Wholesale Calling Card Carriers

Calling card wholesalers are telecommunications companies that provide the underlying voice telephone service for calling cards sold by resellers.

There are a large number of companies that provide wholesale calling card services.

Calling card resellers are often quite cryptic about identifying who the wholesale carriers are that they work with. Many don't provide any information about them. Some provide only initials which often aren't enough to trace back to a real company.

On this page, we identify and describe a few of the larger calling card carriers that we've identified. It is by no means a complete list. Additional information on the companies is available on their websites (where available).

Who Cares Who the Carrier Is?

If you are buying a calling card from a reseller, knowing who the wholesale carrier is useful they are the ones who are actually setting the rates, calculating your minutes, and, most importantly, delivering the voice service.

While most calling card wholesalers are reputable and deliver fine services, there are some sketchy ones that you should avoid.

Check here for a list of some of the calling card companies that have recently been sanctioned by Federal or State authorities in the United States. While companies listed there may have taken steps to reform, it is perhaps best to choose cards from other companies.

Different Types of Wholesale Carriers

Calling card wholesalers are not all the same in terms of the mix of services they provide. However, in general, there are 4 main types of calling card offerings they provide:

  • Sell own brand calling cards to online calling card resellers
  • Sell private label calling cards to online calling card resellers
  • Sell own brand calling cards to retail stores
  • Sell private label calling cards to retail stores

Some calling card wholesalers offer all of these calling card products. Some do not.

For each of these types of products, the calling card wholesaler provides the underlying voice communications network for delivering the calls. In addition, they are the ones who operate the local and toll-free access numbers and they monitor call itself to determine talk minutes, minutes billed, and total call cost.

The wholesalers are the ones who set the card rates - all by themselves in the case of an own brand card, or in collaboration with the reseller if the card is a private label brand.

Wholesale Calling Card Carriers

The following companies are some of the larger providers of wholesale calling cards.

To learn more about the specific services of each company, please click the links below.

  • Excite Telecom, Inc. - Excite Telecom is a prepaid calling card wholesaler that is often referred to as 'ETI'. ETI sells own brand calling cards on a wholesale basis to retail stores. ETI also sells private label calling cards customized to meet the needs of individual retailers and online resellers. The company operates an international communications network and support local access numbers in 35 countries. ETI appears to have a relatively clean performance record with state and Federal agencies in the US. Excite is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • IDT - IDT is a very large wholesale communications carrier based in the United States. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol 'IDT'. The company operates a truly global communications network and carries voice and data traffic on behalf of many other retail carriers. The company is in a variety of businesses, including operating a large worldwide VoIP (voice over IP) network. IDT is a multi-billion dollar enterprise and is far more substantial than many other wholesale carriers. In addition to being a wholesale carrier, IDT also sells its own calling cards under the PennyTalk and Net2Phone brand names. IDT has, unfortunately, gotten itself into some trouble with its calling card business and has found itself on the wrong end of some calling card fraud actions by US Attorney's General and the FTC. From what we understand, we problems have now been corrected and IDT has stepped forward to advocate change in the industry.
  • STi Prepaid - STi Prepaid is a major prepaid calling card wholesaler. Their calling cards are sold by many resellers under the STi brandname. A few of their cards include: the 'STi Pollo Loco' card, the 'STi New Africa' card, and the 'STi Te Quiero Mexico' card. STi also sells its own brand cards directly to consumers via their online retail site STiPhonecard.com and through retail stores. The company has been sanctioned several times recently by state and Federal agencies in the Unites States for fraudulent marketing claims. It is not currently allowed to sell cards in the state of Florida. STi cards are largely designed for calling from or within the United States and Canada. It has no access numbers outside North America. STi Prepaid is based in New York City, USA.
  • Telecents Communications - Telecents is a leading prepaid calling card wholesaler. In 2007, it became a wholly owned subsidiary of iTeknik Holding Company. They sell own brand cards under the 'TCI' or 'TeleCents' name through retail stores. Telecents also sell private label calling cards customized to meet the needs of individual online resellers. The company operates an international communications network and support local access numbers in 35 countries. Telecents appears to have a relatively clean performance record with state and Federal agencies in the US.
  • more profiles coming soon ...

If there are other calling card wholesalers we should profile, please leave us a comment below.

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