How to affordably call while abroad Upgraded to Economy, October 29, 2024October 29, 2024 In today’s connected world, new innovations in international telecommunications have made communication while traveling abroad easier than ever. The advent of eSIMs in the past few years have enabled a significant number of consumers to avoid hefty data roaming fees charged by their home carrier, only requiring them to pay $5 to $20 for the average consumer spending a few days to a month abroad. While eSIM services empower users to use cellular data while abroad, they unfortunately almost never include a phone number that will allow for calling or texting. However, while traveling abroad, there are certainly cases where someone might find themselves calling a foreign phone number. In these cases, eSIMs are not present to fill the void. Most consumers find themselves relying on their home carrier and grudgingly fork over hefty fees to make a few calls abroad. Thankfully, there are still some ways you can avoid these fees. Option 1: Google Voice This is a VoIP option provided by Google for customers in the United States as long as you have an existing non-VoIP phone number (i.e. your existing cell phone number from AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, or an affiliate). Calling rates to most countries are very affordable. Everyone who uses Google Voice gets their own U.S. phone number (with the country code +1). You can add some credits and then download the Google Voice app to make calls. Or if you want to do it through your computer, you can just go to voice.google.com and dial immediately. Rates can be found at this link: https://voice.google.com/rates Option 2: Skype Skype remains a popular and convenient VoIP solution for making cheap international calls for anyone worldwide. It’s as simple as downloading the Skype app on your phone, making an account, adding credit, and dialing the number you want to call. And if you call frequently, you can pay upfront for a certain number of minutes. The downside of Skype is that you don’t get your own phone number by default. You can pay for it, but this gets more complicated than Google Voice. The good news is, Skype can sell you phone numbers from multiple countries. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/skype/how-do-i-get-a-skype-number-0eba1279-3002-4041-85d4-3e1000cb364c Rates can be found at this link: https://www.skype.com/en/international-calls (By the way, if your company uses Microsoft Teams and you have a phone number assigned to you on Teams, you can also call internationally with that, but ideally make sure your company is okay with you doing that for personal reasons.) Option 3: Get a local SIM card This involves going to a local shop in the foreign country you are visiting and buying a prepaid phone plan. It is by far the most complicated and time-consuming option available. Be aware that you’ll probably have to pay upfront for a certain amount of calling minutes and many countries will require you to show your passport for identity verification. Also, some countries simply do not permit (or make it almost impossible for) non-resident foreigners to get local phone numbers; the most prominent example is India, where it’s now nearly impossible to get it due to the requirement for someone to receive an OTP (one-time password) code to an existing Indian phone number before exiting the airport, which of course most tourists would not know anybody who has an Indian phone number, much less would be able to communicate to them. The upside of a local SIM card is you’ll be able to call directly rather than over the internet and you’ll have a local phone number associated with it, so you’ll be more likely able to receive OTP codes whenever that’s necessary for connecting to free Wi-Fi, for instance. Comparison VoIP services can run into issues though. For one, you need a good internet connection to make calls, whereas the same is not true for simply placing phone calls. More pertinently though, many phone verification services that send OTP codes simply refuse to send OTP codes to VoIP phone numbers because there is a higher risk that they will be abused. Furthermore, if you don’t use your own phone number to call, you might be using a shared phone number that could be treated as spam by whoever is receiving the call. On the other hand, many tourists do not want to waste time on getting their own temporary phone number in a foreign country for a few reasons: it will cost a lot, likely only be usable for a limited duration of time, might have to swap out their existing SIM card, and will take a lot of time to set up. In other words, it’s simply not worth the hassle. So what’s the best solution? If you’re staying somewhere for a short duration and don’t intend on making hundreds of minutes of calls, it’ll be a lot cheaper to pay by the minute on Google Voice or Skype and call with mobile data. But if you’re staying somewhere for several weeks and intend to consume lots of data and make calls, or if you must have a local number to receive OTP codes, then getting a local prepaid SIM card is the move. One final thought: don’t forget that, these days, you can contact many places for free on WhatsApp, LINE, KakaoTalk, WeChat, or whatever the prevailing local IM platform is. WhatsApp is a must for traveling outside of North America, as it’s ubiquitous everywhere else in the world (except East Asia). Related Posts How to scan your RFID TTP card at land crossingsWatch this video for a demonstration on how to scan your RFID TTP card at… My crazy idea for how I'm going to Montréal this summerIf you can't tell, I am absolutely infatuated with Montréal. 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