Types of Phone Cards

Making sense of the choices

There are many kinds of phone cards, depending on where you are in the world. In some European nations, local phone cards are still commonly used, given how they were first used in Italy. However, by far the most common kinds of phone cards are those for prepaid long distance - so much so that often when you are looking for a phone card online or offline, these are the only types you will even locate. Although they can be used for local calling, the rates are most often higher than those that would be available with local service at a regular private landline.

In the United States, the federal government allows a charge of $0.55 per connection at a payphone when you use one of these cards (not to be confused with phone card connection fees, which are charged by the company issuing the card), which takes a quick and significant bite out of your $5 long distance card. One effective way around this is to wait for calls to be disconnected at the other end of the line, and then dial in your new number (if the card issuer’s system supports this). By operating this way, you are charged your per-minute rate as issued on the card, but only a single $0.55 charge by the payphone company. (And then any additional fees which may be unpublished depending on whether your card is low-fee or no-fee.)

The other types of cards include long distance calling cards (either credit or debit), prepaid wireless telephone cards for certain phone plans, prepaid one-number calling cards, and cards intended for local calling through payphones with rates comparable to or lower than those offered for calls made with change. (This last type typically requires a special card reader on the telephone.) The prepaid one-number calling cards are often given to students by their parents as a way of guaranteeing that the student can call home (or at least as a hope that they will do so).

Those are some of the basic types we are able to cover here. As we are all aware, there are a myriad number of hybrids possible in the universe of phone cards.