Staying connected with your family and friends is a great way to battle homesickness while you study abroad.

With international calling cards, international cell phones, and international VOIP calls, you have many calling options to choose from.

Find out which international calling option is best for you and keep in touch while you’re seeing the world.

International Calling Cards

International calling cards make calling the States almost as easy as dialing direct, and certainly make it much cheaper:

• When you purchase an international calling card from Comfi Phonecards or a similar provider, you are purchasing a block of international calling minutes that can be accessed from any phone, including traditional landlines, cell phones, and pay phones.
• You keep your phone costs to a minimum, since you’ll pay in advance, versus waiting for a phone bill to see what damage you’ve caused to your student budget.
• Not only do these cards provide a cost-effective way of calling home, they are also very easy to replenish with additional funds online or over the phone with your student credit card.

Alternatively, if you lose your international calling card or spend all of your minutes, it’s easy to purchase a new one on the road.

Discover the benefits of using an international calling card.

International Cell Phones

Although your cell phone may meet your daily communication needs at home, it might not work abroad, as the U.S. has not adopted the same wireless and cell phone technologies that are standard in many countries. Your current cell phone provider can tell you which countries your phone will work in.

• As an alternative, you can rent or purchase an international cell phone with GSM technology that should work in many more countries around the world from a company like Sprint, or purchase a phone someone no longer needs on e-Bay.
• These cell phones can be used to dial direct or can be used in conjunction with international calling cards to make less expensive calls. And when you’re back from your travels you can make a few extra bucks by selling your international cell phone on a site like e-Bay or Craig’s List.

Click here to learn about international cell phones.

International VOIP Calls

International VOIP calls are quickly becoming the˜next big thing” for international calling. This emerging technology, which is also referred to as voice over internet protocol or broadband telephone service, allows you to use the internet as your phone, as long as you have a high speed internet connection like DSL or cable.

• To access service you simply plug a phone into a special phone adapter style router that a VOIP company like ViaTalk can provide you with. Monthly plans are available as flat rates that include calls plus voicemail, call waiting, and other features. And Vonage, for example, includes international VOIP calls to many European countries as part of a monthly plan.
• VOIP can work two ways for international calling. Your parents can sign up as a customer and call you using the VOIP technology, or you can sign up as a customer and take the VOIP technology on the road with you.
• You should check with the provider you ultimately choose, but if you sign up for Vonage in the States and bring your Vonage internet connector and your U.S. phone number with you, you’ll be able to access your account through a high speed internet connection.
• Before you count on this extremely efficient and exciting international calling solution working for you, be sure to find out exactly what your internet connection options will be. If you won’t have your own high speed internet connection, this might not be the solution for you.

Keeping in touch with your loved ones is imperative when you are studying abroad. Be sure to consider all of your international calling options and weigh cost scenarios against convenience and ease of use before you pick one product over another.