The Bretton Woods system of international monetary management established the exchange rates between western nations up until 1972 when there was a return to convertibility with the breakdown of the agreement.
The subsequent inflation created a shortage of coins in Italy which lead to a very high incidence of payphone vandalism and theft. To counter this the first prepaid phone card was developed to use in payphones that did not use coins but only phone cards.
These cards were made by SIDA a vending machine manufacturer. They were thin and had a magnetic strip on the back of the phone card.
The idea soon picked up and spread to other European countries in 1977. The phone cards didn't work very well, they kept getting stuck or jamming. Nippon developed Japan's first pre-paid phone card which worked very well and was adopted more widely.
The next big development step came when World Telecom in the USA developed a reliable phone card with Siemens and General Electric in 1987. Two years later AT&T also entered the market in the USA when they released their first pre-paid phone cards in Hawaii.
Phone cards were first introduced into Australia in 1989 when Telecom Australia (now Telstra) carried out a trial Victoria. About 300,000 phone cards were printed for 6 different cards. They were $1.50, $3 and $6 denominations. Telecom New Zealand also trialled phone cards in Christchurch in the same year.
It was in 1990 that NYNEX in the USA developed the first pre-paid phone cards based on a PIN (Personal Identification Number) as a means of identification rather than reading a magnetic strip. They used a free phone 800 number for their access number.
Since then pre-paid phone cards sales volumes have grown steadily to more than $5 billion per year globally.
Chip based smart phone cards were first experimented with in France in 1984 but didn't really reach the market substantially until Sprint developed its "Foncard" product in 1995. PIN based phone cards have dominated the market because they are much cheaper to manufacturer.
Six years ago the first prepaid mobile phone - phone card combo was first produced.
More recently there has been the rise of shops such as www.ephonecards.com.au that sell phone card ePINS. ePINS are phone card PINS delivered electronically over the internet. They also allow the customer to compare phone cards and choose the best phone card for their call.
It is anticipated that newer technologies such as VOIP or free services like SKYPE will take over from phone cards. VoIP has not made a great impact on the phone card market yet. This is unlikely to happen until about 2012 to 2015 when broadband and internet connections are more widely available throughout the world. Until that time phone cards remain cheaper than VOIP off-network calls.
Oh and by-the-way, Italy sorted out inflation and its coin shortage by switching to the Euro from the Lira!
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who do i choose or what do i do??
By: diana | 26-07-2008
i love my boyfriend and i know he loves me. we been dating for like a yr and a couple of months. everything is great between me and him. but we dont go out to places like a normal couple would. the reason is not enough time, sometimes money. he works way too mutch and is always tire, witch i understand. trust me i know you may be thinking there should be time but trust me on this one theres not that mutch. we never really go out i just see him at his place like 2 or 3 times a week. so thats why i feel this way. thereS this guy that works at a store i use to work. i can tell he has a crush on me, and im not gonna lie he attracts me a lot. i would say too mutch.
its not really his looks but the way he is, sweet, carrying, and friendly. and he dose like me my friend told me he ask for me, and its obvious he likes me. im going to start working there again soon. i have a feeling that theres a chance i may fall in love with this guy. and i know his going to try to ask me to a date. my point is i have a boyfriend witch i know i love. but that dosent give me the attention i want, but i know its not his fault. but like i need attention i feel like this other guy is going to give to me at the work place. with his flirting, and probably talking. i wouldent feel like this if my boyfriend gave me more attention, but he cant trust me. WHAT DO I DO???
Do I love my girfriend?
By: Eugen G | 26-07-2008
What is wrong with me?
I have been in a relationship with a girl in the last 3 years, her name is Laura. She was in the same class with me at the junior high (5-8) and at the same high school and college, but not in the same class. Since high school she started liking me. She started asking me do little things for her. I noticed that, but I felt she is to soft for me and that I should commit to a serious relationship with her.
Once I got hurt by a girl I felt in love with and Laura was by my side. While having my heart broken I said myself, why shouldn't I try out a relationship with Laura, she was anyway by my side.
