Craig Dodge Taiwan

Every US expatriate needs to pay attention here:

One thing about living overseas that can be challenging sometimes is communicating with people back home. It's very important to me to maintain close ties to my family. I talk to my dad at least once a week and my other extended family members every couple of weeks. The cost of international phone calls can quickly add up! I also have some financial accounts and other dealings for which I need to have a local phone contact, but I don't want to bother anyone else to take these calls.  So how does one solve this problem?

VoIP!

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VoIP is the technology for carrying voice over the Internet. Many of you probably already use some kind of VoIP, like Skype. I've been using VoIP for nearly 10 years and I'm amazed at how far the technology has come, how many providers are out there, how much the quality has improved and how inexpensive it can be. I would like to take this opportunity to share a couple VoIP calling solutions that I've found to fit my needs perfectly.

My primary VoIP provider is MagicJack. In the past I've used Lingo (sucks) and Vonage (rocks, but expensive), but for overall features & voice quality to cost ratio, MagicJack wins hands down. The product may have a silly name with silly packaging and silly advertising, but it works like a dream!! For only US$20/year (yes, that's right, US$20/YEAR),  I get a phone number in the US with unlimited incoming and outgoing calls (US & Canada), voice mail and more. You plug the MagicJack into any computer connected to broadband Internet anywhere in the world, and then plug any regular phone into the MagicJack, and VOILA.

The important thing to remember about MagicJack, or any VoIP calling solution for that matter, is that you have to have a decent Internet connection. According to their FAQ, a minimum upload speed of 128kbs is required, but the more bandwidth, the better the voice quality. You also might have to pause other downloads while you talk using MagicJack.

My backup is a little more complicated and not quite as reliable as MagicJack, but it's mobile (I can use it on my iPhone) and it's FREE. That's right, absolutely free. It's a calling solution that requires linking up a few services, but if you are not afraid of technology and if you can copy-and-paste, you can do it. What it takes is a Google Voice account (free), a Sip Gate account (also free) and a Sipsorcery account (yup, that's right, free).  You can then make calls for free from your computer, or if you have a smart phone, like iPhone, you add a Sip calling application (some are free and some cost a couple of dollars) and then you can make free calls to/from the US anywhere in the world. You can get complete details on how it works and how to set it up at: Unlimited Free Calling

The reason I say this solution is a less reliable is because if the Sipsorcery web site is down, calls can't go through. If you are using 3G, the signal quality varies depending on your cell phone service provider.