If you travel around the world with your cell phone, crackberry, or iPhone, you could end up spending a fortune to communicate . I’ve heard so many sad tales of $1,000+ surprise bills that I’m convinced it’s a huge profit center for the mobile phone companies, especially the one with the iPhone monopoly here in the U.S. Unless you are very judicious about your settings and only use a smart phone in a wi-fi hotspot, it’s pretty hard to avoid getting reamed. You can always get an unlocked phone and switch out the SIM card in each location, but a better bet if you’re going to multiple countries is just to rely on Skype. Here’s why.
1) Free calls to others on Skype.
Sure, this takes a little coordination to catch the other party at the right time, at their computer, but you can’t beat the price: free. So you can call and chat as long as you want for nothing , and use the IM function at the same time. You can even see each other if you’ve both got a webcam. In many internet cafes, there’s one already hooked up if you’re not carrying a netbook or laptop.
2) A portable phone number for $5 or less per month. With voicemail!
Did you know you can get a number with your regular area code from Skype, then everyone can reach you on a local call, wherever you’re online? It rings whenever you’re logged onto Skype and if you’re not, they can leave you a voicemail you can pick up next time you’re on. It’s just $18 for 3 months or $60 for a full year. BUT, you can get up to 50% off this cost with the purchase of a monthly subscription. (See #3)
3) An unlimited calling plan for $3 per month.
In addition to the phone number I have, by paying $2.95 a month I am able to make unlimited calls to anyone in the U.S. and Canada. That’s kind of redundant when I’m home, but when I’m traveling it means I can call home and talk away as much as I need to, or make business calls galore just as I could when sitting at my own desk. If you pony up $12.95 a month, you can make unlimited calls to 40 different countries.
4) Cheap Skype Out calls to other countries
Let’s say you don’t get the all-you-can-call international plan because you just need to call elsewhere now and then. Well you still won’t pay much. Since I’m heading to Ecuador, here’s what we paid last week to call and make a hotel reservation (they wouldn’t respond to e-mails—which happens often I’ve found.) It was 17 cents a minute. A four-minute call was 68 cents. If we call back to the U.S. from there it will be zero extra since we have the $3 per month unlimited plan mentioned earlier. In contrast, let’s look at what my mobile phone company would charge me for the same call. Ouch!
5) Nothing much to carry or buy
Sometimes I travel with a Skype phone that I can use just like a regular phone after plugging it into a USB port. But that’s just a feel thing. You can also use your laptop as a speaker phone, use the headset and mic that are often furnished in an internet cafe, or bring your own mine set-up that’s just earbuds and a mic on the cord.
The service is not without its faults—dropped calls at bad times being one of them—but they’re improving the quality all the time and have saved me a small fortune. They make keeping in touch relatively painless and cheap. My kind of service.
