If you are travelling abroad or happen to travel overseas frequently, then it almost becomes a practice to make cheap calls to India to inquire about the welfare of your loved ones and friends and even connect with business associates. International call rates were once exorbitantly expensive when conventional methods such as land lines were the only option. However, with the unstoppable march of the Internet, making calls cheap international calls is no longer a distant pipe dream. You have various options to choose from for making a cheap call and the choice is so varied that it is difficult to pinpoint the best one. It is, however, that numerous factors decide what works best for you and to your greatest advantage.
Since the mobile revolution has swept the entire globe, everyone, irrespective of caste, creed, color or social standing uses a mobile phone as this has come to be a genuinely convenient and cheap solution to mobile communications the world over. Moreover, if the mobile phone is Global System (GSM) connected, then calling from abroad definitely becomes cheaper. Even Verizon phones these days happen to be GSM linked and you need to contact your provider if GSM facilities are missing. Needless to say that cell phones have helped people connect with each other from any corner of the earth to the other and wireless networks have sprouted up in almost all developed and even developing countries. It needs to be borne in mind, however, that mobile telephony can be expensive also, if one uses it too frequently. So while traveling abroad make sure that that your automatic notifications are disabled from your phone’s selected apps as also automatic e-mail push. Forgetting to do so could lead to extremely high data charges.
When you use a smart phone or even a tablet, your costs for making cheap calls to India becomes much lower. Downloading the VOIP app helps you beat high international call rates also. VOIP helps you make calls directly by way of the Internet through Wi-Fi hotspot. Should it so happen that you don’t have a hotspot position, the call gets connected to the nearest 3G network that operates on GSM. Again, it will depend on which particular app is being used and calls made through WiFi either come for free or cost a paltry few cents for every minute of talk time.
If hotspot isn’t being used, those cheap international calls go through local GSM networks that are data operated and not on voice rates. If overseas data-roaming charges are to be avoided, one could also combine this particular method by using a SIM card that is local. You also have the grand option of using Skype that is so simple to operate and fits in with Windows Phones, iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Symbian. Once you register with Skype by using a telephone number in the United States, you could be easily contacted by those who want to make calls to you for free while you are traveling overseas.