Use the ‘Call Home’ Feature to Save Money from your Prepaid Calling Card

One of the lesser-known features of a prepaid calling card is the ‘call home’ feature. Even though most of the cards today have this feature in them, few people know about it. In this article we will view this feature and see how it can be beneficial to us.

What is the Call Home Feature ?

A call home feature is like the speed dialing facility, but the difference lies in the fact that it can be used only for one number. This feature can be configured from any touch-tone phone and is very easy to use. Basically, you should choose a number for this facility that is the most frequently dialed number by you. It does not necessarily have to be your home number.

An Explanation

As we all know, nearly all prepaid calling cards have a Personal Identification Number (PIN). What the PIN does is that it links all the calls made by you to your account so that the money can be deducted. Now, mostly the system of dialing from a prepaid card requires you to dial dozens of numbers before you actually get connected to the person you want to speak to. But what you do not realize is that most calling card companies start to charge you after you enter your PIN and not after your call is actually connected. Basically, the charging system of all prepaid calling cards is divided into several units. After you make your phone call, the time spoken by you are rounded off to the next higher unit. For example, if your call was for 56 seconds and the prepaid calling card company’s units are every 60 seconds, then you will be charged for 60 seconds for that particular call. And as already mentioned above, since most companies start charging the moment you enter your PIN, so the extra 10-15 seconds taken to do so, will lead to you being charged for 120 sec. and not 60 sec.

How you Save Money

This is where the call home facility plays a role. What it does is that it feeds your chosen number into the prepaid calling program, so you just have to press one or two digits before getting connected. Hence, the time taken by you to punch in all the PIN number and then the destination number gets saved. Also, you save on the extra charge after entering your PIN number and before getting to speak to the receiver of the call.