Below is an excerpt taken from a recent email I had with a tour operator in Dominican Republic. I had asked him to link to our site:

Tour operator: 

…would love to link, but the fees are very high in comparison to simply buying a SIM Card down here…the average $12.00 card gives you around 40 minutes of talk time back to Canada or the US …they work very well.

FTCC:

Hi – This is exactly why you should put a link up to your site… 

Yes, the rates are better if you buy a SIM when you get there AND you have a compatible GSM phone that works with Claro. But for most Canadians and Americans on a plan with locked CDMA phones, that SIM won’t work in their phones. And a phone at the airport in Punta Cana will cost over $100.00 US. If you arrive after hours, which many do, you won’t have a chance to buy that phone because the store is closed. Not only that but the Claro store is in the departure area, not arrival.

As for reps selling at the resorts. This isn’t allowed. You can probably pay someone to go outside and buy but hotels don’t allow phones or SIM’s to be sold in their stores and shops on property. It competes with what they sell.

I know this because we also provide telecom services to the hotels in DR, such as prepaid calling cards and operator service. Many of the all-inclusives charge $3.50 a minute, plus a surcharge to make a call back to the Canada direct dial from the room, and trust me many do it for the convenience alone. A collect (reverse charge call) from your room on our service costs $2.90 per minute plus an 8.50 operator surcharge (USD). These are the charges that our new FTCC website will compete with, not the 1% of savvy travelers who already own an unlocked phone and knows how to buy from Claro, Orange, Viva, etc…

The mission of our site is to educate the 99% of non-savvy travelers about making calls from overseas locations before they travel, and yes buy a phone or a SIM if they need to be reassured that their kid on spring break has a way to call home. Your mission is to educate travelers about the culture and reality of average Dominican life, and yes sell a reality tour along the way. I’m sure there are less expensive tours but I found you on line and booked in advance to be sure I would be able to experience your tour.

So, I think our paths are similar. As we grow our site, we hope to have people like you help us with information, such as the local market info you provided. We’re not saying we’re the cheapest, but compared to some of the other options we’re a steal. And our Free Travel Calling Card is a great “communication insurance policy” as well. Read my latest blog about what happens if you lose your credit card…

Okay, that’s the sales pitch. Let me know your thoughts.

Suggestion: Since you’re a smart traveler you’ve already printed your FreeTravelCallingCard and probably put it with your travel itinerary. On the back of the FTCC, write down the direct line phone numbers of your bank credit cards and/or your travel insurance companies. Toll free doesn’t usually work from overseas so you’ll need to call collect to that direct line, not the toll free number. Follow the instructions on FTCC and you’ll be back in business in no time.

If your FTCC was lost with your wallet and credit card, no worries. Go to www.FreeTravelCallingCard.com and print another one.

Also, very soon we’ll be providing an easy to access list of direct lines of the most popular banks, credit card service companies, and travel insurance companies which you’ll be able to look up and/or print directly from our website.

We’ll have most of the larger banks, but for smaller banks and credit unions that you don’t see listed we’ll update the list by asking our customers for help by sending us the direct line of their insurance company, bank or credit union (back of your card). If you have such a number, please pass it on.

Over the weekend I read an artcle in the NY Times about Digial Espionage among governments and large corporations. Wow, now this makes sense. Why not? The growth in global smartphone use is expected to go up 25% in 2012 from last year according to BSN. The number of smartphones will jump to 630 million in 2012 and over 980 million by 2015. Think about that for a minute. All that computing power in a wallet sized device with powerful apps and valuable data in the hands of so many who haven’t a clue how to fully secure their information!

According to the Times article the business and government overseas traveler is a big target, especially in China and Russia, but what about the average Joe on a honeymoon or vacation? Identity is a full blown industry now and I think we can all learn something from the caution being exercised by the biggest targets among us.

1. Access in some countries can be very expensive, or not available at all because these calls may be prohibited by the government and/or the monopoly phone company controlling the access. It’s one of the reasons your credit card company will tell you to call collect if you’re traveling outside the USA/Canada and have a problem with your card.
2. If access is available, a license fee may be required to process Int’l phone calls and this can be an added expense that substantially raises the access costs for any operator service provider.
3. Most hotels or payphone location property owners require a commission on every call. Why? Because maintaining a PBX or public pay telephone is a business requirement and expense that doesn’t provide much return on investment due to the popularity of mobile phones. They’re tryng to make up lost telephone revenue.
4. Maintaining live operators to process calls is an expensive value-add to a phone call. Most telecom providers in the USA and Canada have closed their call centers for this reason. Many of the biggest names in telecom now outsource the service now.
5. Call processing, billing, and collection of a collect phone call is very expensive with costs of 20% to 25% of the cost of the call being the average. A typical collect call rate on AT&T USA Direct service hovers around $10 surcharge plus $3.00 to $3.50 per minute, see link for details: http://serviceguide.att.com/ACS/ext/od.cfm?OID=951&menu=102 . So the cost to collect a 5 minute, $25.00 call is $5.00 (USD)

Okay, so collect calls are expensive but if your smart you’ll plan ahead and take along your free travel calling card, because you never know when you’ll need to make a collect call while on the road.

