Calling Cards History

Calling cards sales experience strong growth all over the world. We want to tell about a history of development this business. Calling cards were invented in Europe in the mid Seventies. Over 11 years it reaches the United States of America. Now, may use a phone card to call in over 185 countries across the world.

1975: Calling cards were invented in the fall of 1975. The company involved, SIDA, was not in the telecommunications industry, but was a manufacturer and supplier of vending machines.

1976: The first prepaid phone cards were produced and put on the market in Italy to combat payphone vandalism. In fact there was a shortage of coins in Italy at the time and payphone theft was common. Cards were introduced with a magnetic strip on the back for use in special phones to combat the coin shortage. The first calling cards were too thin and jammed frequently.

1977: Calling cards using magnetic strip authorization spread to the rest of Europe. In particular to Austria, Sweden, France, and The United Kingdom. They became reasonably popular.

1978: Was invented inductive technology by Nelson G.Bardini in Brazil. The system uses a series of coils embedded in the card including on which blows when the card is used up. The phone card was first shown at a national inventors' exhibition in 1982.

1982: Japan's Nippon Telephone and Telegraph introduced the first Japanese phone card. Japanese commuters had to use a large coin to operate payphones on their subways. The Japanese calling cards was considerably more convenient and was sold to tens of thousands of daily subway riders in Osaka and Tokyo.

1984: France experiments with chip-based "smart cards".

1987: World Telecom Group is the first company to launch a significant phone-card product in the United States. GPT, a consortium formed by Siemens and GEC (General Electric Company), developed and issued cards with their own magstripe technology. This is now among the most widely used magstripe cards.

1988: The first catalog of telecards for calling card collectors was published by Dr. Steve Hiscocks, in England.

1989: AT&T enters the prepaid calling card market. The first remote telecards appeared in Hawaii.

1990: NYNEX (New York's RBOC or Regional Bell Operating Company) offers the first non magnetic based calling card in the U.S. These were prepaid calling cards that used a PIN (Personal Identification Number) as a means of identification. Nynex's card permitted the cardholder to dial an 800 number and enter his PIN to make long distance phone calls. This method permitted the caller to make phone calls from any telephone anywhere in the U.S. without the need for coins or incurring hotel surcharges, encountering call-blocked numbers, or any of the other additional items routinely used to bloat public phone bills.

1992: All of the major regional and long distance phone companies including Sprint, and many of the smaller carriers were offering pre-paid phone cards. Industry-wide revenues reached $12 million with projections calling for double that over the next several years. This projection proved to be radically short of things to come.

1993: Phone card sales exceed $25 Million, more than double that of the previous year.

1994: Displaying exponential growth, calling card sales exceed $250 Million.

1995: Sales hit $650 million. US West provides the first chip-based prepaid cards. Sprint releases "FONCARD" and Bell Atlantic temporarily discontinues its calling card efforts.

1996: Calling card sales reach an unprecedented $1 Billion. American Express experiments with a trial prepaid calling card.

1997: Sales reach over $2 Billion.

2000: Sales of over $3 Billion are achieved with no end to the expansion in sight. Projected sales for calling card industry reaches 10 Billion dollars per year by the year 2010.

2001: The first disposable combination cellphone/calling cards make their appearance.

2003: Growth the Internet of shops selling telephone cards. Providing of additional features for card Web callback, SMS refill, Speed Dial, Permanent PIN's, Prepaid Conference Calls.

Features Of Calling Cards

Now, manufacturers of calling cards offer many additional features besides opportunity simply dials. Offer description some of them.

Permanent PINs Permanent PIN is a features available of refillable calling cards only cards allow add more funds to account without the purchase of a new. When you make phone calls your personal identification number is identify automatically - not need keep in mind hard to remember PINs.

Speed Dial With Speed dial functions you may call from you regular or cell phone regular or mobile by pressing two or three keys only. Not need remember long phone numbers - you will have personal phonebook.

Web call With Web Call service you can make long distance calls anywhere an internet connection is available.But no special hardware or software is required. In web interface you enter your country codes and phone number, destination country codes and number and get connect immediately. You will talk phone-to-phone, not your personal computer.

SMS Call SMS Call is a feature to allow you make international and domestic calls from your SMS Message enabled mobile phone. Send SMS message from your cellphone contains the phone number you wish dial. Special system recognizes you and establishes a connection.

