Phone Card Buyer’s Guide

Why a Phone Card Buyer’s Guide?

Easy answer. There isn’t one. We have magazines such a Consumer Reports with the authority to run a review on the latest toaster oven, or CNET.com with in depth video reviews about the latest HDTV under $500. But there is nothing, nothing at all with reports about the phone card industry. No “Buying Phone Cards” for Dummies. It’s an absolutely mundane subject that anyone not looking for a phone card will start to yawn when the subject is brought up. This is not a subject that interests woman in a club. Believe me, I tried.

The strange thing is even after all these legitimate phone card complaints there is still no authority phone card information site on the Internet. Except now that is.

Why Are There So Many Complaints About the Phone Card Industry?

Even though there are many complaints lodged against unscrupulous phone card companies, the industry has still managed to ring in $4 Billion dollars in 2007 and expecting to rise to $6 Billion in 2008. And those figures are from the USA alone. The bulk of these complaints are about cards bought in small convenience stores. These physical phone cards are the ones you scratch of to reveal a PIN number. Physical phone card companies mainly target immigrants, legal and illegal, who can only pay in cash. Illegal immigrants are worst off since they cannot complain openly.

The best way to reduce your risk of purchasing a phone card is by buying from reliable phone card companies on the Internet. You can check out Phone Card Reviews for a Top 10 list of phone card providers.  As you know, in order to make a purchase on the Internet you need a credit card or PayPal. Both of these payment methods can help consumers run investigations and are able to help dispute transactions. So you have some form of protection. While if you paid cash in a grocery store and the card is junk then you can kiss your cash good bye.

Factors That Make Buying Phone Cards Confusing

I can’t blame consumers for getting confused about which phone cards to choose. Once they visit a phone card company’s website they’re going to get hit with 4 to 6 different choices with varying rates and fees. All phone card companies sell cards with fees and without fees. The biggest mistake a consumer can make is buying a phone card with the cheapest rates. Why? Becase these types of cards come loaded with many fees.

Phone cards with fees should only be used if you are able to finish up the card in a day. Which is not likely unless you can blow through 1000 minutes in one sitting. If you are not able to finish it quickly then you’re going to get hit with connection fees, carrier surcharge fees ( a nicely disguised name for disconnect fee) and a higher weekly maintenance fee whenever you make consequent calls. So that bargain rate of 1¢/minute you thought you are paying will actually skyrocket to a not so bargain rate of 4¢/minute.

The big lesson here is to buy phone cards with no fees. You’ll be paying a penny or two more per minute in most instances compared to a card with fee’s rates, but at least you’re getting the actual minutes you pay for. Most importantly you don’t have to feel rushed since most fee free phone cards expire in a year. This is the likely scenario for most phone card consumers.

You might be saying that’s just messed up. Why don’t phone card companies just discontinue card’s with fees? Well as I mentioned earlier cards with fees are meant for heavy calls within a short time span, however unlikely for most folks. The best way for me to explain this is when you go to the supermarket you usually find cheaper inferior product right next to the more expensive superior product. You know the cheaper product may not taste better or may not perform a better job at cleaning. Yet the supermarket still stocks both inferior and superior produts. Simply put, business is business whether you’re buying from a supermarket or a phone card company.

Where Everything Gets Bad to Worst

Remember I mentioned the phone card industry raked in $4 Billion dollars a year? With that kind of money you would think all phone card companies would be generous enough to share a piece of the pie with each other. Nothing could be further from the truth. The phone card industry is very competitive. Anyone with the right money, technical know how, time and persistence can make money selling phone cards on the Internet. Even you and I could do it in our underwear in front of a computer with Internet access. So multiply us with thousands of people from all over the world and you’ve got yourself a cut throat business.

One tactic most individual phone marketers use to play dirty are forums or review sites on the Internet. They use it to lodge complaints against rival companies and marketers. This does not mean that there are no legitimate claims. However, it’s just too easy for marketers to abuse and manipulate Internet forums and review sites. Unless there is some way to run a fact check and only then will I believe a complaint.

So mix together all the uninformed phone card consumers, phone cards with fees, false reviews and sham phone card providers and you’ ll get a potent volatile mix of disdain and intrepidation towards the phone card industry.

This is the reason why I started writing this blog. To show folks like you that with the right information you’ll be able to choose a phone card wisely. It’s not rocket science as you can see or will soon find out. I know with a little nudge in the right direction, a dose of common sense and knowledge and you’ll be a savvy phone card shopper in no time.