Making Phone Calls While Traveling

If you enjoy traveling the world or you frequently travel overseas on business, communication with your loved ones is a high priority. Luckily, you have more calling options available today than ever before.

Making International Calls

When you're traveling out of the country, picking up the phone and dialing home is not as simple as it is in the U.S. Each country is assigned a code that must be dialed before you dial the number that you're calling. The basic procedure for placing an international call is to dial 011 + country code + area/city code + number. The country code for the U.S. and Canada is "1".

Dial Home with a Calling Card

A calling card is the best way to pay for phone calls while traveling. Calling cards can be purchased in locations around the world and they give you a preset number of minutes that you can use at your discretion.

When using a calling card to make an international call from a pay phone, you can expect to pay an additional connection fee that may burn a large number of minutes before you even begin your conversation. Be sure to get a card with enough minutes to compensate for the connection fee.

International calling cards can also be purchased before departure. They're sold in a wide range of minute plans and often include all connection fees. If you're desperate, you can charge calls to your credit card. You will most likely need operator assistance to make credit card calls.

If you use operator assistance to place the call, you can plan on paying quite a bit more per minute and pay a connection fee, so it really does pay to know the procedure for calling home before you travel.

Using Your Cell Phone During Your Travels

While cell phones may have been a luxury item a decade ago not having one today is almost unheard of. Cell phones are essential for travelers who spend time away from home and want to stay connected wherever they are.

Cell phone providers offer a variety of plans. Choose a calling plan that best fits your lifestyle and your travel needs. If you spend a lot of time traveling from state to state and want to stay connected with those at home, a nationwide calling plan will allow you to place and receive free calls from locations throughout the country.

Regular cell phone users know that going over on their minute allowance and racking up roaming charges can be costly. Roaming charges are billed when you're placing or receiving calls outside your coverage area. If you have only local service and you travel out of state or even to another part of the state, you'll be charged a roaming charge for each minute that you use the phone and you may also be charged a service fee to connect your call.

Even if you've chosen a nationwide plan, you may not be covered everywhere you travel. Your phone should alert you to roaming when you make and receive calls. You can even activate a feature on your phone that won't allow you to receive roaming calls while traveling.

Using Your Cell Phone to Make International Calls

If you plan to travel out of the country, you may not be able to make or receive international calls with your current wireless package. Most cell phones purchased in the United States are not programmed to function when you leave the country. However, your wireless provider will be more than happy to provide you service when you travel.

You can rent phones that are set up to function outside of the U.S from many wireless providers. The provider will give you the option of purchasing a set number of minutes or choose to be charged by the minute. The minutes are much more expensive than what you pay at home. If you're a frequent traveler, you may want to invest in a phone equipped for international calling.

If you have the right type of phone, you may be able to program your phone to accept and receive calls from your international destination. Again, you'll still have to pay for the minutes you use, but you'll save the expense of renting a phone on each trip.