1990's telephone card from Bénin.
 2000's telephone card from the USA. A telephone card, calling card or phone card for short, is a small card, usually resembling a credit card, used to pay for telephone services. Such cards can either employ prepaid credit system or credit card style system of credit. The exact system for payment, and the way in which the card is used to place a telephone call, depend on the overall telecommunication system. Currently, the most common types of telephone cards involve pre-paid credit in which the card is purchased with a specific balance, from which the cost of calls made is deducted. Pre-paid phone cards are disposable. When the balance is exhausted you simply buy a new card. Cards purchased can often be refilled. The other main type of card involves a card with a special PIN printed on it that allows one to charge calls to a land-line telephone account. Calling cards are often found in phone boxes in London advertising the services of call girls Calling Card may refer to various object of the same name: Historically, a calling card was used socially to signify a visit made to a house if the occupant were absent; or as an...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 514 pixelsFull resolution (1018 × 654 pixel, file size: 266 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Public phonecard with Bull chip (1987) edited by France Telecom for a commercial infoline (now defunct). ...
Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 514 pixelsFull resolution (1018 × 654 pixel, file size: 266 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Public phonecard with Bull chip (1987) edited by France Telecom for a commercial infoline (now defunct). ...
France Télécom is the main telecommunication company in France. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1026x645, 202 KB) Public phonecard thermomagnetic (1990s) from Bénin. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1026x645, 202 KB) Public phonecard thermomagnetic (1990s) from Bénin. ...
The Republic of Benin is a nation of western Africa, formerly known as Dahomey. ...
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Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Look up credit card in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation). ...
This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Copy of the original phone of Alexander Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ...
PINs are most often used for ATMs but are increasingly used at the Point of sale, especially for debit cards. ...
There are principally two core technologies for phonecards: stored-value and remote memory.
Stored-value phone cards In stored value, called so because the card itself contains the balance available. The balance is read by the public pay-phone machine when it is inserted into the machine's card reader. This is similar to an automated teller machine at a bank. There are several ways in which the value can be encoded on the card. Payphone A payphone or pay phone is a public telephone, with payment by inserting money (usually coins) or a debit card (a special telephone card or a multi-purpose card) or credit card before a call is made. ...
“Cash machine†redirects here. ...
The earliest system used a magnetic stripe as information carrier, similar to the technology of ATMs and key cards. It was issued in 1976 in Italy, manufactured by SIDA. Look up sida in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The next technology used optical storage. Optical phone cards get their name from visible marks left on the card, such as holes or lines, so that the card reader scans for such marks and determines the balance on the card. Optical cards, such as ones made by Landis+Gyr and Anritsu, were popular early phonecards in many countries. Such technology is quite simple and easily hackable, thus for security reasons, among others, optical phone cards have been steadily phased out around the world. Optical phonecards are still in use in several countries, perhaps most notably in Japan. Landis+Gyr is a Swiss company formed in 1896, with headquarters in Zug. ...
The third sub-system of stored value phone cards is chip cards, first launched on a large scale in France in 1986 by France Telecom. Many other countries followed suit, including Ireland in 1990 and the UK circa 1994-1995, which phased out the old green Landis & Gyr cards in favor of more colorful smart cards. The initial microchips were easy to hack, typically by scratching off the programming-voltage contact on the card, which rendered the phone unable to reduce the card's value after a call. But by the mid-to-late 1990s, highly secure technology aided the spread of chip phone cards worldwide. France Télécom is the main telecommunication company in France. ...
Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ...
Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...
Remote memory systems
Telephone accounts symbolized by a card The second main technology of phonecards is remote memory, which uses a toll or toll-free access number to reach the database and check for balance on product. As the United States did not ever have a single nationalized telephone service (or even the same firm for every part of a state), and with the deregulation of its major ones, there was no incentive to be consistent with the rest of the world. The ease of use of sliding a card into a machine just as in a teller machine was countered by fears of vandalism of the machines.
The first public pre-paid remote memory phonecard was issued in the United States in December, 1980 by Phone Line. As telecom industries around the world became deregulated, remote memory cards were issued in various countries. Remote memory phonecards can be used from any tone-mode phone and do not require special card readers. Since remote memory cards are more accessible and have lower costs, remote memory phone cards have proliferated. However, the utility of these cards are reduced due to the large number of digits that need to be entered during usage. To call a long distance number, the user first dials the local access number, then keys in the secret code, followed by the actual long distance number. Based on the long distance number entered, the time remaining on the card is announced, and the call is finally processed through. Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF), also known as Touch Tone® is used for telephone signaling over the line in the voice frequency band to the call switching center. ...
Remote memory phonecards are in essence text; requiring an access number, a unique PIN and instructions. Therefore the instructions can be printed on virtually anything, or can be delivered via e-mail or the Internet. Currently many websites sell phonecards through e-mail.
Phonecards or calling cards are available in most countries in retail stores, retail chains and commonly corner stores. Generally, remote memory phonecards can be issued by many companies and come in countless varieties. They can focus on calling to certain countries or regions and have specific features such as rechargeability, pinless dial, speed dial and more. Phonecards may have connection fees, taxes and maintenance fees, all influencing the rates.
Accounts not requiring a card In recent times, calling card service providers have gone one step ahead in reducing the costs and increasing convenience by introducing calling accounts. Calling accounts eliminate the need for printing of a physical card; accounts are available only in electronic form. Calling accounts can be purchased over the Internet using credit cards and are instantly delivered to the customer via e-mail. This e-mail contains the PIN and instructions for using the service.
Phone card as an artifact or collectible Telecom companies have also taken advantage of phone cards to place advertising on them, or to feature celebrity portraits, artwork, or attractive photography to increase the appeal of the cards to consumers. This practice, combined with the disposability of the cards (encouraging individuals to purchase multiple cards), has led some people to start collecting phone cards as a hobby. Advert redirects here. ...
For other uses, see Celebrity (disambiguation). ...
// The hobby of collecting consists of acquiring specific items based on a particular interest of the collector. ...
A hobby is a spare-time recreational pursuit. ...
The hobby is called "fusilately" and a collector is known as a "fusilatelist". Phonecards have been collected worldwide since the mid 1970's and peaked in the mid 1990s. At its height, over 2 million people collected phonecards. Phonecard collecting is known occasionally as telegery in the USA or fusilately in the UK. There are many Web sites about this hobby where collectors can browse thousands of different cards from all over the world, each having some kind of personal story.
The hobby has been in decline (in some countries) due to the some telecom companies ceasing to supply phonecards.
Cultural appearances In the European Union, one of the metaphors that was used (in the days before cell phones) to win public agreement for the Euro and for various other homologations was to refer to public experience in using phone cards (of the first type) in the pay phones of many countries when travelling across Europe. America's phone cards do not do this. Cellular redirects here. ...
For other uses, see Euro (disambiguation). ...
Homologation is a technical term, derived from the Greek homologos (ομόλογος) for agree, which is generally used in English to signify the granting of approval by an official authority. ...
References | | This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2007)
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See also An Israeli telephone token used until the late 1980s Telephone tokens were once widespread medium of exchange for people wanting to talk on public phones with someone before there were telephone cards to collect and use. ...
External links - Islands Phonecards Database A browseable catalog of over 50,000 collectible phone cards.
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