tensocfan asked:


I will be in these countries for three weeks: Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, Wales, and Ireland. I can only seem to find cards that are for calling countries FROM the U.S. but I need one to call the U.S. from Europe. Any suggestions?

europe calling cards

Eisha Sarkar asked:




“What Mumbai is to India, Colombo is to Sri Lanka,” a Sri Lanka Tourism Board (SLTB) official told us at the Bandaranaike International Airport. Few Indian honeymooners would make an unplanned trip to Sri Lanka. Ours wasn’t completely unplanned. Having gone through hotels recommended by the Lonely Planet at a bookstore in Male, we pondered over stopping for a day in Colombo before heading back to Mumbai. Once we got through the immigration counters with a day’s visa, we headed to Sri Lanka’s commercial capital.

Booking a hotel: We asked a Colombo Hotels Corporation official for help regarding information about hotels in Colombo. We’d booked our rooms for $50 a night at Hotel Goodwood near the airport but he suggested we board one in downtown Colombo as it would make travel easier. Our final pick: Hotel Grand Oriental at York Street in Fort, Colombo for SL Rs 4,500 (Around INR 2,000) a night.

Call a cab: The airport is 32 km from Colombo so you have to either hire a taxi or take the airport bus. At that odd hour, keeping security concerns in mind we opted for a taxi that would cost us SL Rs 2,200 (it costs SL Rs 2,800 for a hotel pick-up).

Whogunnit!: Barely had we gone a few kilometres south towards Colombo, our car was flagged down and asked to stop. A soldier tapped on the window and asked us to open the door. He pointed a gun at us and asked for our identity cards. The taxi driver flashed his card and said we’re Indians. The soldier let us pass after checking our passports. Colombo is literally policed by the army. We were checked five times that day.

Fort precinct: We stayed at the very imperial Grand Oriental Hotel opposite the Port Trust. The hotel resembles the Great Western Building in Mumbai. The Fort area of Colombo is a lot like the Fort in Mumbai. York Street is the main business district. The twin towers of the World Trade Centre stand right in the centre of this area. The President’s House is nearby as is the Tourist Police Office. There is Laksala where tourists go to buy Sri Lankan leather and cane handicrafts, Ceylon tea and masks (For cheaper souvenirs we opted for the roadside stalls in Pettah market). As this is a high-security zone movement into and out of this area is restricted, especially at night.

Attractions: The hotel staff suggested to us that we visit the famed Gangaramaya Temple. We marvelled at the giant tusker in the temple compound munching on bananas and ‘posing’ for pictures for tourists. We gaped at the 10-ft-tall brass statues of Buddha inside the temple that reverberated with Buddhist chants. Besides places of religious worship, the other tourist spots are the Town Hall (a carbon copy of the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata), the Vihara Mahadevi Park that has a spice garden and the Art Gallery nearby, which displayed works of some of the finest Sri Lankan Artists since the 1930s.

While the National Museum sees its throng of with foreign tourists, the Dutch Museum in the heart of Pettah (equivalent to the Crawford Market in Mumbai) sees few visitors but is quite informative about the trade between the Dutch and the Sinhalese Kings of Kandy. As travel in Colombo is very expensive, we bargained with an autorickshaw driver outside the hotel to take us around for sightseeing for SL Rs 500. After the regular spots, he took us to a small gem workshop where we were shown a model of how sapphire is traditionally mined in the Ratnapura region (about 100 km south of Colombo). Sapphire from Sri Lanka occurs in a wide range of hues from orange-yellow to cornflower-blue, green, orange, pink, purple, yellow and white.

Food: For authentic Sri Lankan food, the Taj Restaurant at York Street is a fine bet. It resembles the Irani cafes of Mumbai. But there is a difference. The water in the glasses on the table was not for drinking but for washing our hands. Much to our surprise, some diners even washed their plates before the meal. As for the food, while there were the usual fried chicken masala and fish curry items on the chart, we decided to go for the Kothu Roti (chopped roti mixed with spicy chicken) and Buriyani (the Sri Lankan version of Biryani). The Kothu Roti was worth the money (SL Rs 200) but we didn’t enjoy the coconut-flavoured Buriyani as we are accustomed to Hyderabadi Biryani.

