Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a prepaid phone card?

2. How do your prepaid cards work?

3. How fast will my order be processed?

4. What about the shipping? How will send me my phone card?

5. Are any of your cards a "Voice over IP" service? 

6. Are the rates that are listed on your web site good for any time of the day?

7. Do I need to change my long distance carrier if I want to use your cards?

8. I canceled the long distance service for my phone line. Can I still use it to make calls with your phone cards?

9. Will my long distance carrier charge me anything for using your cards?

10. Can I place calls from anywhere in the United States with your cards?

11. Can I use your cards from any other country other than from the U.S.?

12. Can I use your cards from a payphone?

13. Do the rates change if I make a call from a payphone?

14. Are the rates the same if I call to a cell phone in another country?

15. Can I recharge the card that I bought from you?

16. What is a connection fee?  When and how do I pay it?

17. What do I need to do if I have a problem with using your phone card?

18. Will you ever charge me anything on my credit card other than what I paid for the phone card?

19. If I run out of credit, will my call be disconnected?

20. How much do you charge for shipping and taxes?

21. Can I receive my PIN number by phone?

22. How long do the cards last?

23. Does any of your cards have a monthly fee?

24. When can I start using a card once I buy it from you?

25. Are credit cards the only method of payment that you accept?

26. Can I pay via PayPal?

27. How safe is it to buy over the Internet from your company?

28. Can I place my order over the phone and not via the Internet?

What is a prepaid phone card?

When you purchase a prepaid phone card from us, you are paying in advance for a specific amount of long distance calling time.  As calls are made, the number of used minutes is automatically deducted from the card balance which is recorded every time you make a phone call. To determine how many minutes you get when you buy a card from us, please  see the rate table for the card you are interested in.

How do your prepaid cards work?

Placing calls by using any of our cards is an easy three-step process.

1. Dial the toll-free access number that we provide to you.
2. Enter your PIN that we also give you. 
3. Enter the number you wish to call. 

Once you dial the access number, you will also hear the instructions that make the process even easier.

How fast will my order be processed?

Our staff is working hard 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to make sure that all orders are processed immediately.  If all the credit card information that you submit with your order is correct, your order usually will be fulfilled automatically. So even if you place your order on Sunday at 3 a.m., we will fulfill it right away.

What about the shipping? How will send me my phone card?

After your order is processed, you will immediately receive your phone card from us by e-mail. This means that when you purchase phone cards from our company, you never have to pay any shipping charges and you can immediately start using your phone card. The e-mail message that you will receive from us will include the toll-fee access number, your PIN number, and all your dialing instructions. 

Are any of your cards a "Voice over IP" service? 

No. All our cards use traditional telephone networks which allow the same quality as the major long distance carriers.  

Are the rates that are listed on your web site good for any time of the day?

Yes.  Unlike many other phone cards, all our cards have the same rates 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

Do I need to change my long distance carrier if I want to use your cards?

No.  Using any of our cards won't affect your long distance carrier in any way.  You don't even need to notify your long distance or local phone company of your choice to use our cards.

I canceled the long distance service for my phone line. Can I still use it to make calls with your phone cards?

Yes,. However, please note that if you use a phone line without an assigned long distance carrier, according to the FCC regulation you will be charged a fee of $0.99 for every call that you place with any calling card. That is why we strongly advise that you use a phone line that is signed up with at least some long distance company. Please contact us if you need help with finding a long distance company that doesn't have any monthly fees.

Will my long distance carrier charge me anything for using your cards?

No. All you do when you use any of our cards is make a call via a toll-free number. Such calls never appear on your long distance bill and are absolutely free of charge.

Can I place calls from anywhere in the United States with your cards?

Yes. Since to use a card, you dial a toll-free access number, any of our cards can be used from any phone in the continental United States.

Can I use your cards from any other country other than from the U.S.?

Most of our cards can be used only from the U.S. If you need a card to call from Canada, please check out the following card:

http://www.prepaidcall.com/Cards/canada.htm

If you need a card to call from any other country, please visit the following web page for more information:

http://www.prepaidcall.com/Cards/traveler.htm

Can I use your cards from a payphone?

