How to stay in touch when on the road...internationally

Many of us are required (or choose, depends on your perspective) to be on the road for work and be away from those that are close to us. There are many ways to stay in touch..email, mobile phones, ims, webcam etc..

Even a few years ago this was a challenge. Remember the days before high speed internet? Local mobile plans were a real treat and calling cards still cost too much. Things have definitely changed quite a bit. Nearly everyone in the US has a nationwide mobile phone plan. Many have PDA phones that allow emails and texting. So, as long as you are traveling in the US, you can stay connected fairly easily. Maybe even connected too much, by some standards?

But once we travel outside of the US, things can get complicated. Well, let's face it, things get expensive. Making international calls are getting more reasonable, but roaming is outrageously expensive. Even if you pay the "upgrade" fee to "get the best" price. It costs ~0.99/min in Europe. So even a quick call home can be a few bucks, but usually much more.

One option is to get a prepaid SIM card for the perspective country and make the long distance call home. Still expensive and a drag to have to go through the hassle. I just returned from a trip to England and have found new ways to "call home".

I recently began using Yahoo Messenger to call home. The exact service is referred to as Yahoo Voice.
So, assuming that I can get descent quality high speed internet access, it has worked out very well. If I call pc to pc, it is free. Yeah, free. If I call pc to phone it is $0.01/min. That is half of the cost of its primary competitor Skype. Another really cool feature is "phone in" service. Allows me to choose a local number that anyone can call that will then ring me at my computer. If I am not there, they can leave a message. I can also forward my US office phone to that number so that I can retrieve voice mails while on the road. Otherwise, even checking voice mail would be a long distance call.

As long as the internet connection is descent, the sound quality is not bad. I did have slower connection in one hotel and the delay was quite annoying. I find that it is more of a hassle to ensure that my headset is working properly. Seems to have a mind of its own. Mutes the mic, uses the computer speakers instead of the headset. Simple reboot seems to clear up the issues. I am using a Plantronics DSP-400 headset.

Another perk when traveling is using a webcam. Currently
I am using a Logitech Quickcam Deluxe for Notebooks. I love the size and the image quality is descent. But I have to say, the stability of the camera isn't the best. It tends to crash my computer (BSOD) quite often. So, I have to be very careful when I use it not to have too much else running on my machine.

The key to both the headset and camera that I am using is that they are both fairly portable. The camera is literally the size of a box of matches. The headset folds neatly, but does have a clunky "voice enhancer" thing of some sort. Looks like a battery pack.

I feel like gypsy because my bag has so many things in it. But staying connected is important to me, so its worth it. These are the gadgets I use for communicating. I am also way into music, I'll save that for another time.