Prepaid Phone Cards

Prepaid phone cards are amongst those little essentials of the 21st Century that simplify communication and provide a useful back-up, and sometimes even an invaluable lifeline. Essentially, prepaid phone cards allow you to make long distance calls without subscribing to a long distance service. The cards look like credit cards, with a magnetic strip on the back and an account number on the front. Prepaid phone cards can be used at most telephones, but the phone needs to be a touch-tone phone, and these phones are found everywhere. If you do not already know, a touch-tone phone is one which produces a tone or beep when a number is pressed. Their predecessors, pulse-tone phones, which produce a number of clicks equal to the number that was pressed, are being phased out.

Prepaid phone cards, which should be distinguished from prepaid cell phones, are available for purchase at many different locations. For example, they can be purchased directly from your existing long distance supplier. But it is often much easier to buy prepaid phone cards from grocery stores, department stores, and even some convenience stores. Every card comes with a predefined number of long distance minutes on it. When the cards are purchased, the purchaser can use the card for a specified number of minutes of long distance - the prepaid phone cards will come with a fixed-time duration, say of 60 minutes. And of course you can buy phone cards online.

Prepaid Phone Cards - Advantages

Handy at all times, prepaid phone cards are especially helpful when only a pay phone is available, and you don't have enough change to make a long distance call. Some of the newer pay phones have a magnetic slot reader for using credit cards or phone cards. So if a slot is available on the phone, simply swipe the prepaid phone cards, and the amount of long distance minutes used will be deducted from the card. If the pay phone does not have a magnetic slot, the user must first dial the access number listed on the prepaid phone cards, then to enter the card number from the front of the card. This takes longer than using the magnetic slot, but certainly offers more convenience than having no long distance access at all.

Some brands of prepaid phone cards can be refilled online or by your phone company, whereas other phone cards require the consumer to simply purchase a new card. If, unfortunately, prepaid phone cards are lost or stolen, the finder can use the remaining balance on the card. So owners of prepaid phone cards should take care to keep track of their cards, especially if they have purchased expensive prepaid phone cards. In addition, users of prepaid phone cards should carefully shield the numbers they enter into the pay phone, especially at airports and public places. There are unfortunately individuals who haunt such places, ready to memorize the numbers typed by the user. In this case, the thief can use the prepaid phone cards without actually having the card in his physical possession.

Prepaid Phone Cards - Convenience

It is no surprise that at&t prepaid phone cards are amongst the more popular cards, as are vonage prepaid phones. You should always keep some emergency prepaid phone cards handy in case you run out of money or cannot use your cell phone because of poor reception.

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