Callcard Blog - The Irish Callcards Site

The story of the Telecom eireann Callcard

Before Callcards became an iconic symbol of nineties Ireland, an advanced trial and rollout took place by Telecom eireann in the late eighties. This roll out saw trials conducted in cities Dublin, Galway and Limerick. The cards tested during these trials relied on magnetic and optical strips which held the credit or “units”. Introducing the c[...]

A History of Cardphones used in Ireland

Throughout the years Telecom Eireann and Eircom implemented four different Cardphone hardware models. Initially starting off with separate coinphones and cardphones Eircom was to later bring out a hybrid coin and card payphone, which is still in use today. The Cardphone manufacturers used over the years were produced by both Schlumberger and Landis[...]

The Irish Management Institute Callcards

While most collectors will be aware of the extremely rare Irish Management Institute (IMI) Callcards, for many it is a mystery as to why three private Callcards were produced for two different IMI conferences in the years 1989 and 1990. The IMI Callcards are among the first of all private issue cards, with only the Cork FITCE being the other trial [...]

Leap into the past!

In 2011, an integrated ticketing system, known as Leap was introduced into Ireland. The “Leap Card”, a RFID enabled chargeable card allows customers to pay their fares for multiple different transport operations, as well as receiving a discount for using the service. The Leap cards’ initial launch was for the most part a success, largely due[...]

The other Irish phonecards

While we may best remember Telecom Eireann and Eircom Callcard’s from our collecting days, other Irish chipped phonecards were not as well known. Leaving Prepaid Phonecards aside there were several other companies in Ireland using smartcard technology supporting different types of card phones. These different phonecards were used in various locat[...]