- in a foreign language? Just connect to a OneTranslator interpreter and communicate with confidence. Once when I was traveling, I encountered a complete transportation strike; bus and taxi services were shut down, but I was 3 miles from my hotel in an unfamiliar city, late at night. If I had been carrying a OneTranslator card, it might not have taken me 3 hours to find my way back to my hotel with bits of misunderstood directions from helpful strangers!

OneTranslator outshines pocket translation tools or books in emergency situations because it provides you with instant access to a fluent speaker of your needed language. You don't have to worry about your accent or vocabulary, and you definitely don't have to hunt for the words you need (or try to talk through hand gestures). If you will be in a situation where a language barrier could arise, bring a OneTranslator card along to keep your travel worry-free.

Back to School with Calling Cards

It's time for school again already! It can be hard to adjust during the first few weeks of college, even if you're a senior, and especially if you'll be in a different country. Prepaid calling cards make it cheap and convenient to keep in touch with friends and family as you settle in to the new school year.

Here are a few more reasons why prepaid calling cards are wonderful for college students:

1. You can't go over your minutes.
You can only talk for as many minutes as you (or your kind parents) have already purchased until you recharge your card, so you don't have to worry about going over your allotted talk time.

2. There are no roaming fees or special day/night rates.
Calling card rates don't vary throughout the day, so you don't have to wait until after 9 to make your calls. You can use your card from almost any phone.

3. There are cards that are designed with international students, exchange students, and students studying abroad in mind.
Calling cards really shine when it comes to international calls. Calling home from your semester abroad can cost more than $1 a minute if you don't plan ahead; with a calling card, that same call can cost less than 5 cents per minute. Whether you're studying in the United States and calling abroad or vice versa, we have clean, reliable calling cards that can save you a lot of money (something no student can have too much of).

4. Even regular long distance is expensive from your dorm phone.
Campus phone systems can charge all sorts of fees for long distance calls. Avoid them with a prepaid calling card that comes with a local access number - now you're calling a local number to make your long distance call.

5. With online cards, there's no card to lose.
Protect your card information by storing it in your cell phone (or, better yet, your head). Your calling card information is always available to you on the web or in your email, so you won't have to worry about leaving a calling card laying around in your room.

If you have any questions about calling cards for students or need help choosing a card, feel free to leave a note in the comments and I'll do my best to assist you.

Survey Time! Attention CallingCards.com Customers

We have a new survey for all CallingCards.com customers. Please offer us your feedback on our website, your calling card, and a few other things (it's only 10 questions long).

To participate, just log into your CallingCards.com account and click the "Feedback Survey" link. You'll find the link on the right side of the screen, just above the "Did You Know?" section.

Your input is greatly appreciated - we're always working to make the site even easier to use, but we can't make things better if we don't know they need improvement.

Mobile Caller Explained

One of the services that we offer is Mobile Caller, a prepaid calling plan that can be used from any phone. It's handy if you make a lot of international calls, whether they're for business or just for personal reasons.

Mobile Caller has a lot of great features, like:

• Pinless Dialing (explained here in more detail - the gist is that you don't have to enter a PIN number when you make calls)
• Speed Dial (another convenient feature - store up to 20 numbers for quick access)
• 24/7 Live Customer Service
• Custom Billing (you choose your plan and your billing increment - increments go as low as 1 second, so you can pay for exactly the amount of time that you use)
• 75¢ 411 calls to Live Operators
• International Access - call from 20+ countries

It's also rechargeable (do it yourself online) and secure, and it works with any phone. The best part is, of course, the rates - USA to India, for example, starts at just 5.9¢ per minute. All rates are guaranteed 24/7, so you don't have to wait until a certain time to make your call.

There aren't any connection fees, expiration dates, or other mumbo jumbo; it's just a simple calling plan that drastically lowers your long distance rates to any country in the world. Give it a try with our free 10-minute trial and let me know what you think.

Why use calling cards in the age of Skype?

