Telephone Debit Cards Gaining Use Worldwide : Communications: They are prominent in Japan and France. Several U.S. firms are now offering them.

There’s a string of bright red pay phones in the Tokyo International Airport lounge--and a line of travelers waiting to ring up.

You lift the receiver, fumble with a few coins and look for the slot to drop them in.

No slot.

A man in the crowd steps forward and hands you a credit card-sized plastic card and gestures toward a slit in the phone.

You insert the card and get a dial tone. An LCD screen indicates you have 500 yen in telephone time. When you hang up, the screen reads 350 yen, and the phone ejects the card.

With thanks, you return the card to the owner.

In Japan not all public phones accept coins, but they do accept prepaid telephone cards, or debit cards. They can be purchased in sums of 500 or 1,000 yen from vending machines at street corners, post offices and subway and railroad stations. Each card has a magnetic strip that activates a computerized system to time your calls.

A 500-yen card, worth about $4.50, should buy 50 local calls, but many calls require more than one unit.

The cards aren’t new, but their use can throw off a newcomer to the country. They were introduced by Japan’s phone company, NTT, in 1982.

“Customers prefer cards, so they don’t need coins, and cards save us from complaints about lost coins,” Yoko Onishi, NTT spokesperson, says.

Telephone debit cards are convenient for travelers because they eliminate the need for change, and since they are paid in advance there are no huge bills to pay later, along with surprise surcharges.

Additionally, debit cards protect users from telephone card fraud. If debit cards are stolen, all that’s lost is the value on the card.

France has used computerized debit telephone cards since 1985. They’re available from tobacconists, stationers, post offices and subway stations in denominations of 40 and 90 francs. A 40-franc card, about $8, covers 50 local calling units.

Several American companies, including Amerivox, Global Telecommunications Solutions and AT&T;, also have debit cards for domestic and international calls. U.S. systems, however, are not computerized. Instead, card users dial a toll-free 800 number, punch in codes printed on their prepaid card, then dial the desired phone number. The price of the call is debited by computers at the 800 number.

Amerivox sells $20 debit cards for either domestic or international service. First-time domestic call subscribers pay $10 to activate the card. The remaining $10 buys 40 minutes, at 25 cents per minute, of telephone time in the continental U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Subsequent $20 cards buy 80 minutes of domestic calls.

There is no activation fee on the $20 international card, good for calling any of 200 countries. Calls to England, for example, are 95 cents for the first minute and 59 cents each additional minute all day. They compare favorably with AT&T;’s cheapest rates, 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time, of 98 cents for the first minute and 62 cents each additional minute. Amerivox calls to Japan cost $2.15 for the first minute, 80 cents each additional minute all day. AT&T;’s cheapest rate, 3 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, is $2.16 for the first minute, $1.35 for each additional minute. The cards cannot be used for U.S. calls from abroad.

Global Cards, in units of $20, $40, $50 and $100, buy 40, 80, 100 or 200 minutes, respectively, of domestic calls at 50 cents per minute regardless of distance or time of day. International calls to any of 30 countries are $2 to $2.50. Global cards may be used to call home from abroad, but costs are high. From Singapore, for example, it’s $4.50 per minute, compared to AT&T; Direct’s $3.32 for the first minute, $1.35 each additional minute and a $2.50 per call service charge.

AT&T;’s Teleticket, in 10, 25 and 50 units, are $6, $15 and $30, respectively. One unit of 60 cents buys one minute on domestic long-distance calls at any time of day. Per-minute costs to call Canada and England are $1.80, to other European cities $2.40 and to Pacific rim areas $3. Teleticket cards cannot be used to call the United States from abroad.