Phone Cards & Calling Cards

Prepaid phone cards were developed in Italy in 1976 to compensate for the shortage of coins. People just insert the cards with magnetic strips in the payphone and they can start calling right away. While on a call, call credits are deducted at rates that depend to where they are calling.

More than 30 years after its development, prepaid phone cards still exist and they have been improved on a large scale. Unlike before, prepaid phone cards nowadays use smart chips instead of magnetic strips. Also, prepaid phone cards can be used with any phone, anywhere and at any time.

But even with its improvements, questions about its convenience still lurk around. To answer the question whether prepaid phone cards are truly convenient, look at the advantages and disadvantages it provides.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Prepaid Phone Cards

One very evident advantage of prepaid of phone cards is that it's handy. Try carrying a hundred dollars worth of quarters in your pockets -- convenient? A single prepaid phone card can hold a hundred dollars worth of prepaid phone credits. Because of its slim and almost paper-like structure, you have the convenience of putting it in any of your pockets. But because of this advantage, one hundred dollars in a small and slim card, also has the disadvantage of easily losing or misplacing it which means losing a hundred bucks in an instant.

Another advantage of prepaid phone cards can be based on its features. The basic feature of prepaid phone cards is that you can call using any phone, anywhere at anytime. A mobile phone with no talk time can use a prepaid phone card to call anybody in the world. The urgent need to call a business partner abroad immediately is not a problem with the use of prepaid phone cards. The ability of calling anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world is just in a small piece of card. Technology has made the world smaller and they made it even smaller with the use of prepaid phone cards.

But technology has also developed people who want to exploit and to take advantage of this in a not so good way. Other disadvantages of prepaid phone cards include scams and fraud. Scams usually happen when another person asks you regarding information about your card like a few digits and you unsuspectingly give them what they want.

Because of technology a few digits can mean a whole lot of things and before you know it, you have been scammed. There are also prepaid phone card companies / brands that charge more than they should do and this is how fraud happens. They do not inform customers properly of the call rates that that certain prepaid phone card has.

As you may observe, most of the time the advantages of prepaid phone cards also have opposing disadvantages and vice-versa. So does it mean that prepaid phone cards are not convenient? Actually, what it means is that convenience with prepaid phone cards is not absolute. It all depends on who is using it and his / her preference.

Choosing a hosted PBX service provides advantages in several areas where traditional PBX phone systems are weakest. Hosted PBX delivers PBX functionality as a service, available over telephone and/or the internet. The first hosted PBX was introduced in late 1997. Users contract for PBX services from a hosted PBX provider. Today, it is possible to get hosted PBX service with more features than were available from the first systems of this class, or to contract with companies that provide less functionality for more simple needs.

Now using a Hosted PBX Phone System you can have all of the features of the best telephone and voicemail systems, with no equipment to buy, maintain or outgrow. The hardest mainstream features to get in a hosted system are real Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) instead of simple hunt groups, flexible company directories, call transfers between extensions (or to an operator or an ACD queue), and real-time system monitoring. There are many other advanced functions that only a few providers have been able to make available. Web-based administration tools are the norm for hosted PBX services. Adding new users, changing extensions, and changing hunt groups or call queues is as easy as a point and click.

A Hosted PBX phone system can be configured to utilize your current voicemail, for example, transferring calls to your cell phone and letting the call roll into your cell phone voicemail if not answered. A hosted PBX usually can handle a higher number of calls. If the caller enters an extension they will be prompted to stay on the line while their call is transferred. If you answer you will have the opportunity to accept/reject the call. After accepting a call you can transfer the caller back to voice mail or to another extension. If the lines are busy or not answered the caller will hear the voice mail greeting for that extension and be able to leave a message. In addition, hardware PBX buyers are on usually a tight budget and buy small systems that can't grow. But there is no capital outlay for hosted PBX services, and extensions can be changed as needs change. Hosted PBX customers pay only for what they need.

There are other advantages that a hosted system has. The most important is the ability to route calls to any phone, rather than just phones wired to the PBX inside the office. Other major advantages of hosted PBX include lower entry cost, support costs, greater ease of management, flexibility, and improved scalability. No longer will your traveling employees feel out of touch. The right hosted PBX service can make their cell phone into a seamless part of the company telecommunications infrastructure: calls to their extension will ring through to their cell, and they'll be able to transfer and forward calls as usual.

