FTC Reaches Settlement with NJ Based Millennium Telecard, Inc.

Just wanted to follow up on an earlier post about Millennium Telecard who had run a foul of the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising practices. It seems as if both sides have reached an agreement where Fadi Salim, the principal of this company and two others also under investigation, has agreed to hand over 2.3 million dollars to settle this accusation of wrong doing (without acknowledging that they did anything wrong of course). The money will be paid over a 10 year period and the settlement will ultimately stop Mr Salim from misrepresenting the amount of minutes on a phone card in any of it's advertising campaigns.

The settlement is the biggest of it's kind and is sure to signal the end of what has been a dark period of prepaid calling, where the fees in many cases would out-bill the actual minutes on a card. It is important to note that they will still be allowed to have fees on their cards but they all must be clearly displayed on all printed materials and be easy to understand (better than nothing I guess).

I wonder if this government crackdown is at the beginning, the middle or the end?

To read the full article go to the Star Ledger Article here!

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Manny Pacquiao Phone Card TV Commercial

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

Dramatel - The Strangest Phone Card Product Yet!

Now I have seen everything in this 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.

Temporary Restraining Order Issued Aginst Millennium Telecard, Inc.

Based on the findings of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a federal court order was issued on May 2nd (but only made public this week) against Millennium Telecard, Inc. and it's principal owner Fadi Salim. The court order is aimed at getting the company to immediately halt its misleading practice of advertising a certain number of minutes but only delivering a portion of those promised (in some cases they are being accused of delivering less than 50% of the advertised minutes).

The court order will bar Millennium Telecard from engaging in further practices like this and will also freeze their assets while possibilities of reparations are investigated (they want to avoid the possibility of the company of hiding or moving monies). A temporary receiver and manager of funds has been appointed by the courts to handle all financial affairs for the company while the matter is investigated further.

Millennium Telecard is fighting the FTCs finding and is litigating the matter. It is important to note that the court order has been issued based on recommendations of the FTC and not based on the ruling of guilt in any matter.

A copy of the court order can be found on the FTC web site.

Ruby Prepaid Calling Card Commercial

Dollar Phone Enters The Pinless Agent Space

Not to be outdone, Dollar Phone has finally entered the pinless phone card agent/dtc game. Joining IDT (Boss Revolution), CallDirek, Inc. (Call Direk Pinless) and many others already in this space. The product will be called Dollar Phone Pinless and will be sold on their website directly to consumers and will also be available to agents/retailers.

While the offer is nothing new, Dollar Phone and their strong market presence in the prepaid space, should end up making some significant inroads with a product like this!

To read the full press release go to: http://www.pr.com/press-release/313039

Prepay Nation Signs International Mobile Top Up Agreement With Globe

Prepay Nation keeps its momentum rolling in the International Mobile Top Up space and signs an agreement with Globe, one of the leading mobile operators in the Philippines. As part of the deal Prepay Nation will introduce a Globe IMTU product into it's distribution network here in the USA reaching over 150,000 retail outlets.

While not the first to offer this type of service in the US, the extensive distribution network of Prepay Nation will now allow for more Filipinos living in the US than ever before the ability to top up their family and friends mobile phones in the Philippines with a simple trip to the local store. According to Prepay Nation this addtion now gives their customers to over mobile operators in 45 countries throughout the world.

To find out more about Prepay Nation visit http://www.prepaynation.com/

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to wish all of my readers a Happy New Year and a prosperous 2011!

STI Black Phone Card - Commercial

We are back!

After months of absence, I am proud to announce we are back and plan to be bigger and better than before. In the coming weeks and months, we plan to do posts on the competitive prepaid land scape, information on the new players, new trends and many other international phone cards related items.

Stay tuned!

Diamond Phone Card Reaches Settlement With FTC

In a follow up to an earlier post from 2009 regarding Diamond Phone Cards alleged misleading of customers, the Federal Trade Commission has announced that they have reached a settlement with Diamond Phone Cards in which Diamond will pay the amount of $500,000 (not legaly labeled a fine but we all know what it really is) and agree to stop misleading consumers about talk time provided by providing all fee details in the language for which the product is being marketed.

