I travel quite a bit and much of it is outside the US. When I’m away from home, I try and call my wife and son every day to stay in touch.
In 2005, I took my first overseas trip and as usual called Dorine and Eddie every day. I didn’t really think about the cost of what I was doing, , , it was just sort of a habit I’ve had while traveling throughout the US for 30 years, , , no big deal.
What do you think was waiting for me when I got home? Yep, , , a nice little surprise came with my next phone bill, , , , an extra $400 charge for long distance “overseas” calls even though most of the calls originated from our home phone.
Unacceptable !!
Well, paying the bill was a “must do” but to incur extra phone charges like this on every trip, , , or avoid them by not calling, , , these two options are not acceptable.
My next trip was to South Africa and I took a colleague, Dan Tankersley, with me. Dan heard me describe the problem so he set out to find a solution, , , and he certainly did.
He discovered a Voice over IP (VoIP) service from Canada that provides intercontinental phone services at a fraction of the cost of what you will pay using your cell phone, calling from the hotel, or even having your wife call you from the US. Did I say a fraction of the cost?
A US to South Africa call is just 6 cents a minute on land line and 15.28 cents a minute using your cell phone. From South Africa to the US is 25.99 cents a minute, , , a bit higher but still a bargain when compared to something around $2.00 a minute using a normal approach. You can see that you save lots of money quickly.
My wife and I talk a couple times a day on most days when I travel, but we don’t feel the pinch of a huge phone bill after my trips. We also talk some 20-30 minutes at times and don’t feel rushed to finish the call due to the charges. A 30-minute call is less than $2.00, , , big difference.
There are many services like IDPhoneCard plus SKYPE is free. What I like about IDPhoneCard is that you can access it from any phone so you have plenty of flexibility and the rates are very reasonable. Quality has always been very good as well.
If you and your staff travel frequently, you may want to look into the potential cost savings you can attain using a service like this.
Details of IDPhoneCard are at www.idphonecard.com.
ITLever™ 