The phone card industry has come a long way in the last 10-15 years. It's undergone some major changes, fought a somewhat shaky image and revolutionized the way people stay in touch around the world.

The smart phone card has really taken the calling card to new levels, whether international or local calling and no longer do people need to physically walk into a store and purchase a card; they can do it online from home.

The Convenience Of A Smart Phone Card

One of the biggest advantages is having access to maintenance applications 24 hours a day. When your talk time runs out, you simply go online and and add extra time. For international travelers, the benefits are enormous. International phone cards have been a boon for people who want to stay in touch with family and friends. Instead of paying expensive traditional phone rates, phone cards have given people the opportunity to stay in touch for cents on the dollar.

Did You Know?

Calling rates vary considerably from country to country. Where better telecommunications set ups exist usually means a cheaper calling rate. Shop around for the best prices but always check the fine print before joining a service to avoid any nasty surprises!

Managing Your Smart Phone Card

Being able to manage your card is one thing but one of the attractions is the features associated with it. Customer service is so important these days especially when you are dealing with a faceless business society. It's important to know you are actually doing business with real live people and one of my biggest buy factors is making sure I have access to a customer service representative via the telephone. Preferably, 24 hours a day!

The prepaid smart phone card has joined the technology stakes with a pinless dialling service. To be honest, while phone cards are cheap to use, it was a pain having to punch in a long pin number followed by country and area codes and then the phone number. Not anymore, pinless dialling allows the operator to register his or her phones and then when they make a call, the account is instantly recognized and voila, the call is made.

The Hidden Fees Factor

Another smart phone card benefit is you know up front about any hidden fees. There are none. This is a problem with not just the phone card industry, but other areas of business as well. It's up to the consumer to make sure they are not slugged with additional costs.

The prepaid smart phone card is just that...prepaid. You only want to be paying for your talk time. You don't want your minutes eaten away by extra costs such as maintenance or connection fees. Despite the guarantees there will be no hidden costs, for peace of mind, check the small print.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder -- Cliche? Yes. True? It depends.

Missing a person could be one hell of an ordeal. The stress it may bring is almost tantamount to mental torture. Distance is often the most fearsome test for relationships to withstand. What if a person has been away for too long? The tendency is that the person desserted or even both parties cope through looking for other activities with the attempt to make preoccupation forget the loneliness or homesickness a person feels.

But you know what? The rigors and melancholy that these trying times could bring may be alleviated. How? It's as easy as getting the phone, dialing the phone number of that person and talking to that person. Calling your loved one more often and a lot longer is a surefire way to surmount that "abandoned" feeling.

Now the real problem is what if you need to be tight on your budget? Phonecards used for international calls often come with a hefty price tag. How do you deal with that when there's some tuition, utilities and other bills waiting for you to act on.

Don't fret. There are some ways for you to save on international calls. Just read on.

One way for you to not pinch much from your wallet while making that awaited international call is to know what kind of phone will receive your call. Overseas calls to mobile devices such as pagers and cellphones can cost you much more than when you call to a land line phone. This is because of the system called "calling party pays" employed by several overseas carriers. Ask your honey if she can just look for a landline instead of calling her through her latest Nokia.

How about getting some help from your good old smooth operator? NOT. Unless your call is for an emergency, don't let the operator sweet talk you. You'll see that what you can pay for only a few cents per minute could cost you some precious dollars after asking an operator to assist you with your call.

Go PPC. No, it's not about your pubo-coccygeal muscles or those Internet marketing hype known as pay-per-click! It's about using prepaid phone cards. Enjoy the convenience of not having to think of your bills after making that international call through the use of prepaid phone cards. Just make sure that you don't fall for the mistake of buying expired cards or those that have high connection and maintenance fee.

Opt for pre-paid plans. If you're not a prepaid card person despising all the fuss on knowing first all the hidden charges, prepaid plans could be of great help for you to save your hard-earned bucks. Websites that especially cater to those who'd really like to save on their international calls abound.

Choose what will not burn much of your time and what you're most comfortable with. With these tips on how to save on your international calls, you don't have to look for other activities to just resist the temptation of making that international call. Just call!