Fun New Ways to Turn Long Distance Call Making Cheap
When I'm traveling overseas, I usually try to make as little use of my phone number from back home as possible, to save on roaming costs. I carry a cell phone with me that isn't locked to any network; I just buy a prepaid card right there in the country I arrive at, and I use this to make and receive local calls. But that isn't really much of a trick - making local calls. The whole interest lies in finding a way to receive calls on the cheap from back home and to make long distance call upon call at little or no cost, from any country. For this I always use Skype - both to make and receive cheap international calls when I'm in another country. All I do is that I turn on the call forwarding function on Skype and ask it to forward any incoming calls to my new local number. This way, anyone back home in Houston who tries to call my local number at home there, is directed to Skype and to my local number all the way over in Europe.
At least this is what I used to do. But ever since Skype came out with its iPhone app, there's been nothing better - I just need WiFi and I'm in business. Skype's iPhone app only works with WiFi and not with traditional cellular networks. Using it is pretty simple - it's like using Skype on a computer; the call quality is pretty good, and so are the prices. But Skype unfortunately is caught up in some kind of a legal battle between its original owners and its current one, which is eBay. If the original owners win their lawsuit, Skype will have to shut down some of its services, and so, anyone who wants to make long distance call making possible, will have to come up with something else.
Well, we always have Google Voice. It might be tempting to think that Google and Skype work the same way, especially since they charge about the same - Google charges about 30 cents a minute for calls to Europe, while Skype once about five cents more. There are some vital differences in the way they operate. Skype accepts your call, and puts it through completely on the Internet; Google Voice uses standard telephone systems - cellular networks, landline networks and so on, to complete your call. On Google Voice, you sign in (or if you are using a non-Apple smart phone, roll out your app), and make your call. If you happen to have an iPhone, the lack of an app is made up for by the way they let you visit the Google Voice mobile site to make a call.
Google Voice however it doesn't really work as well calling home from Europe as it does calling Europe from the US. It doesn't really even work so well if you're not in the lower 48. Google Voice will have that feature soon, but no one really knows when. So what do you do if you want make a long distance call? There are all kinds of services that make this possible. For instance, the Jajah service has a local number in each country you visit that you can call to be routed to your home number through. The problem is, Jajah only is able to connect you to Europe at this time. There is also a Skype copycat called GizmoCall, and a service called Magic Jack that uses a USB device to put your calls through, that you can choose from. All of these can only work with WiFi however, and not work with standard phone lines.
My current favorite is Voxox. This service is quite an innovative one as a way to make long distance call making cheap and intuitive. Whatever country you're in, you just text message Voxox the number you want to reach back home in the US, and right away you get a call from that number. And it works over standard cell phone signals, and not WiFi. What they do is, they make two local phone calls - one in each country, and make the international connection over the Internet with their own lines. Of course you have to pay for two local calls at the same time, but it still works out cheaper than Skype.