Many of my friends ignore calling cards, preferring to use Skype or other online voice chat to make long distance calls, often for free. With products that allow you to talk for free, why would you still need a calling card? Well...

1. Not everyone has access to the right computer equipment and a good enough internet connection.
That shouldn't be too hard to believe. Think of your parents - do they know that they can plug a microphone into the computer, let alone where? And think of the last time you were on a wireless internet connection. It was probably unreliable enough to make you question using regular instant messenger, let alone some demanding voice software. Some applications have addressed this by letting you use your computer to call out to a regular phone, but guess what - that's not free! And calling cards offer significantly lower rates than what those outbound computer-to-phone calls will run you.

2. Online chat isn't always appropriate.
"Hey, prospective international employer. I'll be on Skype from 3-6 GMT. Meet me there." As if! Voice chat is appropriate for some industries, but not for all. I might be able to revise that last sentence in a few years, but until then, some thing just require a plain old phone. What about calling a hotel in Italy to make honeymoon reservations. Think you can Skype them?

There's also a question of quality here - the "jitter" that can come with network delays (that weird-sounding thing that happens when syllables get blurred together or whole words get lost) might be acceptable when calling friends, but what about for business?

3. You're travelling.
Ever tried to track down a reliable internet connection while you're on the road? Or in a foreign country? Internet cafes are pretty common, but not many have equipment for voice chat (and many are so loud that it wouldn't matter). Also, the last time I was in Europe I paid about 15 eurocents/minute to use a computer - a phone card would have given me a rate of about 7 cents USD. Cruise ship internet connections average about 70-90 cents per minute. Enough said.

4. Scheduling online meetings is a pain.
But then add in time differences and computer glitches (network outages, equipment failures) and you've left everyone with their headsets on, staring expectantly at their buddy lists while they wait for your arrival to the chat. Most times, someone has to call the delayed party to figure out what's going on - why not save the hassle and just do the whole meeting over the phone?

I'm all for new technology, but sometimes there's a reason to hang onto the old stuff, too. Calling cards can save you time, money, and a lot of trouble in many situations.

Three Ways to Save More with Prepaid Calling Cards

1. Buy a Card with a Local Access Number
This is a great way to get more minutes for your money if you'll generally be calling from the same area. View a previous entry for more info on local access numbers.

2. Buy a Card that's designed for your specific Calling Destination
If you know you'll be calling from the US to Buenos Aires, use our search box to enter that specific information - you'll get better rates than you would for a generic US to South America or a US to Buenos Aires card. This is especially important for international calling cards!

3. Buy a Card with a low Billing Increment
I've mentioned this before, but check the billing increment before you purchase - or watch a short phone call cost double what it needs to. A one minute billing increment is usually best (and most people are already accustomed to this increment from cell phone plans); every minute or partial minute is billed as one full minute. Much better than if one minute is billed as three....

Bonus tip: Avoid Payphones!
Payphones are great in an emergency, but call from a landline or cell if you can - you'll avoid wasting calling card minutes on hefty payphone surcharges.

One more thought...
Consider a prepaid calling plan like Mobile Caller, which comes with speed dial and pinless dialing. The rates are great, the plan is customizable and can be set to automatically recharge, and it can be used from any phone.

Have you saved money with calling cards?

If you enjoy calling cards, chances are that you know someone else who might, too. After all, who wouldn't want to save money on long distance costs? Did you know that you could earn money by connecting that friend with a calling card? With the CallingCards.com affiliate program, friend + calling card = $$ for you.

(Of course, your customers don't have to be your friends. With the Internet, almost anything's possible.)

If you're not familiar with affiliate programs, here's the general idea.

1. You sign up with the CallingCards.com affiliate program
2. You put a banner or text link on your website, blog, newsletter, etc. to CallingCards.com. Your link contains your afiiliate id, an identifier that ensures that you get credit for any sales that are generated by your link.
3. Visitors to your site click on your link and purchase calling cards.
4. You earn 10% commission on every sale - and on any cards that your customers buy in the future, even if they don't use your link next time (we call that "Customer For Life").