For a more luxurious setting for an evening meal, we went to the much-recommended Raja Bhojun Restaurant at the Galle Face Road (the ‘Marine Drive’ of Colombo). We tucked into shrimp cocktail and spicy cuttlefish as we watched the sun set into the Indian Ocean.

europe calling cards

Vanessa A. Doctor asked:




Online buying is very popular today among many people. Most individuals purchase their needs using the internet. Even groceries and some useful things like prepaid phone cards are available over the web. Because of the availability of supplies on the web and the number of options to choose from, it is never a wonder why many people engage in online buying.

One of the most bought products from the internet today is prepaid phone cards. Because not all types, brands, and kinds of cards are available over many shops, people choose to buy them from the internet instead. Aside from availability, everything is made convenient when you buy from the internet. You also get to purchase prepaid phone cards at a much lower rate.

So how do you purchase prepaid phone cards over the internet? Read the items below and find out.

Look For A Good And Credible Site

Your first step in buying prepaid phone cards over the web would be looking for a good and reliable site. This has to be listed in a directory so you can be sure that the site is legal. Since there are plenty of scammers around, it is best to keep your transactions safe by ensuring the credibility of the sites.

Pick Your Call Destination

After you’ve found a good site, your next step would be to choose which destination you want to call to and where you are at the moment. Some cards are sold and used for specific countries alone. There are those cards which can make calls going to Asia, Europe, and America. Some are also restricted to a few countries only.

Select A Phone Card

When you’ve chosen your destination, your next step would be selecting a good brand. Most of the time, you’ll only know if the prepaid phone card works great after making the calls. However, you can search for some card reviews and try to find out which card is preferred by a lot of consumers.

Finalize Your Shopping Cart

After you’ve chosen one or two cards, you’d find them all listed in the “shopping card” tab of the page. You have to make things final by clicking what you want to include or remove from the list.

Authenticate Yourself

When you are ready to make the purchase, click the “buy” button and authenticate yourself from there. You have to enter several details like your name, the credit card you’ll use, and the place you are at. Of course, these pages are kept confidential so all your credit information will remain private as well.

In a matter of seconds, you’ll be able to use your own prepaid phone card already. There are no limits to the purchases you’re going to make. For as long as you’re happy with the site’s services, you can very well buy these cards any moment you want to.

europe calling cards

Earl Juanico asked:




The reason behind the sudden proliferation of prepaid calling cards in the telecommunication market is the degree of convenience that they impart on consumers. One doesn’t have to bring those messy coins just to use the pay phone; one prepaid calling card is all that is needed. Phone bills are gotten rid off as well since the calls that one is going to make through the prepaid calling card has already been paid for. Prepaid calling cards have been around Asia and Europe for quite some time. Another reason for the fast rising popularity of prepaid calling cards is the facility that allows a consumer to regulate calling times in order to save a lot of cash on a monthly basis. Since one can make only a preset number of calls equivalent to the monetary value of the card, the worry of running up a phone bill eventually reaching to surprising amounts is eradicated. One also needs not to have a good credit history to acquire a prepaid calling card. There is no need for deposits as well; just pay for the card and one is ready to make calls.

The PELORUS Group reported about the surge of revenues in the prepaid calling card market over the United States and Canada between 1995 and 2000. The prepaid calling card market sales increased from $750 million to over $3.3 billion in a matter of 5 years. Domestic and international components of the market simultaneously rose during this period. However, between 2001 and 2002, the prepaid calling card market in North America decelerated. It was during this time period that domestic prepaid calling card revenues declined. Nevertheless international prepaid calling cards continuously enjoy increasing revenues. With the escalating popularity of international calling cards, the total prepaid calling card revenues managed to bounce back to about $3.2 billion.

International calling has been made affordable to a larger segment of the population by rates the have lowered sharply in recent years. The drop in rates has been sparked not only from the intense competition among prepaid calling card vendors, but also from the escalating competition from other telecommunication modalities and Internet telephony or VoIP, which foreign carriers have been struggling to keep up to. But this has consequently generated a higher degree of acceptance among consumers. Hence, call time has grown to more than counterbalance the detrimental effect of revenue erosion due to lower rates. The net result is a higher gain in revenues even as some sectors of the market, such as domestic calling, have receded.

