{Underneath the Stars.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

9:03 PM

28th January 2009 [Wednesday] 9:00pm

First wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!!

Now, I will start off with some pictures since I haven't been able to upload pictures for the previous posts. This post would be mainly pictures.

Here goes...

Figure 1a ~ Phonecard!

See detailed description in sections: Figure 1e & 1f

Figure 1b ~This is the front view of a conventional phone card by Singtel.

It has a stored value of $5 and its expiry was August 2004.

Figure 1c ~ This is how the card measures up against a ruler in length....

It is about 8.4cm in length.......

Figure 1d ~ and width.

and approximately 5cm in width.

Figure 1e ~ Here's the front view of another phonecard.

The picture printed in front is of a scene in the sea. The text shows "Protect Our Marine Environment". The logo on the top right corner of the card represents "International Year of The Ocean". Guess the year of this card? ----1998

Figure 1f ~ And this is the rear side.

The stored value in this card is $10, different from the previous card mentioned in Figure 1b.

Here's what is printed on the back of the card.

- This phonecard has $10 worth of calls.

- Phonecard once sold is not refundable.

- Do not bend, scratch, soil or place phonecard near magnetised articles.

- Refer to the latest Singapore Phone Book for COnditions of Issue and Use of Singtel Phonecard & Public phone Service.

This card is by Singapore Telecom.

In the next post, I think I will be blogging about other types of phonecards, and let all my readers (all of you of course), to have an eye's feast. I will be uploading a lot of pictures on phone cards and describe them.

Oh and I will upload a picture of a phone album. Also, I will diversify this chapter of my blog to touch on the once majestic stored value transitlink card, also known as MRT card. AND.... of course I will be uploading pictures of them too! I guess many of you probably miss them right? here's a temptation first =P
Figure 2 ~ M&M's Transitlink Farecard

Child/Student TransitLink Farecard.

Haha.

DO Check back regularly!

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

10:50 PM

21st January 2009 [Wednesday] 10:51pm

In this update, I shall continue to teach readers ways to begin the phonecard collection.
One of the ways to increase your phone card collections, or even get a first card, is to keep your mobile phone aside, especially if you are using a pre-paid card. It is the most meaningful when hobbyists themselves are contributing to the collection. Do not fret if you are using a post-paid mobile phone plan with a monthly subscription fee. You can still use the phone cards when you feel you have exceeded your monthly call limits.

One can also choose to purchase brand new cards to collect. However, this type of collection is very cost inefficient, and is recommended only to those who have the extra bit of budget allocate to leisure use. This method of collection is for hobbyists who collect the phone cards for their colours and designs. Prolonged usage/exposure of the card surface to other surfaces would result in the deterioration of the cards' surface image. Therefore, if one day you find a card whose design you really adore, it is alright to purchase it and keep it in its original state. Having said that, there are also card protectors available so that the phone cards will not be damaged when it is carried around in wallets or bags. The key idea is to handle the cards with care as you would your mobile phones and other gadgets.

If you wish to quickly increase the size/prospective size of your phone card collections, do be on the lookout for book fairs and similar exhibitions in your country. Most book fairs also have other miscellaneous items on sale such as phone card collections. Take the "World Book Fair" for example, it is held in Singapore once a year and you can often find a booth that sells hobby items such as stamps and phonecards amidst the sea of books and stationery. In addition, hobbyists would be delighted to find rare card collections at these exhibitions. However, hobbyists would have to be willing to part with their cash as these rare items do not come cheap.

In the next post, I will talk about various themes in phone cards' designs, as well as what purposes some of them have.

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

9:21 PM

15th January 2009 [Thursday] 9:25pm

To collect phone cards, enthusiasts first have to obtain the necessary acessories. The basic item is a card album, also known as card holders. Card albums come in many sizes and colours. I have yet to see card albums in other shapes so I guess the card holders that are currently on sale are the regular, rectangular-shaped ones. The most recommended starting album would be one that can contain approximately 50 cards. Card albums are easily available from stationery shops. A beginner should expect to spend approximately 5 SGD or its equivalent in other countries on a small sized card album.

For the cards, hobbyists should not worry too much because, despite the widespread availability of mobilephones/handphones, traditional card-operated payphones are still widely available. Afterall, it functions as an emergency communication device for the public and will still come in handy when mobile phones run out of battery or when mobile phones malfunction. For a start, beginners at phone card collections can make the people around them aware of their collection so that there are more people on the lookout for used phone cards.

Why do I say "used" phone cards? Thats because beginner phone card hobbyists are more likely to find owners who intend to discard their spent phone cards. However, this still poses a considerable amount of difficulty as many people do not consider bringing a phone card as for unexpected cases like battery flats, because there are also coin-operated public payphones available and they are equally convenient.

In my next post I will be talking about ways to start your collection of phone cards.

Currently I am unable to take/upload pictures of phone cards. I will do that as soon as i can afford time.

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Monday, January 5, 2009

5:32 PM

6th January 2009 [Tuesday] 9:35am

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a happy 2009 and a fruitful year ahead.

Previously, I've blogged about the various ways of collecting stamps and what to look out for, as well as special features of stamp collection. Since this is a hobby blog, I cannot just remain here talking all about stamps right?

Yes you guessed it. I'm going to move on and blog about another hobby. This hobby will still be under the category of collections.

Prologue: Ways of communication has evolved through the years. Through stamps and letters to emails and parcels. From telegraphs to messengers to telephones. Ever thought how people communicated before the invention of handphones? I'm quite sure many of you would know that it was either by conventional telephones paid using phonecards. Only not long ago, when someone encounters an emergency, the person has to look for a public payphone, and pray that they remembered to carry a phonecard with them. In addition, the phonecard must still have value stored in them. Since phone cards were so popular back then, there were definitely efforts made to personalize and customize the appearances of the phone cards to make them more appealing to the customers/users.

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The next collection item that i will be blogging about will be phone cards, and i'll also throw in other types of conventional cards as a form of value-add.
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