We have some more advanced affiliate options as well, so stop by the CallingCards.com Affiliate Program site and take a look. Sign up is absolutely free, and new affiliates get a $25 bonus just for signing up.

The Truth About Access Numbers

That calling card you just picked up has a toll-free number printed on it. Should you use it?

How on earth will you choose a card to call back to the US while traveling or living abroad?

Why did your 100 minute calling card only last for 20 minutes?

Ah, the mysterious access number. Why are there so many, and why are they so complicated? The short answer is: lots of phone company business and technological things. What you should know: your access number (that is, the number you dial first when beginning your call - as opposed to your destination number, which is the phone number of the person/business you are trying to read) can have a big impact on your calling rates.

Suppose you get a card that has a local access number (a number that you can call without incurring long distance charges) and a 1-800 number. Chances are, you'll get a better rate by using the local access number - your calling card company has to pay less to route the call, and they will pass that savings on to you.

If you are buying a calling card online or buying a card in a different location than the one from which you will be using it (buying a card in New York to use in Paris, for instance), make sure the card has a local access number for the city/country in which you'll be using it. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches if you have to use the card from a pay phone (or as a guest in someone's home - you don't want your host to be billed for your calls), or from a location like a hotel that might block toll-free calls.

Many cards come with multiple access numbers, so see what options are available to you before you purchase. (I strongly advocate buying your calling cards online anyhow- no card to lose, and you save money on printing/marketing/shipping costs since there's no physical card.)

Some great ones for travelers or anyone who makes frequent calls from outside the US to anywhere around the world are the World Cards from CallingCards.com. World Calls, World Europe, and World Access have incredibly low rates for calls from 40+ countries to anywhere in the world. For more information on these cards, visit http://callingcards.com/index_localaccess.asp to view a list of the supported origination countries (the country you'd be calling from) and search for the best rate.

For help selecting the best calling card, you can always leave a note in the comments! I'm more than happy to help you find a card to meet your needs.

The Truth on Calling Card Fees

I've been seeing a lot of complaints online about calling card fees recently (none of them addressed to us), and I thought I'd give a quick primer about all of the fees associated with calling cards. Some of them are mandatory and some of them are at the provider's discretion, but all of them should be disclosed to you before you purchase a card. At CallingCards.com, we provide an honest list of all taxes and fees along on every card's profile page so that you can make an informed decision.

Remember that all of these fees vary from card to card, and not all cards will carry all of these fees.

Connection Fee
Charged every single time you connect, whether you talk for an hour or hang up after hearing 1/2 second of a voicemail message. Varies widely, from about 25¢ to $1. This is a big one to look for if you'll be using the card more than once! If you have a $10 card and make 3 calls on it, remember that your card's value decreases to $7-$9.75.

Maintenance Fee
A fee that's charged for keeping your card active in the computer system, to maintain phone lines and equipment, etc. This fee might be charged weekly, daily, or monthly, so keep your eye out. The maintenance fee is usually charged the first time that you make a call, and afterward at its specified interval. If you have a $10 card that you keep for a month after its first use, you could lose up to $2-@4 in maintenance fees.

Taxes
You'll be paying some, whether they're built into your rate or you're told about them upfront. There's not a lot you can do about taxes, but they're good to keep in mind - a $10 card with 10% tax is actually worth only $9.

Payphone Surcharge
This is just another fact of calling cards - you have to pay extra to use them with payphones. Take that up with the FCC or your local Commerce Commission. In the meantime, know that you'll be paying between 25¢ and $1 every time you make a call from a payphone.

Don't forget to check your billing increment (how the call is rounded, whether the rounding unit is 1 second, 1 minute, 3 minutes, etc. - a 1 minute call could cost 3 minutes if you're not careful) and the card's expiration date as well. Access numbers are important, too - some cards have a different rate for toll-free numbers than for local ones.

