Mobile Phone Service Direct Purchases
Plastyc is the first company to provide a direct way to buy mobile services without having to visit the physical or the online store of a wireless operator.
Saving time, gas, and paper
Buying "refill cards" in stores is the most common way for prepaid phone subscribers to add minutes
of airtime to their account.
While prepaid mobile phone cards can be found in tens of thousands of stores
across the US, the hidden costs of time and transportation make them expansive and inconvenient.
Not to mention
the printing, distribution and storage costs for the wireless service providers.
Avoiding enrollment on yet another website
Most wireless service providers offer some option to buy airtime on their website.
Users have to register with their name, address and the full details of a payment card or a checking
account before they can add minutes to their account.
This goes counter to the principle of prepaid wireless services requiring minimal disclosure of
personal information or even no contract.
Also, websites offering the online purchase of mobile minutes experience a very rate of charge-backs, because
the recipient of the airtime is not necessarily the cardholder, opening the door to potential fraud.
From dollars to minutes ... in seconds. Securely
To help consumers who use both prepaid financial services and prepaid phone services
because they offer the same no-surprise, responsible way to manage expenses, Plastyc has implemented a direct
purchase mechanism
with prepaid phone networks.
The purchase of cell phone service is now an integral part of the management of an online prepaid iBankUP
or UPside Card account, right next to managing the balance or loading funds into the account.
Logging into the account as usual is enough to access the mobile
service purchase facility.
Coverage in the US includes: Alltel, AT&T, Boost, Cricket, PagePlus, Simple Mobile, T-Mobile, Tracfone, Verizon and Virgin.
Worldwide coverage reaches countries for a total population of 5.5 Billion people:
Afghanistan, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica,
Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan,
Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Montserrat, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Sri Lanka,
St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos, Uganda, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zimbabwe
Compliance with money transmitting regulations
While the service may give users the impression that they are sending money abroad if they use it to
buy minutes for a cell phone overseas, it is not an international money remittance service.
Only airtime is being purchased internationally, using a service provided by
Transfer-To.
- Money flows along the following path:
- From a user's prepaid account...
- ... to a Bill Payment account...
- ... to Transfer-To's bank in the US
- From there, Transfer-To uses the money to pay the destination wireless carrier.
All transfers of funds from Plastyc's bill payment account are tracked automatically for compliance with Anti Money Laundering rules. Plastyc does not put minutes of airtime inside the Visa prepaid account: the card is simply used for a purchase in US dollars, inside the US borders, which our partner Transfer To uses to provide international airtime top ups.
