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What are calling cards?
Calling cards are a prepaid method of making a long distance (domestic or international) call.
By using a calling card you save money on your long-distance phone bill.
There are no monthly bills, and no detailed statements.
Rather, you simply pay for the calling time in advance and your prepaid balance is reduced as you make your calls.
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How does the card work?
The card comes with local access number, toll free access number and a PIN number. All you have to do is dial the access number and follow the prompt. You will be asked to enter your PIN number and you will get a recording telling you the balance on your card, after that you will be asked to enter your destination number, if you are calling in North America, dial 1+ area code + phone number, for overseas calls dial 011+ country code + phone number. After dialing the destination number you will get the prompt telling you how many minutes you will be able to speak to your destination.
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Phone Card selection tips
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A quality phone card can and will save you money versus using a long distance company. Prepaid phone card rates are typically much lower (up to 95%) than any long distance plan rates and they stay the same throughout the day. Prepaid phone cards do not require any alterations to your currently existing long distance plan. You may use different phone cards for different long distance needs, different countries, different call lengths, etc.
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Competition on the phone card market is very tight; telecom companies are constantly introducing new cards and new rates.
There are different phone cards for different destinations, different number of calls, different call lengths.
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We constantly research phone card market to bring you the best phone cards for all your long distance needs. We do not carry or discontinue cards, which cheats, or starting to cheat their clients. We sell phone cards from many telecom companies and we are always here to help you to select a right card for particular destination or call pattern.
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Generally we can classify phone cards as cards best for
multiple calls
a few calls
a single call
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Phone Cards, which are best for multiple calls are usually clean and have no hidden charges. These cards are especially good for calls to countries with low per minute rate (within Canada, to US, UK, China, European landline phones, and many more). They also good to make multiple calls to any other destination. We recommend this type of phone cards for most customers.
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Phone Cards, which are best for a few calls, usually have the lowest rates. However, per-call service fees, applicable for every call, decrease the actual minutes, especially if multiple calls were made. We recommend these phone cards only when you plan to use $2.50 of the balance for 1 or 2 calls ($5 for 3-4 etc). If used properly, such phone cards are very efficient and may save up to 95% of regular call costs for calls to countries with high per minute rates. If you are new to calling cards or are not sure if cards with hidden charges will work good for your destination we recommend you to choose a phone card, which is recommended for multiple calls.
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All "multiple calls" (CiCi phone card, First Choice phone card, Premier Plus phone card, Gold phone card)
as well as some phone cards with service fee (SIFA phone card, 20/20 phone card, Top Plus phone card) maintain competitive long distance rates for a lifetime.
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To select the best phone card for your needs please
In a rate finder, select the country you need to call.
Select the type of card which best fits your call pattern (single call, multiple calls, 2-3 calls).
Click search.
When results are shown, examine card highlights, description and applicable charges.
Check if local access number is available for your location or phone card has "free 1-800" access number.
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Remember, we do not recommend usage of toll free number where surcharge is applicable (unless exact surcharge is specified).
If local access is not available for you location chose phone card with "free 1-800" access number for your province.
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Why choose the card with hidden charges?
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Most of the phone cards with the lowest rates on the Canadian and US markets do not provide the exact rates and minutes as posted. These cards deduct per-call service fee or other hidden charges (network fee, administration fee, etc.) from the card remaining balance. These fees are usually not included in posted rates and minutes. Despite hidden charges such cards often provide best actual minutes for a single or for a few calls to countries with high per minute rates. We do not usually recommend using such cards for multiple calls or for calls to the US, UK and other countries with low per minute rates.
Since different cards work differently for different destinations the only way to find the really best card for your destination is to try different cards or simply choose the card recommended by somebody who already used it. Ontario Phone Cards constantly researches the phone card market and offers only cards which provide good service and do not cheat their users. We post our editorial reviews for many cards on our site. If you notice significant discrepancy in posted and actual minutes please let us know by writing a review (write a review link on card information page). We use review information for our recommendations and/or removal of misleading rates and cheating cards from our site.
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If you are new to calling cards or are not sure if cards with hidden charges will work good for your destination we recommend you to choose a card with no hidden charges, or a card which is recommended for multiple calls.
Ontario Phone Cards offers many cards with no hidden charges.
The most popular calling cards are CiCi, Premier Plus, First Choice and Gold calling cards
To see all cards with no hidden charges please select "No hidden charges" or "for multiple calls" from the card type box (beside Search button) on Ontario Phone Cards home or search pages.
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Phone card glossary
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The following fees may come with some phone cards. Please see Phone Card information to check if and which fees are applicable to the phone card you are interested in. Not all cards come with such fees.