Your best bet is to read carefully and educate yourself before you buy a calling card. There are some great deals out there, but there are some money sinkholes, too - make sure you know which one you're buying! If the company you're purchasing from doesn't mention each of the points above for the card you want, don't buy it - you don't want to find out once it's too late.

Two Ways to get Free Calling Cards!

Way #1: Visit CallingCards.com and get a free 10 minute call to anywhere in the world.
I'm not sure I can make that much simpler! Just click on that link, enter some basic info, and get ready to make your call. There are no strange rules or requirements - no purchase is required before or after you request your free minutes, and we don't even collect payment information.
Who can do it: Anyone with a valid email address, physical address, and phone number
Why: You're traveling, you rarely make international calls, or you want to test out our call quality

Way #2: Drop me an email if you're a business, nonprofit, or other group that serves an international market. We have free calling cards for you!
We have physical and electronic calling cards that you can offer your customers...quantities and design vary based on your specific needs. Just send an email to liz "at" callingcards.com with some details about your group (URL, # of members or daily customer average, contact information) and I'll let you know what's available to you and how soon we could ship to you!
Who can do it: Any business or non-profit group in the US (international availability coming very soon).
Why: Who doesn't want to save on international calls?

New! OneTranslator.com Prepaid Interpreter Service

I'm excited to present the newest member of the Universal Calling family: OneTranslator.com. OneTranslator is a prepaid, on-demand service that provides over-the-phone interpretation for Arabic, Bengali (Bangla), Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

OneTranslator is ideal for anyone with international clients or business partners since all calls are secure and private, and the team of interpreters are familiar with terminology for most industries. It's also a great way for travelers and exchange students to build their confidence (and avoid emergencies). Anyone with limited English knowledge can benefit from OneTranslator, especially in medical emergencies and other situations when clear communication is critical. I know that my circle of international friends and business associates has expanded greatly over the past few years, and I'm sure it will continue to grow - a tool like OneTranslator is a great weapon against the language barrier.

OneTranslator is quick and simple to use. Just dial your OneTranslator access number, enter your PIN, and choose the language for which you need interpretation. Your interpreter will be connected to your call within seconds. You can even set up PINless dialing on your account to shorten your dialing time! You can call from any phone, even a cell phone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Rates start at just $2.49 a minute, with no connection fees or other additional charges (except maybe payphone or carrie charges, but hey, we can't control those).

Here are some quick tips for getting the most out of your OneTranslator interpreter:

• Once you are connected, give the interpreter your name and the non-English speakers name. The interpreter is only allowed to give you their name.
• Tell the interpreter whether or not the non-English speaker is already on the phone line, or if you will need to dial their number to add them to a three-way conference call. The interpreters can't place connecting calls for you.
• If the non-English speaker is with you but you are not using a speakerphone, tell the interpreter that you will be passing the phone back and forth.
  
• Speak clearly in short phrases, pausing to allow for the interpretation.
• Ask one question at a time.
• Use simple language to express your meaning. Remember - slang does not translate.
• Explain any terms you believe may be unclear.
• Allow the interpreter to stop you and seek an explanation when necessary and to repeat back to you any critical information that requires clarification.
• Don't say anything that you do not want interpreted.

Let us know what uses you find for OneTranslator's language services! We'll be sharing lots more stories soon.

I've always felt that calling directory assistance was a necessary evil - it's convenient, reliable, and still usually faster than trying to get information from the internet on a cell phone or handheld. The "evil" part comes in when the bill arrives: $1.50 per call? $2? For a movie listing? Please.

We've got an answer - new Live 411. Directory assistance for 75 cents per call, from a live operator, using the same database as the big guys so all your needed information will always be up-to-date.

Live 411 Services include:

• Directory Assistance
  Live operator and/or automated search for caller requested United States, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands phone number listings for residential and businesses. Your search can also include category and reverse phone number/address searches.
  