The same report projects a gradual decline in domestic prepaid calling card revenues starting from 2003 all the way up to 2008. On the contrary, international prepaid calling card revenues are positively foreseen to boost by almost 33%, climbing to an estimated total of $2.75 billion in 2008. By 2008 the size of the international market will more than double the corresponding size of the domestic market.

However, the promising industry of prepaid calling cards is not impervious to problems. For instance there is a diversity of opinions regarding rechargeable cards. The prevailing issue is concerned with the fact that retailers do not agree to sell rechargeable cards because the sale will be a one-shot deal. The counter argument asserts that rechargeable cards actually render extra revenue from the recharge residual fees to retailers.

Vending machines are becoming the fastest-growing method of merchandising. Retailers can benefit from enhanced security this method of retailing provides. Furthermore, it also requires lower inventory needs as well as no employee involvement.

europe calling cards

Vanessa A. Doctor asked:




Many people dream of owning their own businesses, and selling prepaid phone cards at home would make a nice start to a good business proposition. Starting this business should be quite easy and could convert your dreams into reality. However, there is a very wide gap between dreams and reality. Your dreams, whatever the may be, can only be achieved with careful planning.

As a home-based entrepreneur, you will need to have a plan to avoid pitfalls, to achieve your goals, and to build a profitable home business, such as selling prepaid phone cards. But first let’s create a general overview of what one needs to have in mind when starting a prepaid phone card home business, and among the key points to bear in mind are the following:

A.) Find out if wholesale agents purchase voice traffic from telecom providers at wholesale, or discounted rates.

B.) Determine the amount of investment required to set up a prepaid card home selling business, and find out if there are any sign up or monthly fees, or if you sell the services under their own brand.

C.) Inquire from your service provider if they provide customizable business management, or web-based platforms to the wholesale agents, where you can:

> Set your own rates for their customers.

> Create different rate plans with different billing increments (rounding to seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute etc.), impose connection and disconnection charges, monthly fees and other parameters. Check if billing can be done in a local currency.

> Credit and charge amounts to/from accounts

> Configure postpaid or prepaid billing types for the customers

> Record own voice greetings and messages

> See the billing and errors for each account

> Configure speed dial numbers or services for the customers

> Generate pin codes for calling cards

D.) Ask if it is possible to provide a Customer Account Management (CAM) interface, or billing platform at the agent’s web-site. If they would provide you with this kind of interface, your customers would be able to:

> See their balance or current monthly usage

> See their pin codes.

> Change the callback numbers.

> View and print billing reports and invoices

> Update their personal information (i.e. address, phone, e-mail etc.)

E.) Also check if they provide voice prompts that are available in a number of international languages, for foreign callers or buyers.

F.) Find out if they impose minimum monthly sales requirements on your prepaid home selling business account.

G.) Do try out their customer service departments, and evaluate the quality and promptness of that service.

Having a good customer service platform helps in ensuring your prepaid card home selling business could cope with customer concerns like defective cards, improper billing, theft or loss of card, client feedback and suggestions.

H.) Analyze and compare phone card features with other brands.

Make a comparison of your prospective telecom service provider with other networks and resellers. Do find out if they have features such as PINless dialing, the ability to store multiple telephone numbers in one PIN, Custom voice prompts, Could the PIN save your own greeting messages, does it record promotional messages and take advantage of the promotional card business, does it have multiple recharge options, does it have convenient methods of recharging accounts, could it provide instant credit card charge, international callback modes, international toll free access, and affordable toll free access from US, Canada, Latin America and Europe.

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europe calling cards

SLY G asked:


I have an unlocked Samsung phone and while I was in Ukraine I just popped one of their sims in and it worked great but now I’m back in the US. What would be the best sim card to get to use here and also to be able to receive calls from Ukraine? Of course I’d like to go the cheapest route but also I would love a sim card whose service was great, as in, no dropped calls every 5 seconds. Thanks for the info!

europe calling cards

xenon asked:


It’s not that I don’t have sim card

I need to upgrad so that I can make calls from Europe to America

Do u guys think it would be wiser to by pre payed calling cards? (if so do you know any international card names)

Thanks

europe calling cards