Calling Cards

You can buy a block of long distance minutes with a pre-paid phone card. Pre-paid phone cards are often shaped like a credit card and made out of plastic or paper. They provide you with an access number and personal identification number (PIN) to make calls from any phone.

Pre-paid cards differ in the amount of minutes or units that are covered by the card and the amount the cards cost. You can get a rough idea of how much a minute of service will cost by dividing the cost of the card by the number of units or minutes (for example, a $20 card for 200 units is roughly 10 cents a minute). This is not an exact calculation, because some calls, such as a long distance call from a payphone, are billed extra units and some cards have hidden charges. The amount of calls you make with your pre-paid card are tracked by the phone card company, and for cards bought in Washington, companies are supposed to announce the amount of time left on the card before each call. Some pre-paid card companies will let you add time to the card (by paying the company more money). Pre-paid phone cards also often have an expiration date so it is important to understand how a particular pre-paid phone card works.

What to Look Out for With Pre-Paid Phone Cards

Not all pre-paid phone cards are alike in quality of service, rates or value. There are pre-paid phone cards with very good rates, but there have also been phone cards that haven’t worked at all. Some common problems with pre-paid phone calls include:

• • Losing the pre-paid card (it’s like losing cash)
• • Cards that expire before the card is fully used
• • Cards that don’t work because the pre-paid phone card company goes out of business
• • Cards that don’t work because the PIN or the number to call to get the long distance service doesn’t work
• • Cards that have hidden charges or higher rates for international calls (for example, you are billed extra minutes each time you make a call)
• • Cards that charge rates that are higher than what is advertised (so you do not get as many minutes of use as were advertised)

How to Choose a Pre-Paid Phone Card Because you are paying for the long distance service ahead of time and you might not get your money back if there is a problem, it is important to be careful when buying a pre-paid phone card.

Look for information on who issued the card. Companies providing pre-paid calling service in Washington are supposed to be registered with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. You can find out if a company is registered by calling 1-800-562-6150 or going to the WUTC website

• • Is there an expiration date?
• • How much will a minute of long distance cost?
• • Can you make international calls?
• • Does the card have a toll free number for service problems or questions?
• • Are there instructions on how to use the card?
• • Are there additional charges, fees or taxes added to each call made?
• • Make sure the PIN information is hidden so that it can’t be stolen

You should be able to find this information on the card, it’s packaging or by calling the toll free number for the pre-paid phone company. Another way to find out about pre-paid cards is to ask around and see which pre-paid calling card companies have good reputations and which ones have had problems. If you don’t have a chance to do this type of research before buying a pre-paid card, you may want to buy just a small amount of time to try out a company.

Calling Card information complied from Citizens’ Utility Alliance.