VoIP For The Global Traveller

Are you one of those people that’s on the go a great deal? Maybe you do a lot of international travelling. Either way, if you are nomadically-inclined, you probably know that if you want your friends, family, clients or business contacts to be able to reach you easily, most solutions end up being relatively expensive – either for yourself or for the people calling you. Well, VoIP makes it possible to come up with a solution that keeps your telecom costs inexpensive. I’m only going to focus on a solution for soft phones, and where you have to hand out a minimum of phone numbers.

Here are two possible options (but by no means the only options):

1. A single VoIP “Call-In” number tied to your computer. This is essentially no different than having a regular phone number. So someone calling you may have to pay long-distance charges, as per usual. If you plan to be on the go, you can have your VoIP number forwarded to your cell phone’s number. But you only have to hand out your Call-In number.
2. Same as above, but coupled with a local, regional, national, or even international toll-free number. You give contacts the 800 number, so they don’t have to pay to call you. Calls are automatically redirect to whatever number you choose. Depending on the provider, you may even be able to simulate “follow me/ find me” functionality, whereby a call is sent through a sequence of numbers until you’re “found”. If you’re not found, a voicemail would have to be recorded somewhere, possibly at the number at the end of the list. Alternately, the VoIP Call-In number itself may be the one doing the forwarding. Of course, these options violate the idea of being able to have a single phone number – which at present is difficult to implement for people who are mobile. However, you still only have to hand out a single number – your toll-free number.

My educated guess is that there will be other options in the near future, including the possibility that your Call-In number can be portable. That is, if you switch off your computer, the call will arrive on your smartphone/ PDA, but in data mode. To my knowledge, this is not currently offered by anyone, and the feature will be highly dependant on specific phones and/or the cellular data network in use.

Here is a specific example of an option you might consider. (No endorsement, just an example.) Get an international toll-free number from SkyNET-tel.com and redirect it to a Skype SkypeIn number. (Skype unfortunately does not cover a lot of area codes around the world, so your toll-free plan may cost you more to redirect.)

Of course, there are other options for free mobile calls for (almost) everyone, including something like Gizmo Project. However, such options usually require everyone you’ll ever talk to to be signed up as members. If you want a transparent solution for anyone that might call you,