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Call Increment
Call increment defines the time interval phone card will be billed. Call increment may vary depending on the country called. For example, one minute increment means that if you talked for just thirty seconds, one full minute would still be deducted from your phone card's total. Three minute increment would imply three minutes would be deducted from your card's total amount even if you talked for one minute.
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Per-call service fee
This fee is billed every time, or after a new call is placed.
The amount of fee may vary depending on the country called.
Sometimes this fee is not included in the posted minutes, so it can reduce the number of minutes available for every sub sequential call.
Some cards, like Indigo, Oasis, etc., charge service fees only when the card is not totally used.
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Maintenance charge
This fee reduces the time left on a phone card and can be charged weekly or monthly, and for some cards even daily. Most times you can avoid these fees by using a phone card prior to a maintenance fee being applied. Therefore, if maintenance fees apply, it's not a good idea to activate the card (dial access number and PIN number) and leave some minutes for another time.
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Connection fee
This fee occurs when a phone call is connected and it significantly reduces the number of minutes available for the call.
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Other charges
Other charges imply that different service and maintenance charges may be applied depending on country called.
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Ontario Phone Cards Customer Satisfaction rate
To help our customers evaluate phone cards we automatically calculate Customer Satisfaction rate.
Calculation based on:
Number of users who buy this card regularly (considered as satisfied).
Number of users who bought this card once (considered as not satisfied).
Number of positive references and reviews
Number of complaints and negative reviews.
Please keep in mind that no phone card can satisfy everyone. Despite our recommendations and tips some customers misuse cards, i.e. cards designed for a single call are used for multiple calls, cards with maintenance fees are used over long periods of time, etc.
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Online shopping safety
We use PayPal, the global leader in online payments.
Over 56 millions users trust PayPal.
PayPal collects your personal and credit card information directly and passes to us only your name,
email, phone number and amount paid.
You can enter your billing information every time, or alternatively, save your data with PayPal
(create a PayPal account) and never worry about re-entering your information again;
just use your email and password.
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Ontario Phone Cards Rebate Information
With every purchase you accumulate a rebate which you can use for your future OntarioPhoneCards.ca purchases.
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For orders of $20 and more you get a 5% rebate. Which is
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for $20 order - $1.00
for $30 order - $1.50
for $40 order - $2.00
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For orders less then $20 you get only a 2% rebate of the total. For example
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for $10 order - $0.20
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With your first purchase you get $2.00 introductory rebate.
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All rebates are accumulated on your Rebate Account automatically created after your first transaction. Your Account balance and pass code will be e-mailed to you with your first order.
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You have to accumulate at least $10 rebate in order to use it for your purchase. Generally in order to get $10 discount you have to spend about $170 placing orders of at least $20 each. This gives you an even better average discount of 6%.
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To spend your Rebate Dollars click on "Rebate Dollars" link on shopping cart page. For your account security you will be asked to enter your pass code.
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Why is the Surcharge for Orders Under $10?
For every order Ontario Phone Cards pays per-transaction flat fee and percentage from the order total.
For $5 orders our commissions simply do not cover per-transaction fees.
To allow our clients to place small orders we have to charge an extra 30¢ for every $5 order.
We do not charge any additional fee for orders of $10 or more.
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Why should you pay more for some phone cards?
For some of the best phone cards our commissions are so low that they simply do not cover per-transaction fees and other costs of small order processing.
To make these phone cards available on our web site we have to charge an extra fee for every such card from
orders of less than $20. We do not charge any extra fees for orders of $20 or more,
however 2-5% rebate could not be earned on all cards with extra-low commissions
(Union, Call 24, Peace, etc).
Please compare the rates and actual minutes. You are still getting the best deal.
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How do I buy my card?
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You select a phone card on OntarioPhoneCards.Ca and place the selected card in your shopping cart. |
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You then proceed to Secure Checkout and complete the secure credit card transaction with PayPal - the global leader in online payments. You may pay by any major credit card, you are no longer required to use or create a PayPal account.
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Your issuing bank approves your transaction or declines your credit card. Only the results of your transaction are then passed to OntarioPhoneCards.Ca.
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Upon a successful transaction OntarioPhoneCards.Ca sends the following information to to the email address you will provide on the secure checkout page or to your email address registered with PayPal:
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a receipt of your payment;
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a separate notice for every card purchased, containing the PIN, access number(s), and other information necessary for using your card;
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your rebate account balance statement and pass code.
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You receive your Virtual Phone Card instantly.
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Is there an additional charge for using a cell phone?
Using any of our cards you get the same rates when you are calling from a cell phone, but you will be paying for the local and roaming fees charged by your service provider.
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Can I use the card from any phone?
Calls must be made from a touch tone phone (home, office, digital cell phone or *payphone. * Please be advised that the payphone service charge may be applied.
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