The following is a detail about the BSNL ( https://bsnl.co.in) calling card called the India telephone card that works from all phones in India that are from BSNL. Those in MTNL and Reliance ( https://relianceinfo.com) and Connect ( https://hfclconnect.com), Spice ( https://spiceindia.com) etcetera will not let you use this card, as BSNL lacks connectivity to them.
The following text is from the face of the card.
Use touch tone phone i.e. ?PHONE WITH TONE DIALING?.
Dial 160912 for first activation of the card & wait for announcement. Press * (Star) button first, then dial your card number. Then listen balance and date of validity.
Keep the hand set back.
Dial Access Code 160212 & wait for announcement.
Press * button & dial your card number.
Dial destination number.
The above text is really non descriptive and takes into account if you use a phone that reverts to tone dialing when you ?Press *?. That is why in steps 2 and 5 the ?Press *? appears.
The activation of the card was pain as getting thru to the 160912 number was really difficult as ?All lines to the routes were busy?. After getting thru though the activation was a breeze.
Now for dialing and rules to dial faster using this card. These are for some reason not stated or are open to a user?s experimentation.
Dial 160212 and then the card number by going into tone mode. If you already dial the primary access number using a touch-tone phone then no need to change.
After you get thru and dial in the card number, which is also the PIN number in other cards you will be told your balance and expiry date. In my case the card was of INR 216.00 face value. It included a service charge of 8%. The available talk time is INR 200.00 exactly. The expiration is 60 days. So I activated it on September 13, 2004 (which is the day I am writing this review on) and the expiry is set on November 11, 2004. So not 2 months but 60 days, an important distinction.
Now for dialing using this BSNL card.
1.Dial the Access number 160212, listen for the prompt and then enter the card/PIN number. The card/PIN number is not the PSN number. You will be told of your balance and expiry date.
2.For local call dial it as you would on a normal phone. For a Chandigarh number for example 2345678 you will dial 2345678#. The hash/pound sign tells the computer that this is the end of this number. It is not required but then the computer will not keep on waiting for additional numbers.
3.For a national/STD call same procedure as with a normal phone. For New Delhi number 23456789 you will dial 01123456789#.
4.For International numbers too the procedure is the same. For a USA number to let us say New York City area code 212 you will dial 001-212-555-1212#.
5.Incidentally you are never told the amount of minutes you have for the call. That thing sucks. As you will know that anytime it can get off the hook if you do not remember the available time/money.
All in all, the card is an ok buy. The rates to USA and Ukraine are the following. I have no idea of the rates to other countries. Local and STD rates are also per pulse. The pulse is INR 1.10 in this card.
1.Calls within the same circle are charged as INR 1.10 /min to a cell phone.
2.Calls to other circles are charged as INR 2.20/min to a cell phone. I called New Delhi and Lucknow (UP) cell phones to ascertain that.
3.Calls to United States of America (USA) are charged as INR/min 5.50 for both cell phones and landlines. I think the same rate prevails for UK, CANADA and GERMANY. Termination of calls on mobile phones may be extra but I doubt it as Indian Government never pays that.
4.Calls to Ukraine (CIS-former Soviet Union) are charged as INR 8.50/min.
The BSNL card has a customer service telephone listed on it. It is 1-600-331-722. They rarely reply as does the whole of BSNL. You will require the PSN number of your card if you get thru.
Sometimes your call may be cut if it exceeds 7 minutes (At least that was my experience). In that case when you redial your card number you are told ?This card is currently/presently in use?. Do not worry. Wait like 5 minutes and try again. If still not good wait 10 minutes. It happened to me and I did wait 15 minutes. Surprisingly, I was charged only INR 5.50 for a call to New York City that lasted 8 minutes. Really good call rate. I tried calling up 1-600-331-722 to report that but no one picked it up. It was 11PM Indian Standard Time.
These calling cards are available in different rates. The maximum I guess is INR 1025. Although if I am wrong please write me an email stating that. The email box is on this page of mouthshut too.