  
• LocationPro®
  From turn-by-turn driving directions to taxi and towing referral, our operators provide travelers with an extra level of quality and service.
  
  
• Number Reader
  Automated voice reads the number to you automatically at the close of the call. This is available in either English or Spanish.
  
  
• MoviePro®
  Nationwide listings for all major theaters including show times, theater location, economy times, phone numbers, reviews and more.
  
  
• AstroPro®
  Horoscopes are provided for each astrological sign on a daily basis.
  
  
• Weather:
  Daily and weekly weather forecasts are available for the majority of the cities within the United States. (Live Operator)

We've gotten great feedback so far, so let us know what you think! Live 411 is currently available with calling services from Mobile Caller (mobilecaller.c0m) and CallingCard.com. See more information on getting started with Live 411 here.

Talk to up to 50 friends and family members in the same call!

During this little break, we've been developing a lot of great new things at CallingCards.com. Among them is the new Group Talk card, a multiuser (conference) calling card that lets families and friends from around the world connect in one call.

I have relatives on both coasts, and while it may sound lazy, I do get tired of repeating the same stories to catch everyone up on my news. Email isn't really an option for these family members, and those long-winded mass emails of personal updates seem to be out of fashion these days anyhow. It's much nicer to get everyone together to chat at once, too - especially since we don't all get together even once a year. Besides, this card is a lot cheaper than airfare.

My sister was on her honeymoon a few years ago, and she wanted to check in and thank everyone for their help with the wedding. I wish this card had been around then, because she spent almost a whole sunny morning inside on the phone.

Seem strange to conference at home? It's really not - and it can be cheaper and quicker than making a bunch of individual calls. You won't have any agendas or actionable items to follow up on either. Besides, who doesn't want to hear the kids sing happy birthday all at once? Check out the Group Talk card and let me know what you think.

New! Affiliate Program Expansion

I'm excited to present the latest expansion to our calling card affiliate program: Co-Branding! (view press release here)

Co-Branding offers all of the benefits of our standard affiliate program - 10% commissions, residual 10% commissions on all of your customers, graphic libraries, and free promotional cards - but comes with the added benefit of a free customizable calling cards website. We have graphics ready-made for a wide range of industries, including travel, hotels, hostels, students, dating, military, and business.

To get your own free calling cards site, just visit callingcards.com/ap and enter some basic information about your website or business. For a limited time, new affiliates will also get a bonus of $250 in sales!

Why become an affiliate?
Do you work in an industry that caters to people who might benefit from savings on long-distance? Many travelers, students, and businesspeople rely on calling cards for inexpensive and reliable international calling, and they already know the CallingCards.com name. With your Co-Branding site, you can direct your clients to high quality calling cards at industry-low rates and earn 10% of every successful sale.

For instance, if you're a wedding planner who specializes in destination weddings, you might already rely on calling cards already to contact vendors in Tuscany, Paris, or other worldwide locations. You could earn commissions on your own sales while offering your clients cards to call home from abroad and to coordinate with relatives and vendors.

Oh, and did I mention that sign-up is completely free?

Call your Mother!

Mother's Day is May 13th in the US, just 10 days away. You could send flowers, take mom to lunch, or dash off a card at the last minute...or you could do something you know your mom wants: call her. That's right, the simple gift of your voice.

CallingCards.com offers free 10-minute calls to anywhere in the world. There are no restrictions, and you don't even need a credit card. No matter how tight your budget is, you can afford a free 10-minute call to your mom, right? You might think she knows, but it never hurts to tell her how much she means to you, and to thank her for all that she's given you over the years.

Whatever you do for Mother's Day, make sure it comes from the heart. My mom still has all the odd gifts from past holidays - bits of dried flowers and burlap, glittered drawings, ribbons from long-gone bouquets - proudly displayed, even though I'm well past those years. I don't live nearby anymore and I'm frequently on the road, but even when I don't make it home for long stretches I'm sure to stay in touch. Just pick up the phone - your mom will thank you.

