Necessity drives innovation. I was recently traveling internationally, and I was faced with the prospect of paying AT&T global roaming rates of $1.99 per minute, or find an alternate solution. Doing nothing was not an option as I needed to be in contact with several clients for transactions that were in progress.
So what did I do? There are plenty of Internet telephony solutions out there, but I had some important criteria:
- I did not want to have to use or carry around extra hardware, such as headsets or my laptop, in order to make calls. I wanted the solution to be able to integrate with my cell phone (I use an iPhone, by the way).
- It had to be reliable. When I want to make a call, I need for it to go through and stay connected with excellent sound quality. I have used many services where this has been a problem.
- The pricing had to be favorable as we are in challenging economic times and it is critical to monitor our P&L closely. I particularly was looking for the option to be able to pay as I go without having to commit to a monthly subscription fee.
- When not travelling, I wanted to be able to get discounted rates for international calls.
The solution which addressed all four criteria was TruPhone. It works with a variety of different devices including the iPhone, iPod Touch (2nd generation version using the headset/ microphone available from Apple), G1, Nokia, and Blackberry. Once you set up and fund your TruPhone account, you simply connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot, start the TruPhone application on your device, and begin making calls. The sound quality was fantastic, and my caller ID was transmitted so that the party on the other end could see that I was calling.
To save money on international calls while you are in your home country, you can take advantage of the TruPhone Anywhere feature. This option does not require a connection to a Wi-Fi hotspot. You start TruPhone and place your call like normal, but it does some behind the scenes magic to route the call through a phone number in your country. (Please note that you need a data plan for the Anywhere feature to work). The phone will dial out to this number and once it connects, the international call will start ringing. It is amazing.
Depending upon your usage, there are two different calling plans - Standard and Saver. For high volume use, you may want to consider the Saver option. Please keep in mind that the Saver option carries a nominal monthly subscription fee.
For more information, visit http://www.truphone.com
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