Travelling with VoIP

Have you ever considered making calls over the Internet  during holidays? What makes you stick to the old and expensive mobile network when you travel abroad? Whether you want to stay in touch with your family and friends while travelling or you are a freelancer working abroad, standard communication options are most likely to bother you. Be aware that if you have access to the Internet in your smartphone nothing stands in the way of making calls at a much cheaper rate or even for free. What is more, you can benefit from various additional features brought by this type of communications.

All you need to make a phone call from any place in the world is: 1) having a stable Internet connection, 2) the mobile application installed on your phone or correctly configured Android phone (for SIP calls) and 3) a VoIP/SIP account if you want to  make or receive calls from regular phone numbers worldwide.

The Internet connection

The connection with the Internet should be quite stable so that the quality of phone calls is better. It can be achieved either through your cellular network or Wi-Fi. If you are staying in any of the larger cities during your travelling time, you shouldn’t have any problems with finding and connecting to a free Wi-Fi hotspot .

Mobile application

Making calls through VoIP is very flexible since you can do it from a wide range of devices: from soft phones on a computer to dedicated IP phones. It is so easy to make calls on Android or IOS devices as well even without installing an external app. You can learn more about configuring Android phones for making calls in this article: How to make SIP calls on Android. If you want to install an external VoIP app, no problem. I would strongly recommend ZoIPer or Bria which you can easily integrate with your VoIPstudio account, for example. The configuration of these softphones isn’t complicated and doesn’t require any technical knowledge from you.

The VoIP account

The most convincing argument for trying VoIP communication is its much smaller cost in comparison with the most common landline options. The differences in charges can be as high as 1,12 EUR per minute if you want to call mobile phones in the USA from some other country. What’s more, VoIPstudio offers you a really wide range of destination countries (over 60 – either landline or mobile phones) and it’s still increasing its range.

VoIP additional features

In contrast to the services delivered by traditional telephony (mobile or landline), you can benefit from many additional options aside from just making and receiving calls. The package of features some VoIP providers offer can go well beyond the two above basic features.  

Call forwarding

One of the most useful VoIP features is call forwarding which automatically forwards calls to multiple external numbers (mobile or landline) or extensions simultaneously. With this feature, you will never miss a call. Each call will follow you wherever you are. In order to enable this function, you have to purchase a permanent phone number for your VoIP service which is generally not so expensive.

Text messages

If you like to send a lot of text messages, another convenient feature is SMS Gateway, which enables you to do it easily and cheaply directly from the web or mobile application.

Voicemail

The very practical feature which may sometimes turn out quite expensive while you are using the services of traditional phone companies abroad is voicemail. Have in mind that incoming calls as well as voicemails are charged when you are abroad. Don’t be surprised by a huge phone bill which can be generated by some advertising  or selling companies during your absence at work. In order to cut these costs, you can simply turn this function off before your journey. But in case you are expecting some important voice messages from your office or friends, you might be interested in holding this feature on since it is much cheaper according to your VoIP provider’s tariff.

Emergency Service Calling

While using your VoIP  account, make sure you can call emergency numbers through E911 services. While it is still not common among VoIP providers, some of them offer this functionality. VoIPstudio is one such provider that offers emergency calling services on their network  for the customers from United Kingdom and USA. For more information read our article on this topic “How To Make Emergency Calls On VoIP Using VoIPstudio”.

VoIP lets you make the most of many useful communication options like conference and video calling, or interactive voice response. Just open your mind and free your imagination – the possibilities of our modern communication technology are becoming more advanced and almost endless. The phone features which we commonly used nowadays were beyond the wildest dreams of the previous generation. Travelling nowadays doesn’t have to mean the loss of connectivity and you can explore various wonderful possibilities meeting all of your needs.