According to a report published in the New York Times, 4 billion dollars are annually swept away by the frauds in the telephone industry and the most detectable in the midst of the frauds are calling card number theft.

Although the new technology is quite promising to tap the reinventing industry of scams but it is postulated that the biggest harness is definitely the cautious attitude of users of calling cards. In order to act vigilantly one must know the deceptive means of vandals and by following the simple cautions one can easily dodge the cheating.

Memorize Your Calling Card number

Hidden charge in a calling card package is paradoxical statement as the complete information about the calling card package is advertised and propagated but with little emphasis, a number of marketing schemes are employed to shroud the exact tariff plan by either printing the details too faintly on the cards or by writing the details on the packing of calling card and once the packing is stripped off there remains no clue of tariff plan. In general a user may be charged with following types of so called hidden charges in the deal.

Connection Fee

With few exceptions, it is the most ubiquitously levied fee on making a call and the usual range of the stated fee is between 5 cents to 0ne dollar and it’s the irony of one’s fate if one calls a certain number and instead of one’s desired person the phone is coupled with an answering machine.

Billing Increment (Minutes Rounding)

Billing increment or famously stated minutes rounding fee oscillate from 6 sec to 12 minutes among various calling card package and lowest minute rounding fee is best for the users. In an easily understandable version, if you call 250 seconds with a 6 minute rounding fee plan you will be charged 6 minute call but with a one minute rounding call plan you will be charged 5 minutes.

Maintenance Fee

This fee is charged fortnightly or monthly depending upon the calling card brand and you can easily evade maintenance fee by either choosing a maintenance fee free package or exhaust the card before the fee is deducted from the remaining balance on your card before the specified period.

Service Fee

Service fee is charged proportionally according to the call charges and is in spectrum of 5 to 15%, the variability is among different calling cards brands.

Long Talking Fee

Long talking fee is an easily avoidable fee and the best way to avoid this fee is to know this fee in advance, it is levied when a call is extended past a certain specified time (usually 20 minutes), it is better to disconnect the call and reconnect again

After procurement of the calling card the hanging sword of expiry date and maintenance fee keeps haunting you until you completely exhaust the calling card and then the cycle starts over again with the purchase of a new calling card but this isn’t the only thing you should be cautious there is yet another surprise threat waiting for you, Unused Minutes in the calling card!

• Try to finish your calling card completely and don’t leave any Unused Minute in the calling card and thus use your money by yourself.
• In some calling cards the Unused Minutes are automatically cancelled after the expiry date and leaving nothing for your imaginations.

In an organizational complex with loads of staff appointed elsewhere to run the errands on the behalf of an organization, it is very often tricky and frustrating to get in touch with the employees but thanks to the ubiquitous telephony system and advance system of communication.

Even after the development of diverse system of communications, why telephone is still an institutional choice when it comes to communication? It is largely due to flexible tariff plan which snugly adjust to the budgetary allocations of the users.

Organizations can contact with their employees and among range of choices postpaid calling cards are very popular and very simple to use as well, a worker can make a call anywhere by punching the postpaid calling card serial on a simple touch tone phone and the calls are billed to your organization’s postpaid calling account.

Things to look for

Choosing a calling card is not a simple task as a number of options are available. You can choose among number of calling cards but in any case look for the following options to maximize the experience of your calling.

Local Cards

Local call companies offer considerable cheaper options within one area code and if you are a traveler with a single calling destination then local companies calling card is an answer to your needs.

Hidden Charges

Are You Getting Big Long Distance Bills ?

According to a recent survey, nearly one hundred percent of persons who have a residential long distance plan never bother to even open their contract with the phone company and read it. It is due to this reason that most people get a shock at the end of the month when they receive their long distance phone bills.

Have You Read Your Phone Contract ?

It is most likely that your phone company has already duped you, due to which you are reading this article. Well, the best alternative for you is to carefully comb through your phone contract. Once you do this, you will realize that these contracts contain many loopholes and exclusions that allow these companies to take advantage of their consumers. The best way to avoid such a situation is to call up a customer representative and ask him/ her to negotiate a better contract for yourself. Explain the contract out to him/her, highlighting the 'unfair' terms present in it and ask for your contract to be re-designed in such a manner that you can truly take advantage of the schemes present in it.

There are a large number of prepaid calling cards available today. These cards seem to be the best thing to talk to your loved ones, especially when you are away on a holiday. But you better make sure that you know what these ‘cheap’ calling cards are truly costing your pocket. In this article, we will view some of the hidden costs that you must keep in mind while purchasing a phone calling card.

Pulse Rate – How long is it ?

To start with, it is very important to note the pulse rate, i.e. in some cards the pulse rate is every 60 sec. This means that whether you make a call for 20 sec, 40 sec, or 60 sec.; you will be charged for a 60 sec. call only. In some cards, the pulse rate is every 6 sec. so even if you have to pay more for every pulse, it might be cheaper for you if your calls are generally of a short duration rather than going in for a 60 sec pulse rate calling card.

Payphone Calling- You pay a Surcharge

Also, calling from payphones costs you an extra surcharge. This charge is irrespective of the fact that whether your call actually gets connected or not. So use payphones to the minimum while placing calls through a prepaid calling card.

Expiry date – Please take a look

Then there is also the expiration date of the calling card to be considered. There can normally be two types of expiry dates on a calling card – either the expiry date is general and the card will expire on a certain date, irrespective of whether it is used or not.Alternatively, there are cards in which the expiry date is determined depending upon the day the usage begins, such as 30 days expiry after the card is used for the first time.

Prepaid calling cards are easy and highly convenient to use. There are a few things to keep in mind about these cards while buying them. One of the most important things is the hidden costs associated with them. These include costs such as connection fees, maintenance fees, payphone surcharges etc.

How Calling Card Companies Make a Fool out of you

Even though it is illegal for calling card companies to hide their actual costs, what they do is to write the cost in extremely fine print. Some companies even write these costs on a part of the packaging that is normally torn and thrown away by the consumer. By doing this, these companies comply with the law and at the same time, their business does not get affected, as most customers do not bother to look at what is written on this part of the packaging.

Calling cards come with several built-in features. These differ from card to card and company to company. Some of these features can really make dialing numbers easier and faster for you. So, look at what is available before you buy a calling card.

Speed dialing facility

One of the basic features of a calling card is speed dialing. This feature stores the numbers that you dial frequently and you can dial these numbers by just pressing a single button. For e.g. – Let us assume that the number of your Secretary is one which you use quite regularly. So, you assign the number 1 of your phone to your secretary’s telephone number. Then, the next time that you would like to call your secretary, simply long press the number 1.