Can I use International Phone Card purchased in London in other countries?

The key will be the access numbers (look on the card, or the card's website, to see if it has numbers for Austria, Italy, or Germany). If it has access numbers for those countries, you can try using it (of course, no guarantees). If it only has access numbers for the UK, you would have to make a long distance call to get it to work - which would require a card to use the card {g}.

There is no way for us here to be able to read what it says on the card or brochure that came with it, or to know which card you are speaking of, or to know what webpage is printed on the card.

If you read those things, particularly the webpage, you may be able to find out what it says about usage in the other countries you ask about.

Thank you Harold. There is no website on the card and I am not savvy enough on telephone numbers in general to determine anything about the one that's on the card -- the one I would call first, to make my call. I don't have a cell phone that will take a SIM card, so I travel abroad without one. I chose recently to buy and travel with an iPad, which is not cellularly enhanced. I originally read Rick's advice to buy an international phone card if you don't travel with a phone but he doesn't say if one card can be used in multiple countries.
Nigel, I thought that someone might know generally, generically, in a macro sense that these cards are useable across borders or not, but based on your reply perhaps they really vary and some can be used in other countries and some can't.

I will google the brand name of the card and pick around the web and see what I can find.
Thanks! Ann.

Most of the cards are not usable in countries other than the one they were purchased in, but there are exceptions. In 2004 I was able to buy a card in Germany that worked in multiple countries. I don't remember the kind and it's long since been used up and discarded, but it was good for several trips over several years, as it had an access number in the US that I could call to refill it.

If you post as much detail about the card as you can - any branding, what the dialing instructions are, the access numbers it gives, etc - we may be able to help. The way toll-free calls are dialed is different in each country, so if the card works in multiple countries, it will have different numbers of different formats (different numbers of digits, starting with 0 or 1 or something else, etc).

OK Harold. Thanks for the offer; here it goes:
Wording on front of card:
Just Crazy
L5+L5 Extra
L10+L10 Extra
L20+L20 Extra
epay [under an "epay" logo]

Most important wording on back of card besides the Pin, which had to be scratched to be revealed of course:

Dial the access number. Enter your pin number. Dial your destination number.
Freephone Access 0800 008 7811
Payphone Access 0800 404 7662
Local Access 0330 221 0100

IDT Swipe and Call
Customer Service 0330 221 0104
Card expires 90 days after first use or last recharge. Service provided by IDT Retail Europe Limited, a company registered in England (No. 7888960). Registered Office: 44 Featherstone Street London EC1Y 8RN

It sounds like you would have to have another card to call the numbers on that card from another country. All the telephone numbers are UK only numbers so it would take an international call from Austria Italy or Germany to start the call, then you would be making an international call back to the number you wanted, if that worked. That doesn't sound practical even if there is a slim chance it would work.

Have you loaded any money onto it yet? It sounded like you could have added 3 different amounts and received double value - but it doesn't say how much it will charge for each call.

I've never heard of them.

If they still exist, it may work in the UK to call UK numbers.

I wouldn't try anything else with it.

That card is only for calling from the UK. idtcalls.com is their website.

If I were you I'd just stick to email and Facebook with your iPad. It's just so much easier than calling, especially with the time change.

If you really need to make phone calls to the U.S., or any country for that matter, you can get iPhone headphones and set up Skype to call any phone number worldwide from your iPad. But unless you like setting up and learning apps it might be worth it to just pay the hotel for a quick call now and then.

Thanks to all of you. Through this helpful dialog I have decided to buy a similar card in Austria, where I will be for the bulk of my trip. There COULD be situations at home regarding my dogs and horses where their keepers will need to talk with me or will want to know they could do so at least. I will give them hotel front desk numbers and will call back via the calling card from the hotels. The iPad will work for non-emergency dialogs. I am intrigued by using Skype with an iPad and will look into it eventually.

I will definitely be going back to my beloved Britain and I'll see if that old (by then) card bought there will still work, if I don't have something more sophisticated by then!

Thanks again! Ann

Ann

If you have an iPad and expect to have wifi where you will be - virtually all hotels have it and most don't charge except for the big American chains and some other business hotels - Skype is exactly what the doctor ordered.

I fill up my Skype account every year or 2 with €10 or €15 and I can call any computer for free, including smartphones with the app on wifi, and I can call any US or Canadian landline or cell for around 2 euro cents a minute. Quality excellent, super cheap and super easy. Skype doesn't need to know what country I am in, I just fill up the contacts with phone numbers and tap, I'm talking.

Phone cards, if you will excuse me, are so 20th century.... like travelers cheques.

Hi Nigel -- if my iPad is connected to a wifi in, say, Seefeld, Austria, sitting in my hotel room, can someone in the U.S. call ME via Skype? Sorry if this is a silly question... Ann.

Yes, you can set that up, and you can set up voicemail, too - so that you don't have to curtail your days out. Remember (if you are still in western NY) that Europe will be 6 hours ahead of the east coast so somebody calling you at the end of the work day in NY will be waking you up.

The easiest way might be for them to email you, or leave a voicemail on your Skype number and then at the time convenient to you fire up the iPad and call them back.