Prepaid phone cards sometime know as “calling cards” are purchased in denominations, such as $5, $10, $20, or in other available denominations, or in other currencies such as sterling.
When you purchase this card, the card is precharged with a value of call credit which is usually the same as that of the card value. (Sometimes cards may give extra value such as a $25 for $20).
Callers can then use the card to call from almost any touch tone telephone to call either local or International.
Because cards are prepaid, phone card producers are able to purchase ‘minutes’ in bulk from line carriers such as MCI, WorldCom, Deutche Telecom, BT, etc. Purchasing in bulk means savings, and these savings are passed onto the phone card user. Typically, on international calls, callers can save over 80% over a standard dialing service, and in some cases over 90%, thus making phone cards a very attractive method for calling abroad.
Phone cards are then generally supplied to phone card resellers.
Normally first line customer services are supplied by the card operator, details of which are normally sent with the order. As the physical card is not needed, many orders are now made via email or over the phone. The phone card resellers then send details to the customer, the details would normally include :-
*Access number (s)
*PIN number (s)
*Customer Services telephone number for that specific card
*Usage instructions

