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.