Calling Cards: Technology Used Over the Years
by Feras Shoukeir
Making a call to a local or international number via calling cards is just about the most commonplace phenomenon today. However, do you know what technology goes into these calling cards? Of the two principal technologies used in called cards, stored value and remote memory, the former is utilised in prepaid phone cards, which is the most popularly used phone card around the world. SIDA, a European telecommunications company made the first calling card systems in the mid 1970s, but it would take another decade for these phone cards to reach users in the US, and around the world.
A pre stored value phone card of the earliest calling cards employed a magnetic stripe to encode information, similar to key card or ATM technology. Some years later came the optical storage technology, which were more sophisticated than the magnetic coding used earlier. Optical telephone cards had physical readers on the cards like lines or holes, which the card reader would scan for balance information. Optical calling cards were widely used by many users around the world. Optical phone cards utilised relatively simple technology, so the disadvantage was that these could very easily be hacked. Due to these security concerns, the optical calling card was slowly being phased out from countries around the world.
By the next decade, a new technology was to find implementation in the calling card system, which was the chip technology. First manufactured by the Deutsche Bundespost in Germany in 1986, these chip stored value phone cards quickly became the norm when it came to calling card technology for the next few decades. Although initial concerns were the easy to scratch off programming voltage point in the card causing a security breach, later technology was much more reliable. With modifications to this primary chip card technology, today's calling cards using microchips are not easily hackable, with the addition of secure coding technology.
The other technology used apart from the stored value system, is the remote memory system. This involves a central database, which supplies information about balance, which the card registers through an access number. The company Phone Line launched the first ever, remote memory calling card in United States in 1980. These phone cards could typically be used from any phone with tone mode facility. This definitely was a boost for users because there were telephone cards around that required special card readers along with the phone. The only disadvantage that this type of card professes is the keying of many digits before you can actually make a call. International remote memory calling cards required the caller to dial three different numbers before the call could be connected, an error in any one of which would not allow the call to get through. This process was certainly a very laborious one for the user, and this was the major disadvantage of such a calling card.
Today's mobile phone or landline user can enjoy many benefits on their calling cards. Depending on the telecommunications service provider of such calling cards, the user can pick networks within which to operate, thus allowing for discounted rates as well as superior coverage.
วันจันทร์ที่ 25 สิงหาคม พ.ศ. 2551
A Brief History of Calling Cards
A Brief History of Calling Cards
by Feras Shoukeir
A calling card is a very useful tool that lets you make local or international calls via either a stored value system, or a remote memory system. Prepaid calling cards are perhaps the most widely used phone cards around the world today, and you can find a telecommunications provider who offers you a phone card for any country specific coverage you want. A great idea that cuts out the hassle in making long distance or short distance calls from public phone booths, the ubiquitous calling card of today started out as a simple piece of technology similar to the ATM or a key card. Technology has progressed a great deal since then, and today's calling cards are embedded with secure, sophisticated systems.
Prepaid calling cards were first used in Europe in the mid seventies. These calling cards could only function as local phone cards, and used magnetic stripes to encode balance information that the card reader would read when inserted into the same. It would take another decade and half for calling cards to slowly gain popularity and find usage around the world. Incredibly, in contrast to that, phone cards prevail all over the world, in more than 185 countries today.
Over the years, there has been a lot of development in the stored value calling card technology, spanning from the earliest magnetic stripe readers to optical storage, to microchip technology. Chip card technology is the most recent development in the history of calling cards, which had been inducted over two decades ago, in the 1980s in France and Germany. Many countries took their lead and began implementing their calling card system, embedded with such microchip technology. Initial security concerns over simple systems that could easily be hacked have given way to sophisticated secure technology of today.
Calling cards have become somewhat of collectibles, given their variety of different regional and national influences when it came to card design. Featuring a wide range of subjects, calling cards transformed from a dull monochromatic affair of the 70s and 80s to veritable displays of pop art. Bright and colorful, these phone cards had a visual appeal that prompted users to keep them even after there balance value had been exhausted, and there are serious collectors around the world who take great pleasure in chronicling these calling cards right from their early beginnings.
While the earliest users of calling cards used public phone booths with card readers to make phone calls, modern day users can just about use a calling card from just about any telephone line, or even from a mobile phone. Today, depending upon your usage, you can select your choice telecom network for the most suitable calling rates. With a plethora of calling cards for users to choose from, worrying about call rates is something of the past. Indeed, users can use calling cards to budget their phone bills. Along with advancements in the telecommunications industry, telephone cards have moved along just as well, and today have become an indispensable part of our everyday lives.
by Feras Shoukeir
A calling card is a very useful tool that lets you make local or international calls via either a stored value system, or a remote memory system. Prepaid calling cards are perhaps the most widely used phone cards around the world today, and you can find a telecommunications provider who offers you a phone card for any country specific coverage you want. A great idea that cuts out the hassle in making long distance or short distance calls from public phone booths, the ubiquitous calling card of today started out as a simple piece of technology similar to the ATM or a key card. Technology has progressed a great deal since then, and today's calling cards are embedded with secure, sophisticated systems.
Prepaid calling cards were first used in Europe in the mid seventies. These calling cards could only function as local phone cards, and used magnetic stripes to encode balance information that the card reader would read when inserted into the same. It would take another decade and half for calling cards to slowly gain popularity and find usage around the world. Incredibly, in contrast to that, phone cards prevail all over the world, in more than 185 countries today.
Over the years, there has been a lot of development in the stored value calling card technology, spanning from the earliest magnetic stripe readers to optical storage, to microchip technology. Chip card technology is the most recent development in the history of calling cards, which had been inducted over two decades ago, in the 1980s in France and Germany. Many countries took their lead and began implementing their calling card system, embedded with such microchip technology. Initial security concerns over simple systems that could easily be hacked have given way to sophisticated secure technology of today.
Calling cards have become somewhat of collectibles, given their variety of different regional and national influences when it came to card design. Featuring a wide range of subjects, calling cards transformed from a dull monochromatic affair of the 70s and 80s to veritable displays of pop art. Bright and colorful, these phone cards had a visual appeal that prompted users to keep them even after there balance value had been exhausted, and there are serious collectors around the world who take great pleasure in chronicling these calling cards right from their early beginnings.
While the earliest users of calling cards used public phone booths with card readers to make phone calls, modern day users can just about use a calling card from just about any telephone line, or even from a mobile phone. Today, depending upon your usage, you can select your choice telecom network for the most suitable calling rates. With a plethora of calling cards for users to choose from, worrying about call rates is something of the past. Indeed, users can use calling cards to budget their phone bills. Along with advancements in the telecommunications industry, telephone cards have moved along just as well, and today have become an indispensable part of our everyday lives.
สมัครสมาชิก:
บทความ (Atom)
.jpg)