When on international travel, your family often worries about you and cannot resist calling you up often to check on you. Have you ever felt the terrible pangs of guilt when your dearest family member calls you and you do not take the phone call? After all, your international roaming is extremely expensive and well-meant calls could invariably make your expenses go spiralling out of control.
But what if it was an emergency call?
Well, you say, there’s always SMS service to fall back on. You are right, except that SMS has its own limitations, what with being one-way that could result in multiple exchanges, beating the very savings edge! Is resorting to relatively cheaper SMS the only best option? Till some years ago, it was probably cheaper than calling. But not anymore!
With internet being a part and parcel of our lives, why not use face-to-face applications such as Skype or Viber? You can use them to communicate interactively, paying only the internet usage on your smartphone, tablet or laptop.
But remember not to use the data service on your phone to access internet, since international roaming charges for data are exorbitant. Ensure that you have switched off the data service of your service provider while on international roaming. Using a Wi-Fi hotspot in your vicinity may be much cheaper or even free and you could save bigtime!
If you prefer talking on your phone, buy a local calling card. Many companies can provide these to you at your home, before you travel, so you can share the number with everyone back home before you leave. Alternatively, you could buy one when you arrive at your destination and then intimate everyone.
Stay connected the smart way and enjoy your trip!
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