Leave your phone at home this holiday

The internet has long been associated with disruptive technologies, the most obvious case being the entertainment industry, where stagnating record labels and Hollywood studios have found that polarised tastes and easy transferability have turned power over to consumers.

Another, perhaps not as obvious case, is the telecoms industry. A decade ago, backpackers would keep in touch with friends and family with the odd letter retrieved from a poste restante. Then, following the turn of the millennium, mobile phones became more prevalent, and people became able to make calls regardless of location, subject to the limitations of their mobile phone contract and handset.

However, using a mobile phone abroad can be a costly experience, with confusing roaming charges often getting the better of tourists. Indeed, OfCom in June 2008 put out a news release titled “How to avoid the holiday mobile bill blues”, giving readers advice how to keep mobile phone bills down while abroad. This is sagely advice for anyone planning a trip to another country, highlighting horror stories such as that of a British holidaymaker who recently returned from a trip to Austria only to find a bill for over ?4,000 for usage, being informed that the 5GB data roaming card he had purchased was restricted to 50MB due to operator limitations.

In addition, the European Union is advocating more clarity in roaming charges and tariffs and is putting pressure on the telecoms industry to drive down its costs to consumers.

As a result, mobile phones are slowly losing favour with holidaymakers as Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (or VoIP) services are enabling them to stay in touch with friends and family for no more than the price of an internet connection.

Previously, most online communication – chat rooms, e-mail and online messengers – allowed people to communicate for free, but they did not offer the simplicity or immediacy of a phone call, and before the advent of broadband or even ISDN, could be less dependable than even the crackliest phone connection. Nowadays, however, it is a different story.

A VoIP program effectively works as an online messenger that allows communicating users to make free calls, using headsets, or for those who do not have dedicated equipment, headphones and a microphone.

If you are heading abroad this summer it is highly unlikely that you won’t find an internet caf? that will provide this service – indeed, many internet caf?s attract customers solely for this purpose – meaning that, rather than running the risk of coming home to a phone bill more expensive than your holiday, you can stay in touch with those who matter most just as conveniently and for free.

Disclaimer: Matthew Pressman writes for a wide variety of commercial clients. This article is intended for information purposes only and readers should seek additional information before taking any actions based on its content.