Calling Cards vs. VOIP: Round One

It's easy to look at VOIP services like internet telephony, especially free ones, and get swept up in the high-tech appeal. So why would a gadget-loving gal like myself still recommend calling cards over something like, say, Skype?

1. Convenience
It's true, not all of us are at our computers 24/7. I've scheduled many international "calls" and waited patiently with my headset on while the other party booted up and tried to connect. On an especially frustrating night I ended up footing the bill for a 10 minute ($9 plus tax) call during which I played international tech support before giving up and discussing the details of the pending photo shoot over the phone.

2. Speaking of Headset...
My mom can barely handle turning the computer on. Getting her to speak audibly into the microphone? No dice. She has a phone. Most people have phones or know where to find one. It may seem like everyone has a computer and a decent internet connection (in addition to a microphone and speakers), but the real number in America is closer to 2/3 of all households.

3. Can you [static] now?
Call quality is subject to a variety of factors, but phone connections aren't nearly as variable as ones made through internet telephony. The VOIP danger: any time IP packets are lost or delayed at any point in the network between you and your call destination, the audio drops out momentarily. This is more common over long distances and congested networks. Echo and "jitter" (when you sound like a skipping CD while talking) are also common over VOIP calls.

4. Sorry, my payphone crashed.
That's right, if your power goes out or your computer craters for some reason, your call is gone. I can't recall ever having been accidentally booted off of a phone call. I don't like relying on computers for certain tasks (see also: my frustration at finding Windows error messages displayed on ATMs), and it will be a long time before I trust mine to handle my important calls.

Internet telephony isn't useless by any means, but it doesn't work in all situations. I used it as a broke grad student to stay in touch with my friends, and I have high hopes for its future in mobile applications. I even helped my nephew get set up to converse with his pen pal in Germany for free, because most high school freshmen would rather face computer delays than have to borrow money from mom and dad. For the calls that really matter, though, I still recommend sticking with the plain old telephone and its trusty sidekick, money-saving Calling Card.

Three Calling Card Advantages: Business Use

You may not be surprised that the advantages of calling cards for businesses are similar to those for personal use. Lower overhead never hurts, though, especially in micro or small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).

Advantage #1: Save $$$
Yep, this again. Business phone systems and services can be overpriced expensive, especially for long-distance calling. Calling cards save you money on each minute of your call and can be used from any phone. I know, by this time next year you'll be trying to write off all those calls, but wouldn't it be better to save the money in the first place?

A friend of mine has an increasingly successful web design business, but international clients (and talkative executives) have always meant high phone bills. (Trust me, there are details that can't be worked out over email, and you don't want to try to teach some of these folks how to use Skype.) Calling cards now save my friend more than a thousand dollars each year in overhead....

Advantage #2: Flexibility and Accountability (no pun intended)
As I said before, calling cards go anywhere you go. Sure, company cell phones do, too, but those also get lost, run out of minutes, go out of area, and sometimes "accidentally" make extended personal calls. Calling cards work from any phone, so your representatives can always stay in the loop.

Online account management allows an administrator to keep track of all the calls made from each phone card and to recharge the cards as needed. Keep track of your calls at a glance with instantly updated info that includes frequently called numbers and call duration - and without the complications or delays of other systems' reports.

Advantage #3: No Mystery Charges
In our new world of CPC bidding and user-generated content, we have to accept some mysterious things. Your phone bill shouldn't contain any of them, though. CallingCards.com only offers clean cards with full card disclosure (never any connection fees or inexplicably missing minutes, just the mandatory taxes). You don't have to sign up for a service package or deal with overage charges, rate tables, or anything else; you can go back to spending your time on your clients rather than deciphering your phone bill. With auto-recharge, you don't have to worry about running out of minutes during a call, either.

Saving money and simplifying your accounting process? Sounds like a smart business strategy to me.

