Your purchase is deducted from your checking account. ECharge Phone service is a different beast. The account is linked to your phone bill, and your online charges appear just the way long-distance calls do. Some e-cash vendors opt for a hybrid. Trivnet, a technology infrastructure provider, lets ISPs, mobile operators, and other third parties provide customers with Trivnet's WiSP currency.
Users prepay or get charges on their monthly bills.
E-cash also increases security. Many people feel safer not giving out credit card information online, says ECharge chair Ron Erickson. E-cash account numbers sent to and from stores aren't tied to social security numbers or addresses. If hackers intercept this data, they get only the account number and bill amount. Unlike with credit cards, most e-cash options require you to supply a password to complete a transaction.