Most people know that if they use their mobile phone whilst they are abroad they will be charged more for calls and text messages than if they were in the UK.  But what about data costs?  How much will you be charged if you need to go on the internet or download a music track whilst you are on foreign soil?  The easy answer is ‘a lot’!

 

The networks currently charge between £3 and £7.50 per megabyte of usage!  This means if you were away for a week and checked your email and maybe browsed a few websites each day you could run up a bill of at least £50!

 

Several data roaming charges horror stories have recently been seen in the press.  Some customers have run up huge phone bills as they have not realised that UK unlimited data packages also apply abroad.

 

The EU commissioner Vivian Reding has warned networks that they must cut their data and text message charges whilst abroad.  It seems that T-Mobile are one of the first to announce their price cuts.

 

T-Mobile currently charge the most for using data whilst abroad charging customers £7.50 per Mb, but this will soon be slashed to just £1.50 per Mb making T-Mobile the cheapest of all the operators for data roaming.

 

O2 have also cut their data roaming charges by 57% (for contract customers) charging £3 per megabyte.

 

Lets hope that T-Mobile have set the standard for the other networks to follow.  Remember to avoid being stung by a high mobile phone bill when you return from your holiday check with your call charges with your network before you travel.

Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP has broadened up the perspective of Internet and traditional communication services. Businesses, large or small, are one of potential users who are availing benefits of the efficiencies associated with IP based communication and services. But services are not the same for everyone! VoIP services depend upon the size, operation and requirement of the business and corporate houses including the residential users.

VoIP is a technology one that allows the users to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular phone line. The VoIP phone service enable the users to send data, images, voice and video over the single IP network. Therefore, it can be said that user enjoys visual and verbal communication together in a more effective way. This increases the cost efficiency and call productivity of voice over IP services. While using the IP services, the user enjoys calling over longer distance or international calls at significantly lower rates compared to Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN.

There are many advantages of using Voice over IP services like:

1.It lowers Phone Bills up to 50%

2.Offers mobility i.e. you can carry phone line along with you

3.Reduces longer distance or international bills

4.Extenuate surcharges

5.Many providers, avoids monopoly

There are many VoIP service providers in the market. Some may provide their services onto the same telephone service, while others offer their services on the other telephone lines or numbers – including local, long distance, mobile and international numbers. Moreover, while selecting the best service provider, the potential user must check the hardware essentials. To bring into notice, some VoIP services work over computer or a special IP phone whereas other services allow you to use a traditional phone connected to an adopter. Lastly, branded VoIP ineternet phone service providers offer a lot of features along with their services like three way calling, call waiting, caller ID and call forwarding.

Life in the United Arab Emirates has become increasingly attractive to many, not least because the federation boasts the world’s fastest growing city – Dubai. With its 24/7 appeal, big business opportunities and attractive beach and night life, Dubai has become home to millions of expats the world over. With the global expat community comprising up to 95% of the workforce in Dubai, you could find that any number of your friends and family, not to mention business associates, have made the big move east.

With many global organisations establishing corporate offices in Dubai, it has become increasingly possible that you may be in regular contact with associates or colleagues in the Emirates, whether by phone, e-mail, fax or video conference.

Elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates, you could find that you regularly make contact with friends, family or associates in any one of the federation’s seven states, comprised of: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain.

Thankfully, reaching any one of the United Arab Emirates’ nation states has never been easier. In modern times, with the proliferation of mobile communication, such as e-mail and mobile phones, there are a number of ways in which to contact loved ones or business associates with ease.

The cost of dialling the UAE, however, can be preclusive, and if you find that you or your business makes regular calls due east, you could find that your phone bills mount up at an alarming rate.

There are a number of options available to help you save on the cost of calling the United Arab Emirates. As with dialling anywhere around the world, if you use a landline to make international calls overseas, you could benefit from using a call saver number – a code that you enter prior to dialling out to your chosen destination. This can bring the cost of international calls down significantly, but can become confusing when dialling an extended number.

You could find that e-mail is the best way to communicate with colleagues, friends or family abroad. The benefits of e-mailing are simple – e-mail is free and you can fully edit and check all content before pressing send. That said, e-mail is unreliable if you require real-time or live communication. The time difference between the UAE and the UK, for instance, is four hours, meaning any vital or pressing e-mail correspondence could be significantly delayed.

There is a solution to expensive and inconvenient methods of communication, and if you’re looking for cheaper calls to the UAE you could benefit from using an online communication provider. You could find a service provider that enables you to make telephone calls over the internet for free, or at greatly reduced rates. With such services, you could even find it simple and cost-effective to make conference calls online and, provided you and your colleagues or loved ones both have a camera plugged into or attached to your computer, you can even see one another in real time, making conferencing calls simple, and phone calls to loved ones an experience to remember.