Time Saver: Rechargeable Phone Cards

Did you know that nearly all phone cards offered by CallingCards.com are rechargeable? This means:

• You can keep the same PIN or security code
• You can keep the same access number (handy if you've stored it in your cell phone)

To recharge your card, just log in to your account and click the recharge link next to the card you wish to recharge. You'll be prompted to enter the recharge amount and your payment information.

Most of these cards also offer auto-recharge. This lets you "set and forget" your calling cards - you can choose a minimum dollar or minute value for each of your calling cards, and your cards will recharge automatically when they reach that balance. You'll never run out of minutes again!

To set up auto-recharge, log in to your account and click the auto-recharge link next to the card that you want to automatically recharge. You'll be prompted to set your dollar/minute minimum for the card and payment information. You can cancel or modify your auto-recharge settings at any time.

Three Calling Card Advantages: Personal Use

Calling cards are great for travelers, businesses, students, and personal use. We'll be looking at that last one today, but don't worry - those other uses are on their way.

Advantage #1: Your Bottom Line
Quality calling cards save you money over standard long-distance. Period. Many people have cell phones or domestic phone plans that provide "free" nationwide long distance calling, which is of course "free" with purchase. My family is spread all over the country, and I'm a cell-phone only kind of gal, so I'll admit that I rely on my expensive phone plan to provide me with all of the domestic minutes I need. I pay $60 each month for 1000 minutes, when I could be getting about 1500 minutes for $50 on a calling card (or a plan like Mobile Caller, which also rounds by the second, rather than by the minute like my cell plan does. I score some extra minutes by having free nights and weekends, but most of my family is busy during those times (and time zone differences cause trouble, too).
It goes without saying that the savings for international calling are huge; I'd pay $1.80 a minute with my current cell plan to call my old roommate in Paris, but a calling card like Eurotel is just 1.8 cents per minute. If I wanted an international calling plan on my cell, my monthly charges would be almost double.

Advantage #2: Flexibility
Calling cards go anywhere you go. Need to make a call from a payphone? You'll have to pay a small surcharge, but that sounds a lot better than $3 a minute on a credit card (I've gotten stuck in rural locales and had to do it) or calling collect. Traveling? Looks like your unlimited long distance is still back at home. With a calling card, you never have to worry about roaming charges, either. Trust me, there are still parts of the country (New Mexico, anyone?) where cell phone coverage is extremely limited. I've learned always to have a calling card with me on any trip, especially road travel, so that I'm never stuck (or stuck paying inflated convenience store rates). You also don't want to end up paying high hotel long-distance fees...most calling cards eliminate all but the toll-free access charges (which vary by hotel; many offer free toll-free or local calls, and many calling cards have nationwide local access numbers).

Advantage #3: You Can't Overspend
Many people have learned the hard way (and kept phone companies comfortably in business) that it's very easy to talk the night away. With a prepaid card, your minutes are limited to what you've already purchase; while you can recharge most cards if you need to continue your call right away, the time limit can be a great motivator to stay within your budget. I got a $1200 cell phone bill once. That's right, once. Now I keep such close tabs on my talk time that I wonder if I shouldn't be an accountant. A friend of mine gets a $1200 cell phone bill about five months out of the year. He just can't master staying under his plan minutes. If this sounds like you, a prepaid calling card could be just what you need.

We've got a special Mother's Day offer coming up, so stay tuned! You know your mom's already waiting for you to call....

Pinless Dialing: Eighth World Wonder?

Well, probably not. But it's a pretty nice feature, and it makes calling cards even more convenient to use.

What is Pinless Dialing?
Pinless dialing is a service provided by some calling card providers that enables you to place calls without entering a pin number. If you're tired of memorizing long strings of numbers (in addition to the phone numbers you already have to know to place calls), or misdialing in the middle of some 10-digit string, you may want to give pinless dialing a try.

