Phonecard
From Collectors Collecting Wiki
A telephone card, calling card, or Phonecard for short, is a credit card sized plastic card, used to pay for telephone services. Standard cards can be purchased and used without any sort of account facility give a fixed amount of credit and are discarded when used up; rechargeable cards can be topped up, or collect payment in arrears. The system for payment and the way in which the card is used to place a telephone call vary from card to card.
Cards known as remote memory cards have a PIN associated with a specific land-line telephone account; calls using the card are billed to the associated account. The are various other systems in different phonecards.
Stored-value phone cards
A stored-value phonecard contains the balance available on the card. This balance can be read by a public payphone machine when the card is inserted into the payphone's card reader. This is superficially similar to a bank automated teller machine, but a stored-value card is more closely analogous to a change purse. While ATMs (as well as the remote memory systems discussed below) use the card merely to identify the associated account and record changes in a central database, stored-value systems make a physical alteration to the card to reflect the new balance after a call. Used primarily for payphones, stored-value systems avoid the time lag and expense of communication with a central database, which would have been prohibitive before the 1990s. There are several ways in which the value can be encoded on the card.
The earliest system used a magnetic stripe as information carrier, similar to the technology of ATMs and key cards. The first magnetic strip phonecard, manufactured by SIDA, was issued in 1976 in Italy.
The next technology used optical storage. Optical phonecards get their name from optical structure embossed inside the cards. This optical structure is heated and destroyed after use of the units. Visible marks are left on the top of the cards, so that the user can see the balance of remaining units. Optical cards were produced by Landis+Gyr and Sodeco from Switzerland and were popular early phonecards in many countries with first optical phonecards successfully introduced in 1977 in Belgium. Such technology was very secure and not easily hackable but chip cards phased out the optical phone cards around the world and the last Landis+Gyr factory closed in May 2006 when optical phonecards were still in use in few countries like Austria, Israel and Egypt.
The third system of stored-value phonecards is chip cards, first launched on a large scale in 1986 in Germany by Deutsche Bundespost after three years of testing, and in France by France Télécom. 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 the chip (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 phonecards worldwide.
Making a prepaid or calling card call requires the user to make two calls. Regardless of the type of card it is necessary to dial an access telephone number to connect to the calling card system. There are several methods. One is via a toll-free number, with larger companies offering this internationally. Access through a local number has become increasingly popular in recent years. Toll-free calls are paid for by the recipient (the calling card company), which passes on the cost through higher call charges; total cost of a call to the user is often lower using a local number. When travelling through several local areas a toll-free service may be preferable.
Once connected to the access number, the account is identified by keying in a PIN (the most popular method) or by swiping a card with embedded chip or magnetic stripe. After validation the balance remaining on the card may be announced, and the desired number may be keyed in. The available minutes may be announced, and the call is connected. Many cards make a verbal announcement if credit is running out.
Prepaid or calling cards are usually much cheaper than other telephone services, particularly for travelers who do not have easy access to other services. Hotel telephones can be very expensive, particularly for long-distance calls. Cellular services are flexible, but may attract high roaming charges away from the home area.
Remote memory systems
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 never had a single nationalized telephone service (or even the same firm for every part of a state), and with the deregulation of its major telecommunications providers, 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 prepaid 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 is reduced by 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.
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 post phone card details through e-mail.
Phonecards are available in most countries in retail stores, retail chains and commonly post offices or corner stores. In general, remote memory phonecards can be issued by any company 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. Phone cards may have connection fees, taxes and maintenance fees, all influencing the rates.
Browsing the Catalog
The Colnect Phonecards Catalog can be filtered from the Catalog drop-down menu by these properties:
- Countries: The country the phonecard is used in.
- Systems: The system how the phonecard works. Currently the following options are available:
- Chip Types: A type of the chip.
- Validities: How long the phonecard is valid after the first use.
- Manufacturers: The company that issued the phonecard.
- Compositions: The material the phonecard is made of.
- Years: The first year of issue, if known.
- Face Values: The value of the phonecard as printed on the card. If the face value is not mentioned, None is used.
- Currencies: The currency of the phonecard, if not stated the No Face Value is used.
- Themes: The motif themes on the phonecard. Multiple themes can be selected for one card. Only the themes from the Colnect Global Cross-Category Themes List can be used.
- Catalogs: Catalogs with extensive information about phonecards. Currently there are 24 different catalogs available on Colnect.
- Recently updated: Phonecards where at least one piece of information was changed in the last 30 calendar days. The last change applied is used to determine the change age of the card. This can be further filtered by the last 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 calendar days.
- Newly added: Phonecards added to the Colnect Phonecards Catalog within the last 30 calendar days. This can be further filtered by the last 1, 3, 7, 14, and 30 calendar days.
- Import Log: A list of all New Item Forms (NIFs) that have been imported to the Colnect Phonecards category since 2013. It shows date, the person who created the NIF, the coordinator who imported it, the number of phonecards imported, the company that issued the phonecards and the country of the phonecards. Please note that it is not possible to find the phonecards that were in the NIF, this information is not stored in the database.
The catalog also contains other properties to further describe the phonecards:
- Name (60 characters): The name of the phonecard.
- Series: The series, if any, the phonecard belongs to.
- Catalog Name: The name of the catalog used for the catalog code.
- Catalog Code: A catalog code corresponding to the definite catalog.
- Variant: If a phonecard is marked as a variant, you can get a list of all variants of this phonecard by clicking on Click to see variants.
- Print run: The number of phonecards of the definite type issued.
- Description: A detailed description of the phonecard. This may include information on how to distinguish variants.
- Front Picture and Back Picture: Both front and back of the phonecard should be pictured, as the back often contains important information about the issuer, motif, number and hints to determine the age. Please follow the Picture Guidelines.