Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Free long distance services and calling cards

Local access phone cards usually have cheaper rates than toll free phone cards and that’s why customers prefer them. Local calling cards are accessed using local numbers (an area code to an specific part of a city or town and a phone number). Some of our calling cards offer great rates calling from specific areas in California, New York, Maryland or Texas, for example.

When you use a local calling card, It’s always better to check if it offers an access number in your area. You can find out, clicking on the access number link that appears in each phone card page. This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy cheap rates if you are not located in those areas. Most of the cellular companies and some of the regular phone companies offer free long distance service for their calling plans, allowing their customers to dial any number in US without an extra charge. You can contact your provider to know if your phone number has that benefit.

If you have free long distance within US, you can use our phone cards without restriction of area and you can select the cheapest rate each time you call your country and save tons on money.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Skype problem with toll free numbers

Some of the people who purchase our cards in Iraq and Middle East used to call with our phone cards through the Skype dialer. It was free to call to Toll Free Numbers in United Estates but this feature has some restrictions now that block you when you try to dial the pin code after you reach the recording.

We tested some other dialers and the buzz messenger seems to do the trick. It's very easy to configure and it offers no resistance when you dial a toll free number and you try to access the IVR menu.

You can download it here.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Effects of the Migratory Reform

As everyone knows, long distance communications are very related to immigrants, travelers and people who lives abroad for any reason. The migratory reforms affect this kind of people directly and could produce some dramatic changes in US economy, since a lot of companies reduce their production cost hiring aliens, and a very large part of US history and economical tradition is related to people that comes from every single corner of the country.

Here you will find a neat article from one of our collaborators about this situation. Effects of the Migratory Reform

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

New Cabal Phone Card, Great to Call Latin America















Introducing
THE NEW CABAL PHONE CARD
With awesome cheap rates
and a bunch of minutes



Viapin just launched the Cabal phone card for DC, VA and MD residents. The Cabal calling card offer excellent rates to Destinations in Latin America, offering service from all USA with National Free Long Distance Service.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Phone Cards Business Opportunity at Viapin!




Viapin just released a business opportunity for its customers and anyone interested in selling phone cards. They offer training, customer service support, discounts and benefits to whoever joins the program.




An
ENDLESS MINUTES
phone card
for you

Unlimited BOSS CAROLINAS
  • No connection fees
  • No Service fees
  • 1 minute rounding

Viapin releases a new card with great benefits to its customers. The BOSS CAROLINAS phone card, includes unlimited minutes to 58 long distance destinations with the excellent quality, always recognized in the BOSS cards.

The Boss Carolinas charges per minutes used once the call is ended. As long as you don't end the call, you will get unlimited minutes.

Check Destinations




Wednesday, January 24, 2007

FTC report on phone cards

At Viapin, customer satisfaction is the whole reason of our work. That's why we want to reproduce this document from the FTC that offers a great research on calling cards & phone cards usage and gives some instructions on how to choose them, prevent and report any inconvenience a user may encounter.

You can read the complete text here and find a pdf version of this document here.



How Pre-Paid Calling Cards Work

Most pre-paid phone cards display a toll-free access telephone number and a personal identification number (PIN). Pre-paid phone card companies have computers that use your PIN to keep track of your card usage — how much time you have on your card in minutes or units. To make a phone call, you dial the access number, enter your PIN, and at the voice prompt, enter the phone number of the party you’re trying to reach. A computer tells you how much time — or how many units — you have left on your card, and how to use other features your card may offer. Typically, each unit equals one minute for a domestic call. If your pre-paid phone card can’t be recharged — that is, if you can’t buy additional minutes by phone for the card — you’ll need to buy another card once you’ve used up the time.

Consumer Concerns

As more people buy and use pre-paid cards, some consumer complaints have come to light:

  • access numbers or PINs that don’t work;
  • issuers who go out of business, leaving card-holders with a useless card;
  • customer service numbers that are busy or simply don’t work;
  • toll-free access numbers that are constantly busy, preventing you from using the card;
  • rates that are higher than advertised;
  • hidden connection charges, taxes, and surcharges;
  • cards that debit minutes or units even when you don’t connect with the party you’re calling; and
  • poor quality connections.

Buying Time and Value
Consumers can avoid many of these problems — and buy considerable peace of mind — by planning ahead. Although many pre-paid phone cards are impulse purchases, you can avoid disappointment by checking out a few things in advance:

  • Ask if the retailer will stand behind the card if the telephone service is unsatisfactory.
  • The pre-paid phone card industry is highly competitive. But very low rates, particularly for international calls, may indicate poor customer service.
  • Look for disclosures about surcharges, monthly fees, per-call access, and the like, in addition to the rate-per-minute or unit. Some cards add a surcharge to the first minute of use. Others charge an activation fee for recharging cards.
  • Check on expiration dates. Most cards expire one year after first use. If there is no expiration date, a card usually is considered “live” until all phone time is used.
  • Look for a toll-free customer service number. If the customer service number isn’t toll-free or displayed, it may be difficult to contact the company if you have a problem with the card. A busy signal on the customer service line may be a tip-off to a rip-off.
  • Be sure the card comes with instructions that you understand.
The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

A new rechargeable phone card from Viapin. Boss USA released!




NEW
PHONE CARD
with the lowest rates to your country
  • No connection fees
  • No Service fees
  • 1 minute rounding
  • Local access from USA
  • Local access from Canada
+ Check rates for a $20 card


Viapin always wants to provide their customers with the best products at the best rates and this is not the exception. This week Viapin released the BOSS USA phone card with features such as recharge online, PINless dialing, local access numbers from USA and Canada, 1 minute rounding and the best rates to call to USA, Canada, Mongolia, Russia, among others.

This release makes part of the rechargeable launch campaing that was initiated in December of 2006 and includes over 15 products now, with extended service in Northamerica.

New phone card from Viapin with really crazy rates




  • Local access from USA & Canada
  • Special phone card for one shot calls
  • Crazy lowest rates for all countries
Check rates for a $20 card


Viapin launches a new long distance option called CRAZY USA Phone card, with extraordinarily low rates specially designed for customers who spend a lot of time on the phone. This calling card has all the features of a top card, speed dialing, fast dialing, online recharge, over 540 access numbers for US and Canada, providing a unprecedented coverage in North America with the cheapest rates in the international phone calls market.

Tip
Viapin strongly recommends its customers to use the Crazy USA for 1 shot calls to maximize its advantages, maintain the exceptional rates it has and avoid the fees when calling. Learn how to use calling cards!