"In the fall of 1994, U S WEST introduced its Telecard, a stored value chip card, in Seattle. I was the Telecard Product Manager at the time. I retired from U S WEST in January of this year.
In April of last year U S WEST began introducing the new Telecard payphones in four more major cities: Phoenix, Minneapolis, Denver and Portland. The chip cards are just like cash (NO expiration date) and can be purchased for $5, $10, and $20. The U S WEST Telecards can be viewed - and purchased - through their web site at http://www.uswest.com/payphone/tele/telehome.html."
I agree that US West has done a fine job in converting to chip technology. I even have a few US West cards in my collection. I look forward to traveling though these areas and using some of my cards in their payphones this summer. Hopefully more phone companies will follow the lead of US West here in the United States.
"I would like to reply to your comments in the May 18 issue of Phonecards On-Line, in terms of Ulf’s trip to Niagara Falls and his "difficulties" using the payphones there.
QuickChange cards have only been available in Ontario since the beginning of the year. Payphone conversion began in Toronto (area codes 416 and 905) and slowly branched outward. Two points to note: First, not all payphones in Bell territory are being converted to accept chip cards. In Montreal, only about 25% of the payphones do. (This is still a fair number, mind you!) Secondly, there are more payphones in Toronto alone than in the entire province of Quebec. So the conversion across the province will take some time.
In terms of inadequate funds, bear in mind that while Canada does have some relatively affordable long-distance rates, you won’t be able to call Europe for $1 !!!! Even calling from home, you can’t get rates that good!!!! QuickChange rates are designed to be the same as feeding change into a payphone -- so to Germany, that would be about $2.70 for the first minute and about a dollar for each additional minute. (Actual rates paid would depend on time of day.) To make a decent call to Germany on a chip card, you would have needed at least a $10 card, and preferably a $20 or higher.
Up to two cards may be used on a call. You would get a chime-tone at the 30 second mark, that is your cue to swap in a second card (something like BT does in England). You won’t be able to use a third card -- this is so you don’t spend 2 hours on the pay phone, no matter how interesting the call may be!
Let’s add another wrinkle to this. Only specially marked payphones can be used for overseas calls, due to potential fraud. So your call might have been headed off at the pass as soon as you dialed 011.
Your best bet to call overseas would be to buy a remote card. Yes, I saw that cringe from the European contingent out there! Now if you’re partial to Bell and the rest of Stentor, the Hello card will fit the bill -- and since there are 13 different Niagara Falls designs, so there must be a couple for sale in the watery city! And there’s more to Canada than Bell, thanks to the mixed blessing of competition -- there’s CardCaller and Cardinal and CTN and at least 40 other companies. All of them have different rates to Europe, and some can even beat Bell at their own game -- check the rate cards. All of these companies have as much right as any other to sell phonecards. But only members of the Stentor Alliance (including Bell Canada) have the exclusive right to *machine-readable* cards.
So don’t knock Bell on this one, guys! Think of the people who have to sell them, and don’t know which company is the best -- but they *do* know who offers the best profit margin!"
When I (Alan) visited Montreal for the first time in 1994, the La Puce (chip) cards were only available in three different places, including McGill University and the Casino de Montreal. In two years, a large number of phones have been converted. Over those two years, my local carrier (NYNEX) has not introduced a single phone that I know of outside of the New York City area that accepts any card except remote access. If chip technology becomes the standard, the magnetic cards may become the second outdated NYNEX cards. Throw in that NYNEX is going to become a part of Bell Atlantic, and who knows what the future holds in the Northeastern US.
From: Kathy Ward
We have been very busy at ACMI developing an entire new division. It is called the "POP Division". POP standing for Point of Purchase. There are a few major components of the POP division:
1. An online shopping mall that will be opened sometime in June.
2. The Refresh Rewards Program which will be starting June 1, 1996. This is a program that any user of ACMI Telecards can register for (there is no cost). Once registered, the Telecard user will receive a regular statement of the amount of Refresh Rewards Minutes they have accumulated in their account, similar to a Frequent Flyer Miles program. For every minute that a user puts on their Telecard they will receive a "Refresh Rewards Minute". These minutes can be used to redeem for merchandise in the "Refresh Rewards Catalog". The most current issue of this catalog will be mailed with each statement.
The first catalog has a limited amount of products in it and was printed in a limited quantity (10,000). As we add products and learn from this "prototype" catalog their will be new issues. We expect to print 6-8 million by year end.
Some of the items in the first catalog are free trial subscriptions to magazines, perfume and cologne, t-shirts, a poster of George Foreman, a Sony CD player...
For those of you that would like a catalog, simply call 901-363-2100 and ask for Dedra, Jeff, or Randy Moser.
3. The 20th Century Hall of Fame Telecards. This is a completely new line of Telecards, designed and packaged for mass marketing. The first 25 of these Telecards will be available on June 1, 1996! Because these are designed for mass marketing there will be no limited issues of these Telecards. We will serialize them and have ongoing print editions as the market dictates.
For those of you that would like a list or to order, simply call 901- 363-2100 and ask for Dedra, Jeff, or Randy Moser.
From: Michael Chang
From: Lenny Rapp
On a personal note, I will be in Los Angeles between Thursday and Monday. Any feedback offered to me may take a few days to get read.
Until Next week, Happy Collecting,
Alan
2) Direct e-mail. Send a message to: phoneline@cardmall.com
If you wish to be removed from this mailing list, or find yourself with two subscriptions (It does happen), please reply to the ORIGINAL message that was sent to you - This will assist me in removing your name