Calling Cards FAQ:
- Who should use prepaid calling cards?
»» International callers, students, travelers, payphone users, or those seeking to dramatically reduce their home or business long distance phone bill.
- Why should I use a prepaid calling card?
Savings:
- »» CallingCardsToday calling cards can save you up to 80% on your phone bill. Typical CallingCardsToday.com customers with family or friends overseas report to us that they save hundreds of dollars each month by using our calling cards with their home phone rather than dialing direct - and domestic users can find their bills cut in half.
- »» Use calling cards at hotels to avoid long distance surcharges. A phone call from a hotel without a CallingCardsToday calling card can cost you 20 times more than without the calling card.
- »» Students often do not have any access to long distance service in dormitories. When they do, it is often expensive. CallingCardsToday calling cards cost less than half of most "phonecards", which bill you for your long distance calls at the end of the month.
- »» Travelers can use CallingCardTodays's Traveler Phonecard to call from the U.S. to any country in the world and from anyone of 94 foreign countries to any other. No calling card can give you the flexibility of a CallingCardsToday calling card at comparable rates.
- »» Cellular phone users will save even more than home users when they use calling cards rather than their cellular company's long distance provider.
- Convenience:
- »» Calling Cards provide convenience if you must use a phone but are caught without change or other money.
- »» Parents find calling cards a great way to make sure their children can call home, from anywhere, anytime they need.
- »» Businesses find that distributing calling cards to their traveling employees is a convenient and inexpensive way to handle their long-distance needs. ^top
- How do I order?
- Order your phone card in three easy steps:
- 1.) Use our Rate Finder to locate the best card for you.
- 2.) Select the calling card and quantity you wish to purchase.
- 3.) Enter your contact and payment information.
»» Payments by credit card receive their access PIN within 10 minutes by e-mail. Note: Due to our high standards of consumer protection policies, you may experience a short delay with your very first order. Subsequent orders will be processed within the 10 minute time period. ^top
- How do you keep your rates so low?
- »» We can offer rates lower than your phone company for 3 primary reasons.
- 1. High volume purchases.
We are part of a network of calling card buyers that purchase more than one billion dollars in phonecards per year. That volume allows us to command the best rates in the industry and pass them along to you.
- 2. Economic freedom is good for consumers.
Unlike the direct-dial telephone companies, phone card issuers are not made less efficient by government-protected monopoly.
When you dial a long distance number direct from your home phone your call is routed to its destination by a long distance carrier who bills you for every call you make. A direct-dial long distance company profits by becoming the exclusive carrier for as many homes as it can service. While there has been much deregulation during the past five years, it is still highly regulated and made inefficient by burdensome government controls. This regulation makes it harder for new companies to enter the market, thereby preventing as much competition as there should be - and makes it more expensive for the companies already in business, thereby making it hard for them to lower their rates.
By contrast, a phonecard issuer makes its money when you initiate your long distance call through the issuer's toll-free access number. It doesn't need to spend millions on lobbying or on the infrastructure to run lines into your home. It contracts with the local phone company to "go around" the direct-dial carrier that would otherwise service your area. As a result, thousands of smaller, more efficient phonecard companies fight hard for your business against one another and against the direct-dial carriers. The way they do this is by offering you the lowest rates possible.
In short, consumers benefit from economic liberty.
- 3. "Good" calling card users benefit because some users are "bad."
It may sound odd, but phonecard issuers count on the fact that some of you will not use your phonecard. These are "bad" users - those that have a perfectly good prepaid phonecard in their hand but choose to throw it away or otherwise waste it. The result is that phonecard issuers can offer even better rates to "good" users - those that use every last penny of every phone card they buy.
How does this work?
Let's say we sell a batch of phone cards to a big computer trade association that wishes to give them to all the attendees of their national convention. Now let's say that these cards are priced at 5 cents per minute. The association pays CallingCardsToday full value for the cards. And, in turn, CallingCardsToday pays the phonecard issuer full value.
But what happens if 20% of the attendees fly home from the convention without ever having used their cards - and then throw them away when they unpack from their trip? That's right, CallingCardsToday paid for more time than was used! We paid the phonecard issuer 20% more than it expected, or an average of 6 cents per minute for its 5-cent phonecards.
But, as noted above, this is a competitive industry. Rather than simply keeping the money as extra profit, most phonecard issuers rely on such wasted cards to offset losses on other cards. In order to attract more business, they might create a new batch of 4-cent phonecards - even if a 4-cent rate is below their cost! Such a card might attract new users to their products - users who might call not only to locations at the below-cost domestic rates, but also to profitable international locations. In this way the company may earn even more profit than it would have by just keeping the 20% surplus that CallingCardsToday paid.
