Since I first entered the phone card business more than 10 years ago I advocated no fee phone cards. In my opinion, the only fees that are justified, include the following:
1.) A payphone surcharge to offset the charge levied by pay phone companies when dialing an 800 number from a pay phone.
2.) A nominal admininstrative maintenance fee to cover the cost of maintaining a large database of unused pins. For example, a one time maintenance fee of $.25 would certainly cover the cost of creating pins and maintaining them in the database for a year. Once year after first use, the pins could then expire and be deleted.
3.) A connection fee. Phone card companies encur an expense on all uncompleted calls, but there is no proper way to charge for uncompleted calls. Therefore it is reasonable to apply a connection fee to completed calls sufficient to cover the cost of uncompleted calls. The percentage of incomplete calls can be quite high to countries with poor infrastructure. Therefore connection fee as high as $.25 per call is reasonable to some destinations.
Unfortunately, the industry went in a different direction and began to rely on undisclosed fees as a source of profits. The standard in the industry, especially among the largest and most "reputable" companies is to talk in terms of announced minutes and delivered minutes. In most cases the difference is about 20% on the first call. Over multiple calls the difference between advertised minutes and delivered minutes over multiple calls is so great that the consumer has come to believe that a phone card is good for only one phone call.
This is why, most phone cards sold are $2 phone cards. The market knows all. And the market has learned that any value left after completing the first call will be consumed by fees.
So now, the phone card industry is crying the blues. Sales are shrinking as people find alternative ways to make phone calls. The FTC is finally going after companies that prey on misleading their customers by announcing more minutes but delivering less. To get around the lawsuits major phone card companies now print posters advertising minutes with a disclosure that states the advertised minutes are "promotional" for only about 30 days from the date the poster is printed. Other major companies no longer offer posters at all!
Some of the phone card companies are issuing phone cards that deliver 100% of the announced minutes on the first call.
Still, there are very few phone cards that deliver 100% of the announced minutes over multiple phone calls with no fees whatsover.
I have always offered the no fee phone card, but until recently, the consumer would not buy it. If I advertise and deliver 40 minutes to Philippines over multiple phone calls, it is very difficult for the consumer to differentiate from the all the other companies that advertise 65 minutes but deliver less than 40 minutes over multiple calls.
The Integrity Phone Card is issued by Dollar Phone Enterprises and delivers 100% of the advertised minutes over multiple phone calls. There are no fees on the Integrity international prepaid calling card, except for the pay phone surcharge. When I gave Dollar Phone the required specifications for the Integrity phone card, they thought it was a great idea whose time had come, and were quick to respond. Today, the Integrity no fee phone card is one of the fastest growing phone cards in the marketplace.
Because there are no fees associated with the Integrity Phone Card available only at www.hellocallingcards.com, consumers can start out and try a $2 Integrity phone card. Once they try it and learn that the quality is great, and they get all of the advertised minutes, the consumer moves to the $5 Integrity phone card. These same consumers are not buying the $10 version of the Integrity phone card, because they can use it over and over without losing any minutes to fees or surcharges.
Soon Dollar Phone will issue a $20, and $50 and even a $100 version, and the consumer gains confidence in the Integrity Phone Card brand.
The Integrity phone card delivers 100% of the advertised minutes over multiple calls to Philippines, Ukraine, Russia, India, Dominican Republic and every other country. The traffic reports show that customers are calling home to Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, Central America, South America, Mexico, Canada, the USA, all of the Arab world, Austrailia and the Pacific Islands, and Western Europe.
Philippines phone card
Russia phone card
Ukraine phone card
India phone card
Dominican Republic phone card
Honduras phone card
Mexico phone card
Poland phone card
Guatemala phone card
Jordan phone card
Africa phone card
Asia phone card
Eastern Europe phone card
We are presently negotiating with Allcompass to issue a similar no fee phone card to compliment the Integrity phone card.
