Mobiles & Calling Cards - can they live happily ever after?

August 19, 2008 5:28 PM

Is there a way to make using my calling card with my mobile phone suck less?

I have a Blackberry 8800, but I think this question is fairly generic to any mobile phone with an address book.
Here goes. I am supposed to use a calling card for all of my long distance calls.
So that means I need to dial the calling card 1-800 number, enter my account number, enter my PIN number, and then, finally enter in the number that I'm calling.
Is there a way I can automate any of this?
My knowledge of how to use the phone pretty much consists of: find entry in address book, highlight it, hit SEND.
I don't know if it's possible to call one number, then while still on that call, send more digits from the address book.
Basically, I don't want to have to write down the number I really want to call, then get out my card, punch in all of those digits, then punch in the number I've just written down.
Call me the opposite of old-fashioned, but if I have to break out a pen and paper for a number that's already in my address book, I feel like we've made an evolutionary misstep somewhere along the way.
Please help.

posted by Tbola to technology (7 comments total)

The Blackberry 8703 supports PAUSE in the dial string. You could setup a second entry that consists of:

1800xxxxxxx PP PIN PAUSE #.

It would be a pain if you change calling card numbers frequently, but I don't know of a generic "Calling Card" feature for the Blackberry.
posted by SirStan at 5:40 PM on August 19, 2008

To type in those 'pause' commands, push the asterisk button 3 times. You should plan out the call so you know when to 'pause', while the system is prompting you for your pin etc.
posted by acro at 6:14 PM on August 19, 2008

(If you had my phone you'd need to press the asterisk three times. You can probably just press the p button on your phone.)
posted by acro at 6:25 PM on August 19, 2008

Okay, assuming that the pausing works (haven't checked it yet...) that might get the calling card number/pin out of the way. Any ideas on how to *then* dial a number from my address book while I'm already on the line?
Should that work?
posted by Tbola at 6:48 PM on August 19, 2008

Admittedly, my phone is a w600i and not a Blackberry, but still...

It's possible for me to do what you've asked by:

-Going into address book and finding the number I want to dial
-Highlighting that number, choosing "edit before call", then "more", then "copy all"
-Then back into the address book, and finding the calling card number (800 number, account number and pin are already programmed in), highlighting it, choosing "edit before call", then "more", then "paste"
-Then just hit "call" and tada!

It's not completely automated, but as you can see, I didn't need to write down any numbers or really dial anything.
posted by Zarya at 9:09 PM on August 19, 2008

>So that means I need to dial the calling card 1-800 number,
No, put Onesuite as the first entry in your phone directory (aaa or aaa_onesuite).

>enter my account number,
No, enter your phone number in the settings of Onesuite and it will recognize that you are calling.

>enter my PIN number,
No, Onesuite will recognize that it is your phone.

> and then, finally enter in the number that I'm calling.
No, your can assign 60 directory entries at Onesuite

All questions answered?
posted by yoyo_nyc at 9:22 PM on August 19, 2008

Not sure if he wants to use another service entirely instead of using his original calling card (probably the reason for using that specific card is that it's company-subsidized), but I don't (as a Blackberry expert) have another solution either. That Edit Call thing Zarya suggested seems like it would work pretty well.

You might try asking at this site - There are absolute Blackberry fanatics there that are surprisingly responsive to questions like this.
posted by ostranenie at 5:38 AM on August 20, 2008