Prepaid calling cards are so popular that some companies even supply them to their employees as a company benefit, or provide employees with calling cards to use while traveling for business. Doing this provides benefits not only to employees, but to the company as well, as spending cal be tracked easily, and a record tracking the calls made by the phone card user is readily available online. For the past decade, long distance phone service has been an incredibly competitive market, but not everybody wants to pay to have full-time long distance in their home or business. This is where the phone card deals come in. One of the biggest advantages to prepaid calling cards is that you only pay for the minutes you use. So, instead of paying a monthly fee plus a per-minute rate, you pay just a per-minute rate. Even better, that per-minute rate is often lower than anything you can get using your home or business phone line. You can also purchase additional minutes by phone or on the Internet, which provides added convenience to prepaid phone card users. Prepaid calling cards were invented in Italy in 1975 in response to a coin shortage. Invented for the convenience of their users, calling cards are widely used today as an inexpensive alternative to landline, or home phone services. The biggest draw of prepaid calling cards is their convenience. They can be used anytime, anywhere. You can be at home, in your office at work, in your hotel room, or even at a pay phone. An additional convenience that prepaid phone card suppliers have added is that you can purchase an international phone card on the Internet. Purchasing over the Internet can mean instant phone card activation. And with this system, you don't even need a card - all you need is your access number. Phone cards and calling cards are a great way to keep in touch with friends and family and when you travel, you can use Cheap International Phone Cards which is a great deal.