The phonecard companies are constantly thinking of ways to lower their rates in a battle for your business. So be a "good" user and enjoy your phonecard to its limit. ^top
- Is my credit card secure when I order at CallingCardsToday?
- »» CallingCardsToday guarantees that every transaction you make while shopping at our site is 100% safe. Period. This means you pay nothing if unauthorized charges are made to your credit card as a result of shopping at CallingCardsToday.
Our security guarantee
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, your bank cannot hold you liable for more than $50.00 of fraudulent charges. If your bank does hold you liable for any of this $50.00, CallingCardsToday will cover the entire liability for you, up to the full $50.00. CallingCardsToday will cover this liability only if the unauthorized use of your credit card resulted through no fault of your own from purchases made at CallingCardsToday. You must notify CallingCardsToday of the fraud within 60 days of the charge.
To be eligible for this guarantee, in the event of unauthorized use of your credit card, you must notify your credit card provider in accordance with its reporting rules and procedures. ^top
How do we do it?
We maintain a vigorous consumer protection policy to fight credit card fraud.
Our transactions are secured with Secured Server Technology, the most respected standard in e-commerce protection.
All attempts at fraud will be reported to the appropriate enforcement agency and CallingCardsToday makes available its own private investigation service to aid the state police and attorneys general in their pursuit of credit card thieves.
Last, CallingCardsToday staff manually inspect and verify all first-time orders and orders that meet typical fraud profiles. ^top
- Can I use a calling card anywhere?
- »» CallingCardsToday has cards that will allow you to call to virtually any country in the world from any touch-tone phone in the U.S. We also have cards that will allow you to call from nearly one hundred foreign countries back to the U.S. - at rates typically much less than direct-dialed calls from the originating country.
You can use phonecards with virtually all cellular networks and all payphones, although exceptions exist in some regions of the country.
Visit our Rate Finder to find the rates to the country you wish to call. ^top
- What if I have a problem using my card?
- »» All of our cards have a 24-hour customer service phone number printed on the back. Call this number and you can get prompt, friendly help. ^top
- What should I know about a card before buying a card?
- »» CallingCardsToday discloses all relevant information about its phonecards upfront. Simply find the card that best suits your needs through our Rate Finder, click on the card, and all relevant information will appear before you are asked to enter an order.
Many other phonecard resellers do not make this important information available. In order to make sure you are getting a fair deal, you should always ask the following questions:
- What is the per-minute rate for calls within the U.S.?
- What is the per-minute rate for calls to my international destination?
- Are the rates the same 24 hours a day?
- Is there a higher rate for the first minute than subsequent minutes?
- Will I be charged for calls that are not completed?
- Are there any connection fees or surcharges?
- Are there any monthly/weekly maintenance fees?
- Is there a connection fee for international calls? If so, how much?
- Can I place more than one call without redialing the PIN?
- Will I be notified when one minute is remaining?
- Can I reach a customer service operator 24 hours a day?
- When does the card expire?
By purchasing from CallingCardsToday you can be sure that you are getting an honest bargain. ^top
- How will I know if I've used up the value of the prepaid calling card?
- »» At the beginning of each call a message will indicate how many minutes are left on your card. A warning tone will sound during your phone call when you have one minute remaining. ^top
- What is "Voice over IP" or an "Internet phonecard"?
- »» "Voice over IP" or "Internet Phonecards" are phone cards that route your long distance phone call over the Internet. Unfortunately, this technology does not yet permit high-quality, reliable connections. Therefore, SpeedyPin sells only cards that carry long-distance calls over fiber-optic digital networks. Our experts are constantly searching for better rates and service for our customers. If ever VoIP becomes reliable and less expensive than phone-to-phone connections, we will be proud to offer such service at our Web site. ^top
- Can I add more time to my calling card without buying another card?
- »» We do not recommend "rechargeable" cards. Such cards are a leading source of fraud in the telecommunications industry and using them increases the risk that your credit card will be used fraudulently. To protect both you and CallingCardsToday, we do not sell such cards. ^top
- Are there any extra charges when I use my CallingCardsToday calling card from payphones, hotels, or other privately owned phone networks?
- »» Yes. Some phone owners charge additional fees to your card when you use their private phone networks. Such fees may be up to 50 cents. As required by the FCC, it will be automatically deducted from your card. (many states require phone owners to post the amount of this charge on their phones). ^top
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