Prepaid Conference Calls Prepaid Conference Calls solution allow you start conference calls in minutes as many people as you need across the Globe. For start a conference just dial special phone number, enter the conference and security code. You partners should dial same number and enter the conference code. You negotiations will be absolutely secure.

SMS refill SMS refill service get you useful option - add minutes to you calling card just by send SMS. It's feature help you always stay on connection.

Personal toll free number It feature allow you have personal toll free number. Calls will be redirect to toll free number. It ideal for business, military personel and family members.

VoIP, PC-to-Phone VoIP converts the voice signal from your telephone into a digital signal that travels over the Internet. If you are calling a regular phone number, the signal is then converted back at the other end. VoIP features more advantageous for international calls as exist company provide free VoIP for domestic calls.

Without Call Accounting, Department Budgets Can Get Out of Hand

In a corporate environment, there can be many departments with just as many varied and specific budgets. Keeping track of the expenses from department to department and who should pay for which charges can be overwhelming without some sort of a call detail records associated with call accounting software in place.

Consolidated billing, which is sometimes referred to as convergent billing, combines telecom billing onto a single statement for non PBX traffic. The ability to track telecom costs from multiple sources that are incurred throughout the entire network and to generate a single statement to bill back cost centers, departments, projects, or end users is often invaluable to corporations and allows for better cost analysis.

Telephones - voice, data, video and imaging - are some of your biggest expenses. They're a cost that should be allocated to the products you are making, or the departments and divisions in your company. Telephone costs can determine which product is profitable and which isn't. A software company recently dropped one of its three "big" software packages because phone calls for support got too expensive.

Even at the departmental level, client and project bill back for telephone charges incurred on their behalf can be what keeps costs to a manageable level.

Every lawyer, government contractor, and architect does it. It makes sense. It's a feature commonly used in shared tenant situations such as with the resale of long distance and local phone calls. As in a hotel/motel, hospital, shared condominium, etcetera, someone's got to send out the bills, and it's not the phone company. In fact, with a call accounting system, you can be your own phone company.

But even at the departmental level regardless of your industry, allocating costs can be a chore for corporate accounting departments, and a call accounting system can better manage those departmental budgets.

Is Reverse Cell Phone Lookup Legal

Lots of people are concerned about invasion of their privacy. Idea that government can look over our shoulder in just about every aspect of our lives isnt very appealing. With new highly complicated technology government has the ability to listen to your phone calls, check your banking accounts and access whatever personal information they want without your or mine approval.

I believe most of the people who think as I do that we have nothing to hide, have mixed feelings about this, but if this can help prevent another 9.11., fine they can listen on my conversation to their harts delight.

Where one draws the boundaries? And is government truly the greatest threat to our privacy? Or maybe we should worry about multinational corporation who gather and sell information? Thoughts like these make us think twice about services like reverse cell phone lookup because it being the latest personal information gathering technology.

Reverse cell phone lookup services are completely legit, and they are no different then any other similar search directory in the last 10 years. If done by the law they are no more threat to our privacy then any other lookup service.

But why do we see it differently then lets say search engines? Probably because we see cell phones as very private item, and the idea that someone might record our every call and distribute that information free or for a price is very disturbing and makes as feel vulnerable.

But if you stop for a minute and think about it there is nothing more anyone can find out about you then it is possible to find out already by searching online. However our feeling of security (even if we have nothing to hide) is very important to us. We need to know that it is there if we need it. Because of that we have devised many techniques to hide our calling number, we do not list in a phonebooks and many other techniques.

I guess there is a small James Bond lurking in anyone of us, just waiting to pop out. Fortunately there are several federal laws that protect our privacy rights. And naturally it is always a good idea not to list your number, you can give the number to the people that you want to have it, and for the others who cares.

Overall concern regarding reverse cell phone lookup is a bit over stated. There are much bigger concerns regarding your privacy then reverse cell phone lookup, like for example identity theft through stolen or lost credit card or even social security number.

Try to see the positive side of this service and think about how you can use it to gain some benefit out of it for yourself or your family.

Reverse Phone Number Lookup Providers

With drastically improved technology available, performing a reverse phone number lookup is as easy as using a simple search engine, you simply enter the number and instantly you have access the information you need. But does this instant access to information mean that the information you are receiving is up to date and accurate?

