{{short description, Type of telephone card A rechargeable calling card or a recharge card is a type of

telephone card A telephone card, calling card or phonecard for short, is a credit card-size plastic or paper card, used to pay for telephone services (often international or long-distance calling). It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a st ...

that the user can "recharge" or "top up" by adding

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

when the balance gets below a nominated amount. In reality the rechargeable calling card is a specialised form of a prepaid or debit account. To use the phonecard, the user would call an access number (which is usually a

toll-free telephone number A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing pre ...

), enter the "card number" (also called the PIN) and then dial the desired telephone number. The user could add value to the card at the same time as making a call. When travelling, the user has a list of access numbers for various countries, enabling them to call from any phone in most countries and be able to top-up the card. The so-called rechargeable calling card is merely a marketing device, but it is convenient to many users because it is a durable credit card size card. In reality, the system works by a user being provided with a unique "card ID" (the PIN). After transferring funds to the card company, the ID can be provided electronically by email, by SMS, over the internet, a coupon printed by a cash register at a store, or any other way. Also, as the card balance is actually recorded on the card company's database, topping up can be effected in any manner that funds can be transferred to the company.

History

Calling cards were introduced in Italy in 1977 and became especially popular in Japan when they were introduced there in 1982. These cards had a set value that could be spent and, once the credit was used, the card would be discarded. Calling cards began to gain popularity around the world and they turned into a multimillion-dollar industry. In an attempt to improve the phonecard, companies started issuing rechargeable calling cards in the early 1990s, also obtainable over the internet, which became the most common phonecard on the market.

Recharging

Cards can be recharged or topped up in a variety of ways: *

Credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

Cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-im ...

at convenience stores/corner shops * Swipe card machines *

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

Coupons In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in r ...

Bank account A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transactions between the bank and a customer are recorded. Each financial institution sets the terms and conditions for each type of ...

* Debit card

Japan

Even though the calling card was first introduced in Italy the country that took to the calling card most was Japan, where calling cards were introduced in 1982 by

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone , commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked 55th in ''Fortune'' Global 500, NTT is the fourth largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of revenue, as well as the third la ...

(NTT). It was an instant hit, selling thousands a day on the subway systems in Tokyo and Osaka, various other companies began to get involved and released their own variants. In 2000, Brastel Telecom released the first rechargeable phone card in Japan called Brastel Card; this time the card was sold in convenience stores across Japan. As the rechargeable phone card took off, more companies began to release cards.

A cardless future

As international travel became cheaper and more people started to travel the international phone card became an essential part of a travelers` itinerary, previously customers would have to carry one or more cards when traveling and the cards could only be used in certain phones. Phone companies such as Pure MinutesThe Best Way to Make International Calls [SF Gate]
/ref> began to release "cardless" phone cards, instead of being issued with a real card, the user will be given a list of access numbers for various countries and a pin which they can use to log into their account. This allowed people to call from any phone in any country and still be able to top-up their credit.

Sources

* ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8kkSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XPMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6752,2785227&dq=history+of+the+rechargeable+calling+card&hl=en Newspaper Article about Rechargeable Calling Cards* ttp://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1995/11/11-28-95tdc/11-28-95d01-006.htm College Articlebr>Buzzle Article Detailing the Rechargeable Calling Card

References

Telephone services Telecommunications economics