Buying prepaid phone cards could be compared to playing a card game, as the right card can make all the difference.

However, if you want to make the odds work for you, you'll need to shop around for the right call card. If you've picked up a phone card recently, you're in good company. According to an estimate by the International Prepaid Communications Association, an industry trade group, Americans use them to make more than 8 billion calls yearly.

These call cards are very popular with students, immigrants, military personnel, teens and travelers. Retirees and small to medium-sized businesses also use them to control their expenses, while roommates buy them to avoid fighting over phone bills every month.

What Makes Phone Cards Work?

To know why phone cards offer reasonable, and competitive call rates, here's quick overview of how the prepaid card market works. We all know that the major telecommunications carriers are responsible for the telephone lines that carry calls, while it's the card resellers who buy telephone minutes in bulk from the carriers.

The issuers then set the card rates and provide toll-free customer service and access numbers. From hereon, the distributors sell the cards to the retailers., and the retailers sell the cards to consumers, although it is important to take note that a store may not have control over the quality of the card or the service it provides.

Phone Cards Offer Businesses Better International Call Rates

The rates for international calls may dramatically vary based on the country that you call, or the method used to make the call. These often offer rates that are generally much lower than a telephone company's basic international prices.

Businesses can also make calls from a phone that is not international-calling enabled. Consumers also choose phone cards when they want to call up their friends, relatives or business partners who live half way down the globe. The good thing is that businesses need not sign any formal agreements, and wouldn't have to wait for monthly bills.

Savings: The Best Reason To Use Phone Cards

Businesses and individual customers generally save from 54% to 76% on international and domestic calls with prepaid phone cards. With advancements in technology, consumers can today cut costs of international calling by as much as 50%, simply by using these.

For instance, the cost of calling to India from USA starts from 3 US cents a minute plus local call charges. For toll-free access of international calls, per-minute charges may be a little bit higher. The customer also doesn't have to pay hefty taxes as much as they would if they use their regular telephones or mobile phones to make long distance international calls.

Phone card providers also keep track of how much of a card's calling time is used, by the card's PIN number. Consumers may add time to some prepaid phone cards, and the added cost can usually be billed to a credit card. However, if you cannot add time on a particular card, you will need to buy a new one once all the time has been used. In addition, they often have expiration dates, so ensure that you keep track of the date your card expires so you don't lose any unused minutes.

Prepaid calling cards have become the hot property to start a business with due to their tremendous and ever increasing popularity. Calling cards are used to make cheaper long distance and international calls as compared to your regular telephone lines. Frequent travelers often complain about the exorbitant call charges charged by the hotels.

Calls made through a hotel ends up costing you heavily for the call is routed through a specific carrier working in cooperation with the hotel. The carrier normally charges you first minute rate, following per minute rates and a heavy sum as surcharge. Carrier gives a commission to the hotel and higher this commission more would be the surcharge in order to adjust the charges paid to the hotel. Hence even a single call while away on a trip will end up costing you a fortune!

On the other hand by using the international calling cards not only will the amount for surcharge be diminished but the per minute charges are also significantly low. This is precisely why the prepaid phone cards have found an expansive market worldwide.

Working Of Calling Cards:

Long distance calling cards are available in the market in varying and affordable denominations ranging from as small as $5 to $100 and even higher. Thus they fit perfectly in everyones pay pocket. Prepaid cards are pre-charged with the amount of the card. At the time of making a call you are required to dial a toll free number which is mentioned on the card itself. You will hear an IVR which will ask you to dial the destination number along with the area or country code and you will be easily connected to the number you wish to call.

Phone Cards Market:

In order to venture into the phone cards market you would need a considerable level of investment not to mention the back-end support and technical hardware and software needed to generate and market calling cards. An easier and more convenient option would be to obtain the services of a calling card platform provider.

A prepaid calling card provider ideally provides you with a one stop platform which helps you to easily step into this field. From generating PINS to online billing, a premium provider would ensure you with an end to end calling card solution.