After being with her for 3 - 4 months I realized she is too soft for me, but, because she was so in love with me and I knew her for such a long time I couldn't tell her anything. Even though I've noticed what a great girl she is, I couldn't stop thinking that she is too soft for me, but, after one year, I had to tell her what I feelt and we broke up.
For 2 moths I felt relieved, but then she left in the States where she spent her holidays and I only thought of how great she was and how I didn't give her a chance to get to my heart. For 3 months while she was there, I only thought of her and only her. I kept remembering over and over her warm face and her full of love look.
When she came back I wanted to get back with her and for a full year everything was so great it was the most beautiful year of my life.
When the summer came, she went back to the States where she, again, spent her holiday. That summer was so painful and I wanted her back so badly. The first few weeks were the most painful without her but then I got accustomed. After she came back we had a trip to Paris and more recently to Budabest. Everything was like a dream.
We are both still living with our parents. We are both programmers but we're not working in the same place. Every day after we finished work, she was coming over my place where we stayed in my room talking, watching movies or doing something else or going outside.
Since the last 5 months I changed my work place. I'm now working from home and in the last 3 weeks something changed. My thoughts are just like those I had in the first year with her. I feel she might not be the one for me. I realize we don't have different preoccupations and we are always together and I know that since we are all the time together we got bored. But I always have the constant fear that she might not be the one for me.
The thing is though, this time, I don't want to break up with her, I just want things to be the same as they were after we got back together 2 years ago. I made plans, I would like to marry her because I know she is special and I might never find somebody like her and I don't want her to suffer because of me, but I always have the fear that she might not be the one for me.
I'm desperate and I don't know what I should do. She noticed there is something wrong with me and after I told her what's bothering me, she is desperate too. Neither of us wants to break up, but how can I step out of this? We are in a break now.
I made a list of thins that I like about her
She loves me more than she loves herself
She trusts me
She sees me as a strong person
She gives me strength and confidence
She gives me peace
She has a soft voice
She has a gentle, forgiving and good soul
She is beautifull
She likes to make me dinner and wash my clothes
She is by my side no matter if my decisions are good or bad
She is strong
She respects me
She knows what she wants
She wants me to be happy
She is not running when there is work to be done
She is devoted and sacred
She is humble and mild
I like her mouth, her teeth, her lips, her hair, her face
When I hug her, I feel her body was made for mine
She has a healthy thinking
She makes me feel important
She makes me feel I have to be a real man
She makes me feel secure
She admires me
I like the way she looks at me
I like the way she talks with me
I like the way she acts with me
I like that she always leaves a good impresion
I admire her
I respect her
I want to cherish her
I want to give her everything
She makes me be carefull of how I dress
She makes me want to be mature
Everybody around me admire her
She is great in bed
Why I don't want her
She always wants to be with me and she suffocates me
She is very undecided about small things
She never takes any initiative
I'm highly energic and active while she is very calm and cautious
She never wants to argue with me
She overprotects me
She admires me too much
She doesn't resemble my appeareance
She is mature and it's not making any silly things
I don't think I'm ready to be as mature as she is
I am affraid I will make her suffer
I am affraid she is not the one for me
I am affraid I don't love her
I love my boyfriend and i know he loves me. but he ...
By: diana | 26-07-2008
I love my boyfriend and i know he loves me. but he just dosent have mutch time for me to hang out. the only times i see him are at his house like 1, 2, or 3 times a week if im lucky, and only aty night after he comes from work. he works from 8am to 7pm. mon-sat. and on sundays he hangs out with his daughter who dosent know about me. but the point is i wanna go out with him to a movie, park, dinner but we cant its always too late, or sometimes i know that he dosent have the money. its not his fault, or mine but sometimes i feel like my relationship dosent have enough spice in it. what can i do so that i feel my relationship has some spice?....some action, more romance, more going out?
How do I teach a man how to have sex?
By: Jill | 26-07-2008
how to deflower a guy-he's had Zero experience and I have 2 children.How much is "instinct" and how much do I have to teach him?I'm really in love and he's in love with me,but he's been burned before.
By: bjlkmh | 26-07-2008
Why is my husband receiving emails from ...
By: prettyprettyprincess | 26-07-2008
why is my husband receiving emails from xxxblackbook, did he sign up or is it spam? it says a username of qwert1136?
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