What is the SPARC Card?

The SPARC Card is a tool that can help encourage and increase telephone access with your children. The Card is a high-security pre-paid calling card that can only call phone numbers you specify (like your work and home numbers). This prevents misuse and protects you if the card gets lost or stolen. If you give your children a SPARC Card, they can call you from any phone, anywhere, whenever they want.


What about rates?

The SPARC Card is very competitive. We're sure you've seen ads for calling-card programs at 4.5 cents per minute, 3.0 cents, or even 1.0 cents per minute! The fact is, these rates are well below basic network costs. Even AT&T can't provide rates below 4 or 5 cents per minute. So how can they stay in business? Since costs have to be covered, the difference is nearly always made up through the use of 'secondary billing' fees like "call completion fees", "monthly service fee", "5-minute rounding", etc. Your actual cost for the average call will often be from 18 to 25 cents per minute.

The basic rate is 12 cents per minute for calls placed day or night from the 50 United States and Canada to destinations within the United States (except Alaska and Hawaii). Our International Rate Table shows other flat per-minute rates for calls placed from the 50 United States and Canada to over 200 countries.

The per-minute rate isn't the reason why you would want to get a SPARC Card, though. The real reason to get a SPARC Card is because you can be sure that the calling minutes on the SPARC Card are going to be used by your kids talking to you, and not by someone calling her brother Bob in Melbourne. That's the difference. You can't get that with a regular calling card, because with a regular calling card you have no control over how the card is used. The call-management feature of the SPARC Card, however, makes certain that you get the calls and you get the talk-time with your children.


What about taxes, surcharges, fees, etc?

• There are NO connection fees for calls made using the SPARC Card.
• Owners of SPARC Cards pay NO initial setup fee and NO monthly service fee.
• There are no monthly "sweeps" nor will your card "expire" a month after you first use it.
• In some instances, payphones require a fee to place a call. We will collect and pass on this surcharge.
• Applicable state and federal taxes will be paid.

How does the SPARC Card help me budget?

The owner of the card specifies a Monthly Face Value so spending is limited on a month-to-month basis. Each month the card is automatically recharged with only the amount required to restore its monthly Face Value. The date on which a card is initially purchased will become the monthly "recharge date" for that card.


How do I control the SPARC Card's usage and destinations?

The owner of the card is able to configure its Usage (how much is spent each month) as well as its Destinations (which numbers it can be used to call). In addition, the owner of the card can optionally divide the Usage amount into an "Open Calling Amount" and a "Preferred Calling Amount." The card owner specifies the Open Calling Amount as a percentage of the Monthly Face Value and the remaining portion of the Monthly Face Value becomes the Preferred Calling Amount.

The Open Calling Amount can be used to call any number the cardholder chooses - within restrictions specified by the card owner. Calls placed using the Open Calling Amount can be restricted (optional) to locations that are only domestic, only to a particular state, or only to specified area codes.

When the Open Calling Amount has been depleted, the cardholder cannot place any more Open calls until the calling card is recharged (either automatically or by the card owner using the "One Time Recharge" feature.)The Preferred Calling Amount can be used to call only numbers (up to 10) specified by the card owner. When the cardholder places calls to numbers on the "Preferred List," the cost will be deducted from the Preferred Calling Amount until it is depleted.

After the Preferred Calling Amount is depleted, the cost of additional calls to Preferred numbers will be deducted from any existing Open Calling Balance. When the Open Calling Amount has been depleted, the cardholder cannot place any more Preferred or Open calls until the calling card is recharged (either automatically or by the card owner using the "One Time Recharge" feature.)

For an example of "Open Calling" and "Preferred Calling", see the end of this page.


How do I recharge the SPARC Card balance if it gets depleted before the automatic monthly recharge?

When the remaining balance on the SPARC Card falls below 33% of its regular Monthly Face Value halfway through the month, the card owner will receive an email reminder notice recommending that the card be recharged. The email notice will include links to Web sites where the owner can 1) recharge the card using the "One Time Recharge" feature or 2) permanently increase the regular Monthly Face Value of the card using the "Account Management" feature. Using the Account Management feature, the card owner can also reconfigure the Open vs. Preferred Calling Amounts as well as the Preferred Calling List. In either case, the owner should have their Account ID, Password, and credit card handy.


What if the SPARC Card is lost or stolen?

If this happens, remember that it would be difficult for anyone other than the cardholder to use this information because of the calling restrictions set up by the card owner. We suggest that you make copies of the SPARC Card so that you'll have 'extras' available in case the card gets lost.

It is important for card owners and cardholders to protect the Toll-free Access Number and PIN information the same way they would protect cash. If you suspect that your card has become vulnerable to abuse, contact Customer Service to request deactivation of the card. Then, a new card can be purchased that will have a new PIN.


Are there any identifying markings on the SPARC card?

No. The SPARC Card works through an access code (like a PIN number). This means you can make up your own "card" with only the access code on it, so the card cannot be traced back to SPARC. You may make an unlimited number of cards, with as much or as little information on them as you like. Some parents send several duplicates with the child in case one or more gets lost. You're welcome to copy the sample below and modify it as necessary.

Sample SPARC Card format

	Get a SPARC Card Account
	Manage your SPARC Card Account
	Recharge your SPARC Card
	Contact our Customer Service

Refer to the image below.

Lets say you 'charge up' the Card with $20.00 of credit (Usage). Let's also say that you want 25% ($5.00) of the Usage to be 'Open Calling' and the other 75% ($15.00) to be the 'Preferred Calling Amount'.

When your child gets the SPARC Card, he or she could use the Open Calling portion to make Destination calls to any number anywhere, until the $5.00 was used up.


Example of a card with 25% Open Calling and 75% Preferred Calling

Once that first $5.00 'Open Calling' amount is used, the 'Preferred Calling Amount' takes over. At this point the ONLY calls that can be made on the Card go to the Destination numbers that you specify, like your home phone, your office phone, or your cell phone.

Basically, the Open Calling feature has three 'settings':

• you can allow calls to go to any area code in any State (unrestricted), OR
• you can allow calls to go to any area code in a particular State, OR
• you can allow only calls to a specific area code in a particular State

Remember, this is optional- you don't have to use the 'Open Calling' and 'Preferred Calling' feature.