This brings the total settlement pot up to 4 million dollars for the FTC in it's war against the corrupt practices of phone card companies. Companies who have contributed to this number include: Total Call (300K), Clifton Telecard (1.3M), and a handful of Florida companies (2.25M). The 4 million amount only includes what the FTC has levied and does not include the additional cases brought by many State's Attorney Generals.

All Right Phone Card Commercial SDI

There are some very happy people in this commercial!

Boss Revolution Pin-Less Phone Card

IDT has been promoting their fantastic new product Boss Revolution very heavily over the last few months with ads in the Prepaid-Press, Craigslist, email blasts, and lots of local point of purchase material. The product is basically a standard pin-less rechargeable calling card like Pingo and PennyTalk but with much lower rates and a unique distribution program which allows anyone with access to the internet to become a reseller of the product.

Much like the Avon model, Boss revolution allows everyday people to sell the service to their friends, family and anyone else who could benefit from cheap international calling. Some people online are even reporting profits of up to thousands of dollars a month. If reselling is not your interest and you just want to enjoy great low rates you can visit a local store or go online to purchase one of the lowest priced calling cards out there... and to make it even better, they offer a try before you buy program which gives $1 free for first time customers.

To purchase, become a reseller, or to learn more visit them at http://www.bossrevolution.com

New Year Same Old Trend - Phone Card Sales Declining

Well we are now into the new year and I started to reflect on the past year and the year ahead. For the most part 2009 saw a substantial decline in overall phone card sales and I'm afraid we will continue to see the same trend throughout 2010. Prepaid Mobile phones with competitive international rates are only going to get more aggressive this year and with increased penetration of broadband in recent immigrant households, VOIP services like Skype and Vonage will also continue to errode the phone card market share.

Nobody beats phone card rates, but drop dead lowest rates is not always the most important factor, the convienience of these other services along with decent (and clean) rates seems to be the deciding factor in most purchases.

I don't want to be all gloom and doom here so I will point out that there are some positive trends that I have noticed:

1. Prepaid Mobile sales have been growing (lower margin and higher risk)
2. These new International Mobile Top-Up products have delivered a nice volume of sales (lower margin)
3. Prepaid cash cards have seen a slight increase in demand

While the above have certainly helped, they have not replaced the amount of traditional phone card sales volume lost. If we could just get another product like International Mobile Top-Up, I think we would all be able to return to our business levels of years past!

Here's to hoping for something new and revolutionary will come in 2010!

Cheers!

Publish Post

Ninel Conde Phone Card Commercial

Ninel Conde the famous Mexican actress, model, singer now has her very own phone card.

Government Crack Down On Phone Cards Goes North of The Border

While we here in the US have been undergoing a legal and governmental crack down on the phone card industry over the last couple of years, Canada has until recently enjoyed a care free business as usual environment. Well that all changed this month when one of Canada's largest prepaid phone card companies Phonetime Inc. was fined $300,000 by the Canadian Competition Bureau, a government agency in charge of business oversight, for misleading consumers. Phonetime will also need to offer 78% refund to any customer who returns a Bravo or Bravo Atlantic card to the company (a $10 card would yield a $7.80 return amount). However, most agree that it is highly unlikely that many will be able to return old cards as most phone cards as disposed of after being used.

Also required of Phonetime by the bureau will be a corrective statement to be placed in a national newspaper clarifying their cards fees and notifying the general public about the 78% return settlement on all old Bravo cards.

The settlement is final and Phonetime has been quoted as being very cooperative in this matter.

STI Launches A Sweepstakes To Help Boost Sales

Much like IDT did last year with it's Boss Card sweepstakes, STI has launched their own sweepstakes this year right in time for the important holiday sales season, it's called "Connect The World Sweepstakes." The sweepstakes offers a grand prize of $1,000 Cash and 1 year of free calling. Their are also other prizes: 2nd Prize of an LG 225 camera phone with $20 of calling time and a third place prize of a $20 phone card as well as other calling card prizes.

The sweepstakes officially began on 10/15/09 and will continue into the new year ending on 1/3/10. There are two ways to enter with the first involving entering in your phone card pin online along with your contact information or you can enter online by testing STISWEEPS to 878787. No purchase is technically needed to play and free codes can be obtained online or by SMS by following the instructions provided.

Full rules can be found here: http://www.stisweeps.com/STIOfficialRules.pdf

La Que Ta Phone Card TV Ad

Here is the latest phone card advertisement I found