1.Lower CAPEX Costs: Buying a traditional phone system is like buying a new car, it significantly depreciates the day you place it in service. Plus, you own a piece of equipment that you'll have to one day replace. You can put that money to better use by spending less up-front by intstalling a VoIP Hosted PBX system.

2.A VoIP Hosted PBX is Dynamically Scalable: Up-size and Down-size on the fly. VoIP Hosted PBX Service lets you buy the exact number of users you need right now - later you can add users when you actually need them. This helps preserve capital in comparison to guessing what size PBX system you need to buy today to support the number of users you think you'll have in 3 - 5 years.

3.A VoIP PBX Significantly Reduces Depreciation Losses: Traditional PBX systems depreciate almost 70% the day you take them out of their box. With a VoIP Hosted phone service, you won't have to worry about depreciation since you're not purchasing equipment.

4.A VoIp Hosted PBX is Cheaper, Easier to Maintain and Update: Moves, Add's and Changes no longer require on-site changes to your phone system. Most VoIP Hosted PBXs can be remotely configured by the vendor, thus the flexibility to add, change, delete or move users within hours. Your expenses will be reduced by eliminating costly monthly maintenance contracts or the high labor cost required to have a tech onsite for every change you need.

5.A VoIP Hosted PBX Uses Non-Proprietary Components: When you buy a traditional PBX phone system, you're locking your company into a long term commitment to a proprietary architecture that may or may not keep pace with technological changes. Bottom line, you are betting your company's future that the proprietary technology will remain compatible with evolving industry standards.

In the future, there's a good chance with a traditional PBX you'll be at the manufacturer's mercy for repair and expansion since only their parts will work with your purchase. Make sure your VoIP Hosted PBX system works with multiple phone manufacturers. So if you decide to move to a different system, a forklift upgrade won't be necessary.

6.A VoIP System Eliminates Technology Obsolescence: Since you're not purchasing a phone system, you don't have to worry about the equipment becoming obsolete. Updates and new features are automatically available to you with REIGN-FREE Hosted PBX service.

7.Disaster Recovery/ Emergency Protection: A hosted PBX product will protect your company's calling infrastructure the same way you protect your website and email - with specialized, secure off-site hosting. Make sure if you are considering a VoIP hosted PBX that the vendor provide security and redundancy so you don't have to worry about the physical requirements and support of your phone system.

8.Improved Features for Improved Productivity: Most enterprise VoIP Hosted Voice service providers include advanced calling features that are not available with traditional phone systems. Features that will improve the way you control your calling, like Visual Voicemail, Unique DID's, Find-Me/Follow-Me, Click-to-Call and Outlook Integration.

Integration of VoIP in the business processes brings about a radical change in the face of business communications. Transmission of voice as digital signals through the Internet provides respite from the 'shackles' of 'wires'. VoIP provides a cost-effective telephony solution to small, medium and large business set ups.

However, careful calculation is crucial before an organisation decides to switch to VoIP telephony system.

When should a business switch to VoIP telephony system?

• when a business involves significant call charges
• when a business needs to make significant overseas calls
• VoIP allows you to make very cheap or even free calls to overseas destinations

VoIP for businesses (commercial VoIP) should be selected with utmost care. Selection of a right VoIP service provider is crucial as the success of the commercial VoIP will depend significantly upon the service provider you choose.

Which factors should you consider while selecting a service provider?

• reliability
• quality of service
• call charges
• value-added features

Selecting the right VoIP service provider can prove to be very economical. You may get the benefit of making many calls to a significant amount of destinations absolutely free!

You can avail the benefits of the VoIP technology even with the conventional fully featured telephone system currently present in your set up. You need to use VoIP routers to achieve seamless VoIP integration into your business. A router will enable the connecting of the DECT, analog or digital telephones to the Internet. As a result, you will be able to make VoIP calls without the need for a computer. However, it needs to be noted that VoIP routers are suitable for small enterprises that require a simple entry level VoIP solution. Routers will not turn out to be an effective solution where the organisation involved is exceptionally large and operates a very complex telephone system.

Large enterprises having a large number of employees need sophisticated VoIP solutions. Such large businesses should opt for VoIP servers and gateways to fulfil their communication objective(s).