Taking a mobile phone overseas can be a very useful but it can also be frightfully expensive from the moment you turn it on outside of your home country. So here is another solution to which we have been trialing and so far it’s been very good, it is using the skype service.
If you would like to learn more about Skype , best to head to their site for a full run down.
We will take it you are familiar with skype and how it works, the following steps are set to show you how you need to set up SkypeOut for a family trip overseas with the kids so you can stay in touch back home.
Receiving and making cheap calls on the Family Vacation
- Make sure you are signed up to Skype with a free account there is no cost it’s free!
- Choose your plan, Skype give you the option to have free calls from computer to computer, but for this exercise we will need to set up plan as we will be using either mobile phone or landline to call home to fixed landline. There is two plan options “pay as you go” or “subscription plan”, we choose the pay as you go for the moment by purchasing skype credit using a credit card or paypal and placed $30 of credit.
- Now we have the plan set up, you will want to set up your skype to go feature you should be logged in under your account name.
- Click on the Skype to go icon and
- Select the “get skype to go number” (STGN). You will want to set this number up from the countries you are planning to visit for your vacation. This number will be emailed to you, and get be SMS to your mobile, save and record the numbers.
- The Skype to go number is the number that you will use call to make your call back home.
- You will need to register a phone number and pin as part of the service, would suggest your mobile number.
- Your next step is to set up your speed dial numbers for you skype to go numbers this make it nice an easy when you call the STGN, as it will prompt you for which number you would like to call.
- Now go and TEST it out – I would suggest setting up STGN number for your home area then doing a test with a friend or family member. Simply pick up your mobile call the local number you were provided (STGN) and follow the prompts you should be setup fully now to roam the world with the family and make calls back home. Note when calling from another phone not registered you will be asked for the phone number that you registered against and the pin.
“Call any time of day, any day of the week without the need for a long term contract. You can choose a subscription to call a country that’s different from the one you live in. Also, you can make calls using your subscription from any other country – great for when you’re travelling.”
Extra Service available for Skype
There are some other great services you can also set up with skype which are very handy. We would suggest setting up a Skype Online Number
this will allow family and friends to call you on a local number from any landline or mobile number. You can pick up the call up on a computer or to a local number that you may have forwarded the number to.
If you want to take your mobile or cell phone and use this just beware of you global roaming rates and how much it will cost to call a local number in the country you are visiting. If it’s expensive it may be worth purchasing a prepaid SIM and registering that number with skype.
Our example of it working
I recently made a call from an Australian Mobile phone to a USA Cell phone using the skype to go number and the total cost was 28c for a whole ten minutes. The quality of the call was very good could not tell the difference. Without this service the cost could have been anywhere of $5.00 and up.
