Calling home while traveling

While traveling through the northern part of Laos, I passed through a tiny village that consisted of only one dirt street and a handful of houses which were barely standing. Only one structure in the village had full-time electricity, and inside was an ancient television and a computer - equip with high speed internet access! Email has changed the way we keep in touch and has made getting news from home while traveling very easy.

Sometimes, too easy. Rather than focusing on the incredible culture all around me, many times I found myself wandering around Egypt looking for a cafe or wireless signal to feed my addiction and combat my homesickness.

Despite the convenience of plopping down in front of a computer and having news from home within minutes, sometimes there is just no replacement for hearing a loved one's voice on the other end of a telephone. If not planned properly, calling home can be a major expense (and challenge) on your trip. Payphones in developing countries can be half reliable at best. Nothing can be more frustrating than working around a big time difference to schedule a call with family only to have it not go through or drop in mid-conversation.

Here are some options for staying in touch which include old techniques for the traveling dinosaurs out there all the way up to the latest VOIP gadgets for making internet calls.

Collect Calls

This is undoubtedly the most expensive way to call home and although they will be glad to hear from you, your family will not want to see their phone bill. Depending on the carrier, rates can be around US $1 - $1.33 per minute and often a connection fee is added of around US $4.00.

Credit Card Calls

This can be a close second or maybe even worse than calling collect. NEVER make a call using your credit card from a hotel or payphone without first confirming the rate. Sometimes there are multiple phone switches that the call must pass through, which means the hotel may be charging you as well as the local and long distance carriers. Airport credit card phones are notorious for this and can be US $3.00 a minute in Europe.

Phone Centers

For some reason, the phone centers in developing countries seem to have worse circuit connections than the average payphone sitting in a war zone. You basically enter a small partition or booth, which should be sound proof, but instead end up hearing a half dozen different conversations in five languages going on all around you. The good thing, however, is that you do not pay unless your call makes it through properly. A few of these centers have survived, but this has become a much less popular option following the explosion of mobile phones and internet calls. Many evolved into internet cafes where you can surf the web as well as make internet based phone calls.

Calling Cards

Calling cards are tricky but if used properly can be a good budget choice. In Southeast Asia, calling cards for the local payphones are available in shops and at all 7-11/Kwikee-mart stops. Be sure to ask or look at the color of the cards (orange ToT or yellow), certain phones require specific cards and will not make calls using competitors' cards. Cards that use increments of "credits" usually have hidden fees such as mobile phone and payphone fees so watch out. They may advertise a low rate per minute, but make the difference up with hidden connection fees.

When you purchase the card, ask the clerk if you need to dial a prefix on payphones for international calls, this can save time and frustration. Net2phone is very popular for their cards.

Callback Services

Callback service providers give you a unique number in their country which you call and let ring one time. You hang up before it connects and there is no charge at this point. Then, the payphone you called from will ring and when you answer, you will have a dial tone from a phone switch in America or wherever the provider was. You then dial the international number that you want to call. Callback services are actually being banned in some countries because it effectively cuts the ability of the local carriers to make money on your call. You can get more information o Callback services here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callback_(telecommunications)

Internet Cafes

If you are not carrying a mobile phone, this is the most convenient and budget way to make international calls from another country. Many cafes supply headsets now which are connected to computers running VOIP (Voice over IP) applications such as Skype or Yahoo. The cost per minute is cheap, even after paying for your internet access and the call itself (usually around .02cents a minute).

On the downside, internet cafes offer very little privacy for your conversation and sometimes the headsets are broken or substandard. The speed of the internet circuit and how many people that are currently in the cafe will affect the quality of your call.

Skype

Many internet cafes now have Skype installed on their computers. Skype is an application that allows you to make calls over the internet for around US .02 cents a minute, depending on the country you call. It does not matter in which country the call originates, which is good. I travel with my own headset (US $10) so that I can make calls from friend's laptops or in internet cafes without using theirs.

The downside of Skype is that like all VOIP options, it relies on how much bandwidth is available. The kid sitting in the cafe playing World of Warcraft or someone uploading travel photos can effectively massacre a call home, depending on the size of the network. For this reason, try to choose internet cafes that do not look busy, or go at off-peak times when you can get a call through easier. When you finish your call, be sure to log off of Skype, it stays in the traybar and if you do not, others could come and use your account after you leave.

You can set up a Skype account for free , and call other Skype users for free. If you want to call land lines or mobile phones, you need to fund an account with at least US $10 or 10EUR to get started. Fortunately the calls are so cheap that this lasts for quite a while. Sometimes calls to mobile phones in certain countries can be as high as US .40 cents a minute. Make sure to check the rate schedule before dialing a new developing country.

Mobile Phones

If you plan to make a lot of calls, need the convenience, or need to stay in touch for business, then having a local cell phone may be the way to go. To stay connected in other countries, you will need a phone platform that operates on the GSM network of more than 185 countries. Most cell phones in the US, the Caribbean, and parts of Central/South America use CDMA, a different network type that does not work with GSM providers in Europe, Asia, or elsewhere abroad. GSM phones are slowly becoming more popular in America, as are phones that support SIM cards which allow you to join the network of the country you are traveling in. You can look up which network your destination country uses here. Japan and South Korea both have their own CDMA based networks which are special and you will need to get a local phone upon arrival.

Although not a budget conscious choice, if you have the correct type of phone hardware (GSM or CDMA) you can more than likely use your phone in new countries by paying the international roaming rate of between US $1 - $5 a minute. You need to contact your mobile phone service to activate international roaming before you leave. The good news is that people at home do not have to pay long distance charges to call your phone, it still appears as a local call.

If you do not wish to pay international roaming (smart choice), you can opt to buy a prepaid SIM card instead. The SIM card is a small chip that goes inside your actual mobile phone, usually under the battery, and it provides you with a local number in the country you are visiting. The card will come with some minutes, but you can add minutes online or at kiosks in different places. Calls made locally will be around US .05 - .25 cents and calls made back to the US will be up to US .50 cents a minute. The bad news is that anyone calling you from home now has to pay international long distance because your number is no longer local. You can switch your phone back to your old number simply by removing the SIM card. To get started using a SIM card, you may have to have your mobile phone hardware "unlocked" which means taking it to a local provider or shop and having them enter a code to allow it on their network. Some shops do this for free while others charge for the service.

VOIP Phones

Vonage is now offering a small USB memory stick sized device called the V-Phone. You simply plug it into the USB port on any computer (a friend's laptop, in an internet cafe, etc) and it has all the necessary software for you to make calls over the internet. The headset plugs directly into the phone stick, rather than the computer, which makes people happy that you are not installing anything on their PCs. When you are finished talking, you unplug the device and drop it back into your pocket. As a bonus, it comes with 256MB of memory as well, so you can save documents, pictures, etc on it. Very handy for sharing pictures with new travel mates. The V-phone currently costs US $39.99 and due to its size, could be a convenient and handy option while on the road.

The secret to long term vagabonding and staying on the road longer is to save a little money on lots of little things over time. This includes phone calls. Choose wisely based on your needs and keep in touch with friends and family while you are gone, it will help keep the homesick monster away.