The reason you are performing a reverse phone number lookup is because you want recent and reliable information. Getting the person's name, address, zip code and more is only as good as the database the information is coming from and if the database is not regularly updated, then the information you are getting obviously is not as well.

What reverse phone number lookup providers are you relying on? There many of phone trace services but no different then any other type of service, you want to ensure that you are using the most accurate information available. Questions you need the answer prior to start using a reverse phone number lookup provider are…

1. How recent is the information you are receiving?

Ensure the information you are using has access to many different public records sources from dependable sources and their records are updated as soon as the county databases make them available.

2. Is the reverse phone lookup website secure?

You need to ensure that the service you are using is tremendously responsive to the privacy and security concerns that persons have with respect to personal information. Check that the web site you are using is completely secure and utilizes at bare minimum a 128bit encryption.

3. Are My Searched Private?

Make certain that nobody is notified that you are using a phone number lookup service; you want all searches to be completely secretive and unidentified.

Reverse phone number lookup services are not all the same. There are a lot of great services available but many are unsecured, unreliable and totally not to be trusted. Be accountable for your own information research.

We’re Killing Our Language

We are! We’re killing our language. All of us! And as a marketing type, I have to plead guilty to aiding the process. Words no longer mean what they once meant. Take “new” for instance. In the language of marketing, “new” no longer means brand spankin’ new. It can mean just a different color, a different package, a slightly different formula. But truly new? Not really. And marketers aren’t the only guilty ones.

Management types have been killing the language since at least the industrial revolution. I remember a time – not that far back, though – when the newest management practice went by the acronym “MBWA.” What it stood for, really, was – are you ready for this? – Management By Wandering Around. Heck, management has been doing that for years, sometimes aimlessly, but always keeping an eye on employees. You walk, you watch, you soon learn who’s performing, who’s not. Seems that wasn’t really anything “new,” either.

Management has also come up with some nice names for things that already have not-so-nice names. But managers feel better using their nicer names. Take the word “problem,” for example. Problems are inherently bad. Always were. That’s why management likes to refer to problems as “challenges” and “opportunities.” They’re much nicer words. But you can believe that when a manager hears either one, he or she knows there’s a problem.

Then there are lawyers. OK, attorneys if you prefer. Books have been written about what they’ve done to our language – made it undecipherable. And in the process reduced the once powerful comma to little more than sticky tape with which to connect an endless series of disjointed phrases.

Now our elected officials and the bureaucrats in D.C. have come up with the mother of all language killers. We’ve known for a very long time that these officials have very little respect for our language. Add your own examples here, please. And it doesn’t make any difference which party label they‘re sporting, either. Could the cause be something in the air that hangs over D.C.? Or maybe something in the water?

Now they’ve taken a very powerful word – “hunger” – and decided to abolish it. No, not abolish hunger. That’s too difficult. What they’ve abolished – at least as it applies to people in the U.S. – is the word “hunger.” Because, they claim, it can’t be quantified. But, it seems, hunger can can still exist in other countries.

Anyway, some bureaucrat, with the blessing of our elected officials, have now said that in the U.S. “hunger” no longer exists. In its place they’ve chosen to use two clever phrases that closely resemble each other, perhaps to confuse us even more – “low food security,” and “very low food security.”

Why, because there’s less stigma attached to having millions of people go to bed at night experiencing “low food security” than there is to having them go to bed feeling hungry. Could it be that “very low food security” may actually mean they’re starving?

Who are these people who suffer from this… I’m sorry. “Suffer” is probably the next word our pals in D.C. will send into retirement. Allow me to rephrase: “Who are these people who experience this sensation of “low” or “very low food security?” Buried deep in the report that abolished “hunger” was a description of them: Families with an annual household income of $37,000 or less.

Moving right along, if we don’t watch out, we’ll soon live in a world where black means white, peace means war, up means down and rich means poor. Then those of us who earn our livings as wordsmiths, corporate managers, lawyers, elected officials and bureaucrats will have to find something else to tinker with. Or start saying what we mean.

