Will VoIP spells doom for calling card companies?

I’ve been using a calling card ever since I realized I was paying too much for my long distance calls using my local phone provider. I literally tried all types calling card in the market and some are useless and some are great. Today, with unlimited plans on mobile phones, broadband VoIP and web based applications such as Skype, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Live Messenger and Google talk, calling cards seems so thing of the past.

Who needs calling cards, (including both post-paid and pre-paid calling cards) when you have so many competitive options that offer inexpensive or even free calling, right? I mean really, who wants to dial an  11-digit access number then remember their calling card account number or PIN then enter the destination number as well?

Well apparently, even with so many phone options these days, each vying for the same “limited” phone minute pie, there is still a huge market for calling cards. Go figure.

There are several calling card companies that have now extended into the VoIP realm since obviously terminating via VoIP has much better margins than over the PSTN. One such company offering calling calling card services is Onesuite.com. Originally a calling card company, they added VoIP in their services offered  hoping to capture a piece of the VoIP market. By combining calling card service and voip technology, customers got better options on how to access the service. Onesuite subscribers now aren’t limited to using landline to use the service, they have option to make calls even if there’s no landline phone around. Travelers often found themselves either helpless because they can not find a landline or charged ridicoulously for using their mobile phones to call back their home country. Now with VoIP access, you just need an internet connection and you are seconds away from calling your love ones.