Avoid being scammed when it comes to prepaid international phone cards. There always have been and probably will always be fraudsters within this marketplace. With the popularity of phone cards, consumers must be extra cautious. The problem with prepaid international phone cards is you pay for the service upfront and if there are any problems with the service you may not be able to get a refund from the phone card company. Online websites that sell phone cards like www.telephonecard.com.au offer a full refund if you are not satisfied with the phone card that you have bought from them.
People who are new to the telephone card market may fall victim to phone card scams. You don’t hear much about these scams as cards are usually only or so people do not bother complaining if there is a problem. However, due to the intense competition for the international tele-phone card market, we have decided to provide you with some essential hints and tricks to avoid losing money when it comes to buying international phone cards.
Tip 1: Research Research Research
Go online, explore what review sites are saying about particular calling and phone cards. A good phone card review site is www.phonecardreview.com.au You will find many stories about good phone cards and complaints about unreliable phone cards. Look to see if there are any patterns when it comes to a particular brand of card. Heavy calling card users in Australia are recent migrants in the Indian, Russian, African, Thai and Eastern European Community. So if you have a good friend in those communities ask them about phone cards as they will probably know about a good phone card.
Tip 2: Deals Deals Deals
You can find many phone card comparison sites such as www.telephonecard.com.au which allow you to search by location, by brand and by price. Make sure any website you buy from is secured with an SSL certificate (signified with a HTTPS in the URL bar on the page where you enter your credit card details) before you commit to making a purchase. If you are not comfortable buying a phone card over the internet then you can also call the contact number on the website to buy a phone card by phone. Your phone card’s PIN and instructions will be emailed to you, so that you can start calling with your phone card instantly.
Think about:
1. Calling Locations: if you only want to call one Thailand for instance, you can often get a good deal to that country alone. This deal will not be as a good if you meander and call outside countries such as Pakistan. Many calling card niches have developed over the years and it is worth exploring them.
2. What are online forums saying about calling particular cards. Try some specific online search queries on your favourite search engine for your particular need, such as
“calling Afghanistan from Australia” or “call Australia to France cheap” or “calling Italia from Australia”
Tip 3: Terms and Conditions
Read the terms and conditions. Sometimes you will sign up to a phone card that charges hidden admin charges and ongoing maintenance fees. Different cards also have different expiration periods. It is worth noting how long your card will last you. Unlike many shops, websites such as www.telephonecard.com.au provide ethical phone cards with no admin and maintenance fees with very competitive call rates. All cards on that site last for 6 months and any unused credit is recovered when you recharge your phone card online or by phone.
Tip 4: Value
Buy a pre-paid phone card instead of a pre-paid phone card, and you will often also get more talking time. For example, most phone cards offer an additional worth of talk time when you buy a card so it is worthwhile to get the larger denomination if you are happy with the card. For example, with the Asian Connection phone card you pay but you will receive worth of talk time.
By: Boris Gefter
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