How does it work?
Pinless dialing requires one step of setup: you must specify (or "register") the phone numbers from which you'll be using your account. (With CallingCards.com, you can register up to 6 numbers, enough for home, work, cell, and three additional locations.) Then, when you call from these numbers, the system automatically recognizes your account. Rather than a full PIN, you only have to enter a short (usually 3-digit) security code to prevent unauthorized account access.

Bonus: Speed Dial
To save you from dialing still more numbers, many cards with pinless dialing also enable speed dial. Speed dial requires the same first step as pinless dialing - you must register the phone numbers for your speed dial with your account. When placing calls to the numbers in your speed dial, you only have to dial a single digit and the pound (#) sign.

If you were to save your access number in your phone's speed dial, you could place a call on your calling card in just 5 keystrokes. Amazing, no?

3 Easy Steps: Choose the Best Calling Card

Choosing a calling card can seem complicated, but I promise it's not that bad.

1. Know who you're calling
Once you know who you're calling and where you'll be calling from (this one should be easy), you have some key information that will help you select the best card, like:

• Destination Country (the country you'll be calling)
• Destination City (in some cases, specific cities have lower rates than general country-based cards)
• Cell phone or Landline (calls to cell phones are usually billed at a higher rate because of carrier charges, but some cities have cell phone-specific cards that can lower your rates)

2. Check for taxes, connection fees, and maintenance charges
This is where many people get confused - or overcharged. Make sure your calling card provider lists all of the charges associated with your card (CallingCards.com has detailed information and full disclosure for each of its cards - see example). Taxes and payphone charges are mandatory fees that calling card providers can't control, so don't think your provider is ripping you off. Maintenance charges are usually imposed on high-quality cards - customer service and clear call quality aren't free.

While you're doing this, you might also want to look at the billing increment of the card. For example, if a card has a 3 minute billing increment, you use three minutes for each .01-3 minute interval that you talk (so a 5 minute conversation is billed at 6 minutes). If you're mostly making long calls, this isn't all that important.

3. Buy your card
By now you should have found a card that was designed for your needs - it has a low rate to/from where you're calling, and you've checked for any unsavory fees. All that's left is to pay for those minutes and start calling.

Bonus: Local Access Numbers
An access number is the number you call to start your call. Some cards come with local access numbers, meaning that the call will be billed at a local rate (i.e. free) if the number is within your local calling area (example: a (212) number in New York City). Cards with local access numbers usually offer even better deals than toll-free access numbers.

What are calling cards, anyhow?

A calling card is, plain and simple, a way to lower your long distance costs. Technically, calling cards are a form of dial-around; this just means that when you use a calling card to place a call, you are routing the call specially to get a different (usually lower) rate. Calling cards usually come with two important numbers: an access number, which is the phone number you dial to begin your call, and a PIN, which you must enter to prevent others from accessing your account without your authorization. More sophisticated cards allow you to register phone numbers with your calling card so that you don't have to enter a PIN when calling from these numbers.

Some calling cards are postpaid, which means that you have an account and are billed for your usage, usually monthly. Others are prepaid, so you can only spend a set amount. Prepaid cards frequently have lower rates, since by paying upfront you enable the calling card provider to negotiate the rates in advance.

There are prepaid cards designed specifically for use between two countries, between a group of countries, or just within a single country. There are cards for students, cards for businesses, and cards for just making phone calls. We'll go into this in more detail in a future post - it's not hard to choose a calling card, but there are a few important things to consider.

What aren't calling cards? Don't confuse the calling cards we talk about in this blog with the cards used in many countries to activiate payphones; these cards usually contain smart chips and have many names, including phone cards, telecartes, and calling cards. We don't mean these, either.

Welcome

Welcome to the Calling Cards Info Blog. We’ll be providing frequent updates about calling card and prepaid telecom news, best practices, and expert tips. The CallingCards.com blogging team has years of experience with all levels of the prepaid telecom industry, from development to marketing, and of course we’re telecom users as well. Please feel free to comment if there’s anything you’d like to see covered that relates to calling cards.