Calling Card Resellers

Calling card resellers are marketing companies that sell calling cards on behalf of one or several telephone companies or VoIP carriers. The 'carriers' are independent businesses that operate independently from the reseller.

The reseller doesn't actually deliver the phone service associated with the calling card you buy. They simply act as a sales agent by marketing and selling the carrier's calling cards to consumers. They also handle the billing / invoicing and, to varying degrees, the customer service.

In other words, when you buy from a calling card reseller, you are, in effect, buying something from two separate companies at the same time: the reseller and the carrier.

The calling cards the reseller sells may be custom cards packaged specifically for that reseller - or they may be generic cards sold to any number of resellers.

The reseller takes care of the purchasing and payment for the card. They also provide the consumer with information like access numbers and rates. Their customer service people can assist you these types of account related things.

The carrier is typically a calling card wholesaler that operates the actual telecommunications network that delivers your voice calls. They may own the network they use - or they may lease capacity on somebody's else network. Most calling card carriers do not do business directly with consumers, although they may well provide services to business customers and/or to other carriers.

When buying from a reseller, we strongly advise you to check not only the reseller's credentials, but also the carrier credentials. The most reputable resellers will clearly state who the carrier is - if they don't, you should be suspicious. See this page for information on some of the leading calling card wholesalers.

When buying from a reseller, very often there will be separate customer service numbers for dealing with account and billing information and for dealing with call quality or other call delivery related issues. This dual-ownership of your account can create confusion and finger pointing if things go wrong with your card.

Resellers typically carry a large number of calling cards - sometimes dozens and dozens. This can seem a bit overwhelming - especially if the reseller doesn't do a great job of describing the cards well.

Aside from the fact that the carriers are different, the distinctions between cards usually relate to pricing and coverage. Sometimes the differences are hard to see and it's common to find yourself confused.

As a general rule, calling cards from resellers tend to have more complicated pricing than cards from carriers. There are often various service fees and surcharges that can really jack up prices over the advertised per minute rates. Caution is advised, but, don't get us wrong, there are excellent deals to be had.

Note that for online resellers, it is not uncommon for them to run multiple storefronts (i.e., websites) selling the same or a similar mix of cards. For instance, Comfi.com also operates the website i-telcards.com.

Examples of resellers: Comfi.com, CallingCards.com, Speedypin.com.

Calling Card Distributors

Calling card distributors are resellers to the resellers. In other words, they buy the calling cards sold by the calling card resellers described above at wholesale prices. Then they set up their own branded online eCommerce website and sell those cards directly. We could do something like that here at AboutCallingCards.com, but choose not to.

Like the reseller, the distributor doesn't actually deliver the phone service associated with the calling card you buy. Even more than the reseller, they are simply a sales agent that markets and sells, but here they are selling on behalf of the reseller with the carrier now another step removed from the process. Depending on the distributor relationships with the reseller, the distributor or the reseller may be responsible for handling the billing / invoicing and the customer service.

In other words, when you buy from a calling card distributor, you are, in some sense, buying something from three separate companies: the distributor, the reseller, and the carrier.

Normally, the card pricing is unaffected by this arrangement and you will get the same prices with the distributor that you'd get with the reseller.

When buying from a distributor (which we don't generally recommend), we advise you to check out not only the distributor's credentials, but also the reseller and the carriers.

Examples of distributors: Evocallus.com.

Division of a telephone company

Many telephone companies, both landline phone companies and mobile phone companies, sell calling cards as a part of their overall business. For most phone companies, the calling card business is fairly small as a percentage of their total sales.

Unlike with a reseller, when you buy a calling card from a telecom carrier, you are buying from just one company. That company will assume total responsibility for all aspects of your customer experience - account related stuff like payments, as well as the quality and delivery of the voice calls you make.

In our view, it is a little bit easier as a consumer to buy calling cards directly from telecom carriers because it simplifies customer service and eliminates finger pointing should something go wrong.

However, on the down side, telecom carrier prices tend to be higher than with either resellers or VoIP carriers, especially if the telephone company involved is a well known branded company.

Telephone companies tend to sell only a few cards - sometimes just one card. Usually these cards offer wider coverage and more calling versatility than cards sold by resellers.

Also, cards sold by phone companies tend to have fairly simple pricing as compared to reseller cards (though you must always be on the lookout for hidden fees with any type of card).

Examples of telecom carriers: AT&T, BT, Reliance.

Division of a VoIP Carrier

VoIP carriers are a new type of telephone company that uses the internet to deliver voice calls to normal landline and mobile phones. Although they operate somewhat differently than normal phone companies, VoIP carriers are able to seamlessly complete calls to any type of normal telephone - usually at prices well below traditional telephone companies.

Calling cards bought from VoIP carriers work very much as do cards from telecom carriers: there is a single company involved and that company is fully responsible for delivering services to you.

As with telecom carriers, we believe that buying cards direct from VoIP carriers offers some advantages over buying from resellers - largely due to the streamlined customer service experience if there are problems.

In addition, because VoIP networks are much lower cost than telecom networks, calling cards from VoIP carriers often have very low rates.

Like phone companies, VoIP carriers tend to sell only a few, or even just one, card - and normally the pricing schemes are much simpler (though you should always be on the lookup for hidden fees).

Examples of VoIP carriers with calling card divisions: Pingo.com (an iBasis brand), PennyTalk.com (an IDT brand).