2012 - Phone Card Industry Year in Review

Well we are just about ready to say farewell to another year and for the phone card business, it wasn't the most exciting of years in recent history. Unfortunately just like the year before, the top stories continued to be focused around the FTC crack down on deceptive practices in the industry and bankruptcies.

Some of the top phone card related stories of 2012 included:

• The once powerful STI going into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection (Vivaro is the parent company)
• Skype pushing into the hard card space (available at 7-11, Best Buy and Radio Shack)
• FTC fining DR Phone Card for deceptive marketing practices (case still ongoing)
• IDT expanding it's Point of Sale activation products into Rite Aid stores
• Millenium Telecard paying a 2.3 million dollar settlement to FTC for alleged deceptive marketing practices
• Consumer Reports publishing scathing review on phone cards finding that most cards tested delivered far lower than the advertised minutes. This report led a month long media flurry around the subject, painting a terrible picture for an industry which cannot afford more negative press!

While all of the above are definitely not positive news items that is not to imply that there were not at least a few positive things this past year. For starters in 2012 there was a huge expansion and mass acceptance of the "virtual" type cards also known as Pinless products. The most popular of which seems to be the IDT Boss Revolution offer followed hot on their heels by VoxCall a SpeedyPin product. Another positive in 2012 was the huge growth seen with the International Mobile Top Up products (IMTU). The margins are a ot lower than traditional calling cards but the consumer demand is there and it has helped many distributors replace some of their lost calling card business.

To all of my readers and those in the business have a Happy and Safe New Year!

Here is to better things in 2013!

Making Money with PINless - Vox Call Agent Program

In a follow up to last months post, I wanted to fill in my readers on Vox Call’s latest offering that now allows for distributors and retailers to benefit and start making money with the popular Vox Call PINless calling service. Vox Call just about sells itself with great low rates, ZERO additional fees, clear connections, no contracts or bills, complete recharge functionality, 100% satisfaction guarantee and much much more!

One of the most appealing aspects of the agent program is that the retailer/distributor no longer needs to worry about stocking or running out of physical inventory since the service is completely virtual! It removes the hassle and problems associated with supply change management” says Vox Call’s Director, Eric Itzkowitz. All you need is a computer or Internet-ready device and internet access as the purchase and management process is conveniently done online via the unique Vox Call agent portal. Once a customer has been turned up by you online they can either recharge via your store (cash or credit card) or online at VoxCall.com and no matter which way they top up, you will always receive commission.

Wireless/Mobile phone store owners, convenience store owners and the like are ideal Vox Call agents, especially those looking to add a superior quality prepaid international calling service to their product lineup. As long as you can have access to an Internet connection, you too can sell Vox Call PINless calling service.

Also for those agents/distributors who need their own look and feel for the product, Vox Call also offers a white label program which allows the service to be customized with your very own url, logos, custom prompts, rates and more.

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The Vox Call Agent Program is always evolving, in order to provide our agents with the best PINless service available. Some of the future functionality we are working on includes:

* DID Mapping - Your customer receives a local access number to call an international phone number. The person/people they call get a local international access number to call them.
* International Access - Vox Call service can be used within the USA, Canada, Mexico and other select countries throughout the world.
* International Prepaid Mobile Top-up - Your customers can pay to top-up (recharge) an international prepaid cell phone.
* and more...

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To find out more about the Vox Call Agent program visit them online at http://www.voxcall.com/business

SpeedyPin Introduces VoxCall Pinless Calling Service

The latest news on the war to win the PINLess dialing battle, online phone card giant SpeedyPin recently announced the release of their new PINLess international calling service called VoxCall.

The service, offered directly online or through an extensive agent network, offers super low rates which they claim can help customers save up to 95% on their international calling costs (versus calling with traditional long distance plans). Some of the other great features of this product include:

- No-PIN Dialing from any Phone (home, office or mobile)
- Online Account Management
- No Added Fees
- No Contracts
- Toll Free & Local Access
- & and much more.

Calls are billed in one minute increments and complete CDRs are available to the end users at anytime via their super convenient online account center. VoxCall is so confident that you will like their service that they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee to each and every customer. They also maintain full accreditation with the Better Business Bureau with an A rating.

Later this year VoxCall has additional plans to offer:

- International access numbers
- A Spanish version of the website
- Direct calling via a phone number mapping feature

If you are a consumer who would like to try their service for free just visit their site at http://www.voxcall.com for a free trial.