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A telephone card, calling card or phone card for short, is a small card, usually resembling a credit card, used to pay for telephone services. Such cards can either employ prepaid credit system or credit card style system of credit. The exact system for payment, and the way in which the card is used to place a phone call, depend on the overall telecommunication system. Currently, the most common types of telephone cards involve pre-paid credit in which the card is purchased with a specific balance, from which the cost of calls made is deducted. Pre-paid phone cards are disposable. When the balance is exhausted you simply buy a new card. Cards purchased online can often be refilled. The other main type of card involves a card with a special PIN printed on it that allows one to charge calls to a land-line telephone account.

The first public pre-paid remote memory phonecard was issued in the United States in December, 1980 by Phone Line. As telecom industries around the world became deregulated, remote memory cards were issued in various countries. Remote memory phonecards can be used from any tone-mode phone and do not require special card readers. Since remote memory cards are more accessible and have lower costs, remote memory phone cards have proliferated. But punching in all those numbers every time a call is made is drudgery.

Phonecards or calling cards are available in most countries in retail stores, retail chains and commonly corner stores. Generally, remote memory phonecards can be issued by many companies and come in countless varieties. They can focus on calling to certain countries or regions and have specific features such as rechargeability, pinless dial, speed dial and more. Phonecards may have connection fees, taxes and maintenance fees, all influencing the rates.

Accounts not requiring a card

In recent times, calling card service providers have gone one step ahead in reducing the costs and increasing convenience by introducing calling accounts. Calling accounts eliminate the need for printing of a physical card; accounts are available only in electronic form. Calling accounts can be purchased over the Internet using credit cards and are instantly delivered to the customer via e-mail. This e-mail contains the PIN and instructions for using the service.

The second main technology of phonecards is remote memory, which uses a toll or toll-free access number to reach the database and check for balance on product. As the United States did not ever have a single nationalized telephone service (or even the same firm for every state), and with the deregulation of its major ones, there was no incentive to be consistent with the rest of the world.

The ease of use of sliding a card into a machine just as in a teller machine was countered by fears of vandalism of the machines.

Remote memory phonecards are in essence text; requiring an access number, a unique PIN and instructions. Therefore the instructions can be printed on virtually anything, or can be delivered via e-mail or the Internet. Currently many websites sell phonecards through e-mail.