Cheap Deals On Home Phones - How Genuine Are They

Buying telephones online offers a real cost saving compared with buying direct from BT or other stores. So what are the catches? by Frost Telecoms

UNTESTED - Lets be honest, it does not take much to test a phone so if someone is offering something untested 9 times out of 10 it really means 'tested but faulty'. For example an untested phone may be worth £5 but by offering it tested the value is probably £15. No sane seller would lose £10 just by not testing it. So BEWARE - untested probably means FAULTY. You get what you pay for!!

NEW/USED - Catalogue returns are a large proportion of phones that are sold on through websites and EBay. Some sellers cheekily call these NEW when they obviously aren't. If the item is missing the original box or user guide then there is a very slim chance of the item still being New.

USER GUIDES - Sometimes these are original or sometimes offered on cd or online. Read the ad fully to make sure you are getting some kind of user guide. With todays technology there are so many features you will not be able to use or simply not know about without a user guide.

CAN YOU TRUST THE SELLER - Feedback on Ebay is a great way to check out a seller, but remember to scroll back a few pages. With many sellers selling 10+ items a day it is always worth taking a good look to get a proper idea of what other customers thought. Also, always ask the seller a question before your purchase. If their customer service is any good then you will receive a quick & helpful response - if not, simply don't buy from them. Can you imagine how bad the customer service will be after you have parted with your money? (Exclude weekends from this trial as many sellers work Mon-Fri)

DELIVERY - If the item is cheap, have you checked the postage costs. I have regularly seen items that I offer to post for £4 being offered with £10 postage. This simply is not fair and is a way of conning people.

SMALL PRINT - Yes the item might sound amazing and you are hastily reaching towards you wallet - but slow down and read the small print. Here you will find the real truths about your item. It may be that there are big scratches, a handset is missing, the item will take 3 weeks to be delivered, the item is untested, you need to add VAT on the final price etc etc. The list is totally endless and I have seen some very scary things listed in the small print of some ads. Be Careful!!! If a seller is advertising thing with tiny tiny small print well below the main ad then you need to wonder how good the item is.

PHOTOS - Lots of sellers use stock photos of their items (including ourselves at Frost Telecoms) however some people could be using this as a way of disguising a rough item. The best way of finding out the true condition of the item is to ask the seller for a picture. Everyone nowadays has a digital camera or phone so there should be no excuses why you cant be sent a photo of the item. Again, if the seller won't oblige, can you really trust him.

WARRANTY - If there is no mention of a warranty then you sure won't get one. If the phone breaks in a week I really can't see you getting a refund. If you really want the item then ask the seller how much warraty he is willing to offer. If the answer comes back none or a week or two , then you really need to consider whether the item is likely to work for more than that time.

The Future Use Of Reverse Cell Phone Lookup

Reverse cell phone lookup is the last in line of personal information gathering technologies available to regular people just by browsing the web. Reverse look up enables any one of us to research who is the owner of a particular phone number no matter whether it is cell or regular phone. So what are the possible future implementations of reverse phone number lookup?

It is obvious we have made tremendous advance in communication technology over the last 50 years. Your author is now 35 years old and my generation takes phones, both the cells and regulars, for granted, but to my mom it was not so. She can remember the time when you have to ask the operator to connect you, and then those operators had to make manual switches if you wanted to talk.

Today you can call your spouse, mother, father, child or just about whomever you want from the top of Mount Everest. In addition, just as little as 15 years ago cell phones where not something anyone had or could afford to have. These days cell phone service providers are practically giving them away for free.

Computer chips have made it possible for technologies like reverse cell phone lookup to track down cell phone numbers location with the help of a GPS system. Nevertheless, some of us are asking whether we should use technology like this.

There is a legitimate question of loosing ones privacy, and now more then ever we are close to having technological gadgets until recently seen only in SF movies and books.

However, as we now have the ability to track the mobile systems information, then in the following years we can certainly expect to see fast rise of services offering such information for a price. Naturally, we hope that government will impose a strict control over services such as reverse cell phone lookup in order to prevent misuse of information these services provide and to protect our rights as individuals.

US government already has a number of strict privacy protection laws that maintain your rights and prevent your most private information from being available to the public. However, with rapid advancement of technology it is hard even for government to keep up with it and pass the laws that can protect you completely.

In the recent years more and more people has begun to take precautions about identity theft and about privacy protection in general. In the end the more thought we give to legal protection of our rights, the more services as reverse cell phone lookup will be useful for everyones legitimate purposes.