PREPAID CARDS & CALLING CARDS
As of January 2005, all students have free voicemail and
can make free on-campus, local, and 800 calls from their
room phones. For a list of exchanges included in the local calling area, click here.
To make long distance and international calls from a
room phone, students now need a pre-paid phone
card or calling card. Please read
the sections below for important factors to consider
when choosing which type of card to buy.
Pre-paid
cards
Calling cards
Pre-Paid
Cards
Pre-paid cards are popular for placing long distance and
international calls. There are a wide variety of cards
available, many of which specialize in calling to particular
countries. The cards are purchased
for a set amount and are either discarded when the allotted
time is used or can be recharged, usually be calling a
designated number
and providing credit card information.
As the name implies,
the usage on this type of card is paid in advance, so there
is never a bill and
therefore never any call detail. For that reason you may
wish to track your usage to ensure you are getting
what you paid for.
Please consider the following factors when choosing a pre-paid card:
- Is the card accessed via a toll-free number? Free calls
from student rooms are limited to on-campus, local, and
800 numbers, so make sure the card does not
require a long
distance number for access.
- Does the card have an expiration date?
- Is there a per-call set-up fee?
- Is there a monthly service
charge?
- Most cards have an additional charge if it is
used from a payphone. If you will be making calls from
payphones, how much is the fee?
- What is the actual
cost per minute? Many cards quote only a minute count
and leave it to the
consumer to calculate
the cost per minute.
- If you will be making international
calls, what is the rate to the countries you will be
calling? Most carriers now pass on fees associated with
calls to
international
cellphones
(sometimes
called a Mobile Termination Charge) to the
cardholder. Does that apply?
- Is the card rechargeable? At what rate?
Where to find pre-paid
cards
Pre-paid cards are sold in many venues, including convenience
and grocery stores, websites, and the Smith College Bookstore.
Some of the largest sellers of pre-paid cards
are large department
and discount stores, including Walmart, BJ's, and Costco.
Calling Cards
Traditional calling cards differ from pre-paid cards in
that they are billed, typically on a monthly basis. Because
of the added cost of billing, calling cards tend to have
slightly higher rates.
However, calling cards also provide call
detail, so you can be sure you pay only for minutes
you actually use.
Calling cards are typically available only through regular telephone
carriers. Most traditional calling cards are linked to
a regular home telephone account for billing, but some
carriers also offer “non-subscriber” accounts
that have separate billing.
When opening a calling card
account, do not link it to your room telephone number.
Instead, you should either associate
it with a regular home telephone number or establish a “non-subscriber” account.
