Prepaid telephone calls are a popular way of making telephone calls which allow the caller to control spending without making a commitment with the telephone company.

Prepaid phone cards are provided by various telecom companies. When you purchase a prepaid phone card, you are paying for long distance connection time in advance. When you make calls using the phone card, the card's value is deducted based on connection fee, duration of connection, surcharges and any maintenance charges associated with the phone card.

Prepaid telephone calls are usually implemented in the company's network using the intelligent network functionality. The competitive prices these operators offer are usually made possible by least cost routing and lower overheads than the larger telephone operators.