Yes. However, recent FCC regulations have changed the way payphone operators receive their compensation. In certain states, a 99¢ fee may be assessed and will be automatically deducted from your phone card balance if you use a card from a payphone. 

Do the rates change if I make a call from a payphone?

No. The rates for all of our cards remain the same no matter where you are calling from.

Are the rates the same if I call to a cell phone in another country?

For most cards, the rates for calling a cell phone in another country are higher than the ones shown on our web site.  If you are looking for a card to call a cell phone, please click here to find the best card for calling  cellular phones overseas.

Can I recharge the card that I bought from you?

It all depends on the type of calling cards that you purchased. While many cards are rechargeable, some are not. For a full list of our rechargeable cards please click here. If your card is not rechargeable and you ran out of funds, please place a new order from our web site, and we will immediately provide you with a new PIN number.

What is a connection fee?  When and how do I pay it?

Please note that not all phone cards charge a connection fee. Please see the description of each card to check if the card has a connection fee. A connection fee is a fee that is deducted from your phone card's balance every time you make a complete call.  If you place a call and nobody picks up or you get a busy signal, such a call won't cost you anything.  The connection fee is applied only if the party you are calling answers the phone.

What do I need to do if I have a problem with using your phone card?

If you have a problem, the fastest way to solve it would be to call the toll-free customer service number that we always give to our customers. The customer service is available 24 hours a day, and people there are always willing to help our customers.

Will you ever charge me anything on my credit card other than what I paid for the phone card?

No. We only charge you the face value of the card. Once you pay for the card, you will never receive any additional bills or pay anything extra for any of the calls you make with the card.

If I run out of credit, will my call be disconnected?

Before your call is connected, an automated voice will tell you how many minutes you have remaining based on the rate to the country you are calling. During a call, when you have one minute remaining, you will be warned by an automated voice. Once the credit in your account has reached zero, your call will be terminated.

How much do you charge for shipping and taxes?

All purchases that you make from our web site are absolutely free of tax. Plus, we never charge our customers for shipping and handling.

Can I receive my PIN number over phone?

Yes. If you don't have an e-mail address or if it is just more convenient for you to receive your access numbers over the phone, please place an order from our web site and then email us to provide us with the phone number that you can be reached at.  As soon as your order is processed, one of our representatives will call you to provide you with the access numbers for the phone cards that you ordered.

How long do the cards last?

In most of the cases, the cards that you buy from us will expire in 120 days after your first use. Some of the cards that we carry last 90 days after the first use. If you would like to know exactly when the card that you are interested in will expire, please e-mail us, and we will be happy to provide you with such information.

Does any of your cards have a monthly fee?

It all depends on the particular card. Many cards don't have such a fee while some cards do charge it after a certain period of time. On average phone card manufacturers charge about 49 cents a month as a maintenance fee. To find out if the card that you would like to purchase has any monthly fee, please e-mail us.

When can I start using a card once I buy it from you?

All phone cards that we send to our customers are available to use right away.

Are credit cards the only method of payment that you accept?

No.  You can pay for our cards in different ways. In addition to credit cards, we accept personal checks, money orders, and cashier's checks.  Click here for more information on how to use a form of payment other than credit cards. 

Can I pay via PayPal?

Yes. If you would rather pay by PayPal, please send your payment to info@prepaidcall.com and we will email you the access numbers for your phone card within one hour. The total amount of your payment should equal to the face value of the phone card that you would like to order. 

How safe is it to buy over the Internet from your company?

It is very safe to place orders from our web site. Our shopping-cart software runs in Secure Mode on the customer's browser using an industry standard 128 bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate to encrypt sensitive data such as credit card numbers.  We use the strongest encryption level available commercially for SSL, which encrypts transactions trillions of times stronger than 40 bit SSL certificates that other web sites use. On top of everything our system is designed with such a high level of security that not even our company's staff has access to the credit card information that our customers submit.

Can I place my order over the phone and not via the Internet?

Yes, you can. For more information on how to place your order by phone please click here.

Copyright ©1998-2008 Prepaid Phone Card Outlet All rights reserved.