Now technically Skype and calling cards (which we discussed in Part I both utilize VOIP, however true VOIP is a different beast all together. Skype uses a closed VOIP network, so to access it you can only use their software and special hardware that is designed for Skype. Open VOIP however is designed for interoperability and the use of any ATA you would like.

The advantages of VOIP are that you can get a little device called an ATA (analogue telephone adaptor) which you plug into a router that you can then plug a regular telephone into. This technology allows you to talk digitally over the internet, and the best part is it’s completely portable! Just think about that for a minute. Imagine being able to talk to friends and family with a fully functional incoming/outgoing telephone service! It makes it easy to keep in touch and best of all there are no phone cards to worry about.

There are many different VOIP providers, some designed to offer PAYG (pay as you go) service, where you configure your own ATA (this can be daunting if you are not a technically oriented person). These plans offer truely cheap rates (some as low as 1cents/min to many western countries) and are designed for the casual user. If you don’t think you will use more then 600 minutes a month then this pay be the type of plan you are looking for. Then there are are various VOIP services that offer you an “unlimited” calling package that for a fixed amount every month allow you to make/receive calls to a certain calling area.

Vonage

This was the grandfather of VOIP, and so I feel I owe them a shout out. Unfortunately they haven’t kept up-to-date with the times, and don’t offer as many of the “cool” features that a lot of the newer services offer. They did come out with a new “world” plan that lets you call many different countries for a flat rate of $24.99/month. However with taxes this figures comes out closer to about $35/month. You do have to have a US mailing address to sign up, however there is no restriction on taking your ATA with you. This is one of the advantages of VOIP, you can take your phone number with you to any country in the world. Since they also allow porting in, this may be a good way of saving a cellphone/landline number you thought you might have to lose when you began ESLing. You can check out Vonage on their site. Vonage has specific offerings for Canadians and those from the UK.

VOIPo

A relatively new provider, these guys are backed by Hostgator a strong web hosting company. They have various servers which they allow you to pick in their control panel. This helps you to avoid “latency” (you know that annoying delay you sometimes get on overseas call) by picking one closet to your physical location. So if you’re in Asia one day, pick the “west coast” server, and if you’re in Europe the next pick the “east coast” server.

When you login to your VOIPo account you get access to a control panel. This allows you to set how you’d like certain calls forwarded, or set “simulatenous” ring numbers. This a really cool feature that allows you to call two numbers at once. So if your mom is calling you (using a local number for her) you can set it to ring your landline number in Korea or your cell phone as well as your ATA in your apartment. So you can literally answer the phone wherever you are, and you don’t have to worry about missing a phone call again. VOIPo also sends your voicemails to your email address, and can send you a text letting you know that you have missed a call. Unfortunately my tests show that this texting features only work with US/Canadian numbers but hopefully they’ll expand that down the track.

They currently have a promotion going on giving you a year of service for $135 including taxes. This includes a local phone number in many US and Canadian area codes, as well as unlimited outgoing calls anywhere within North America, plus 35 different features (including caller ID and 3 way calling). VOIPo – Unlimited Residential VoIP

Free Month of Service with VOIPo

Finally if you’d like a free month of service (confession, this will give me a free month of service too) please enter 6477240800 when signing up under the VOIPo referral section:

How to get the free month

Personally I feel that the key to fighting off the blues is keeping in touch with friends and family back home as often as possible. Modern technology has really made this a fairly easy thing to with minimal cost (at least compared to a decade ago) but there are still some monumental obstacles. The biggest one of course is the time difference. If you’re teaching in Asia and your friends/family are in the US or Europe the difference in time zones can be daunting. If you’re teaching during the day chances are they’re sleeping at night, and vice-versa.  Of course it really depends on what sort of hours you and your friends/family work but for me the most convenient times to call home is during the early mornings or on weekends.

In the following entry I’ll discuss ways that I’ve found to keep in touch with my friends and family, as well as discuss some neat technologies I’ve found that allows you to bring a small piece of you no matter where you are.

Calling Cards

You have to be a bit careful of most calling cards. Many advertise very low rates (0.5 – 1.0 cents/min) to most western countries. However they have many hidden fees that you might not be aware of. The first one that you have to be wary of is a “call connection fee” so every time you call the calling card number you may pay a fee. So for example on a $10 card, you may end up losing a significant amount of money, especially if you make short calls. Therefore if you are going to keep in touch mainly with calling cards you are better off buying smaller denominations and testing a card out to see how much you lose in call connection fees.

The other major disadvantage of calling cards of course is the call quality. You occasionally get echoes or dropped sounds and there is often a lag that makes it difficult for you to speak over the other person.  If you’ve experienced this it can make calling home a very painful experience and the amount of money you waste on trying different calling cards makes the whole experience extremely frustrating.

Skype

After several frustrating months of using various calling cards I finally decided to give Skype a try. Now there are two ways to use Skype. The first way is to use it on a PC with a headset. The second is to buy a device such as the Ipevo S0-20.

Headset

Using Skype on a headset can be a very pleasant experience, particularly if you shell out the money to get a good USB headset. These aren’t really that expensive but they save messing around with your sound card. You simply plug them directly into any USB drive and Skype recognizes them automatically. Using Skype via your PC means you can also participate in video calls, or a cool new feature that Skype recently introduced, “screen sharing”. I find this particularly useful because my parents inevitably have PC problems they want me to fix, and this allows me to look at their screen exactly so I can fix them without having to interpret what’s on the screen in front of them. It’s a small thing but it makes us both feel better and it doesn’t quite seem as if we’re that far away. The disadvantage of course is that to receive calls on Skype both parties have to have their PC on.

Wifi Phones

I’ll start off by saying that these can be quite expensive.  However the call quality on these is impressive. You also forget that you are using a VOIP service as Skype calls on these devices sound excellent. They connect to Skype via your wifi network so you need to be near a wifi network or have a wifi router. Unfortunately most aren’t able to do web page authentication so if you have an open hot spot that needs you to log in via a browser you won’t be able to use these phones. However you can even potentially take them with you around your new city and connect to any free open hot spots around.  May internet forums seem to think that Ipevo S0-20 is the best wifi phone around.

I’ve recently also started using Skype on my iphone, and I have to admit that the call quality is pretty good. It works as soon as you download it from the Apple “app” store. It doesn’t work over wifi (unless you jailbreak your iphone and install a program called VOIPover3G) however this may not be an issue if you plenty of wifi hotspots to choose from in your new city.

Cool Things to do with Skype

Let’s face it even though our families want to keep in touch with us they live a very busy lifestyle. It’s much easier for them to move on with their lives then it is for us. We are the ones that have made life alerting move to a foreign country and therefore we are the ones that have the desire to stay connected.

One feature I like about Skype is their unlimited plans. You can chose from a country, region or the entire world. It will give you free calls to landlines in most of these places, and in some cases (like Canada and the US) to mobiles as well. This is an excellent way of staying in touch with friends and family. Best of all there are is no credit balance to worry about since your plan comes with about 10, 000 minutes in a month. I prefer the all you can talk approach as it means I’m not going to have to worry about grabbing a phone card in the middle of the night, or worrying about any fees down the track. It helps me set my budget and lets me talk whenever and for however long I want.

Many Skype plans come with “online numbers” which give you local numbers in your home country. The main advantage of this type of Skype plan is that the party you call doesn’t need a computer, you can call them directly. If you are not at home you can also forward your “home” skype number to your new mobile. This helps to make the time difference seem like less of a hassle.

Visit Skype to take a look at their great offerings.


See part II for more great tips on staying in touch with family back home.