You can find a plethora of information online about where to go and what to do, as well a how to find the best deals on flights and packages. Information abounds, but there is one thing that many students forget to plan for and that is how best to make a phone call home to Mom to ask for money after a night of partying has left you alone on the beach wondering where you lost your mobile phone… Ah, what a picture to paint just weeks before the melee begins, but a fair reminder that a little bit of planning ahead can make the unforeseen curveball a bit easier to duck.

The smart party animal will plan all of this out. If phone calls are to be made while in Freeport to book that last minute booze cruise, surely the best calling options have been discovered and put on stand-by… right? Right? Okay, admittedly calling home will not be at the top of the planning list: it’s not the priority. Which hotel is going to host the best parties is probably going to beat out a calling plan, but give it a bit of thought.

Look, things don’t always go as planned so having a reliable way to call home is not a bad idea, especially if you’re traveling to a country with only limited and pricey calling options. Hotels will charge a lot of money to make an international phone call and prepaid calling cards are not always available. The Free Travel Calling Card assures you of a reliable way to make a phone call and at a price you will know in advance.

If you’ll be making a lot of phone calls while in another country, buy a prepaid SIM card and pop it in your unlocked mobile phone. Roaming is expensive, especially on smart phones with a lot of apps that are constantly updating themselves and downloading data.

So be smart and plan ahead. Because the only stories you want to tell when you get back are the ones that instill happy memories and a grin that’s hard to wipe off your face.

How to Beat the High Costs of Dialing Abroad

First, a basis for comparison: Most people think of an international long distance minute costing no more than around $.25 cents (USD) per minute from a land line such as from a home or office, and this would be correct in most cases. In fact, you can pay as little as $.05 cents per minute from a land line in the USA or Europe to a land line overseas. Calling a mobile phone overseas from a land line is in the $.25 – $.35 cents per minute range because of the “calling party pays” system of most mobile carriers overseas. This means that the caller has to pay for the network access to the mobile phone, not the owner of that mobile phone.

Now, if you call from your mobile phone at home to an overseas destination it can range from $.99 to $1.99 or more per minute. This is what most of us experience from our home country whether you live in Europe, USA, or South America.

Finally, when we go overseas; we might pay $3.00 (USD) or more per minute to roam with some mobile phone networks simply unable to allow roaming. The compatibility is simply not there between a CDMA network in the USA for example and the predominately GSM network in Europe and other countries.

So now that we have a basis for comparison, let’s talk about what happens to most unprepared travelers who need to make a call on their vacation. Let’s say you call from your hotel room. This is a touchy subject because while most people know it’s expensive, they think that the cost from a hotel room should be in line with their expectations (see above) plus some mark up for profit. This simply isn’t the case and it’s not unusual to find hotels in Europe, South America, and Caribbean charging $4.00 (USD) per minute or more, plus surcharges or start up fees, to call back home. Why is this? How can this be justified? Well, consider this: In Bahamas for example, there is really only one phone company, Batelco. There isn’t a lot of competition or access available and hotels must buy their lines from this virtual monopoly paying exorbitant rates themselves. Consider the cost to install and maintain the extensive PBX phone system in most hotels, and they also have to factor the low usage. Most people are using their mobile phones now, so the hotel has high overhead combined with low usage from guests; fewer calls to cover higher costs, hence the high rates to use the phone. Public pay telephones are no different; there are fewer phones and higher costs to use the few that are left and this goes for every country in the world.

So, is it okay to charge these exorbitant rates? To a point it’s understandable and in some cases when we really need to make that call, $5.00 per minute can be a deal.

But now let’s illustrate what happens to some unprepared travelers that really step into a mess. Below are some links to some articles and websites that illustrate the potential pitfalls of traveling overseas without a travel communication plan:

Crazy stories – Mobile phones

Collect Calls – USA

Confused vacation calling

It’s important to understand that there are no regulations protecting consumers for international phone calls. There simply is no jurisdiction therefore it really is caveat emptor; let the buyer beware.

So before you go, do some planning; print your FTCC and consider a prepaid mobile phone or calling card.

1. Just use your mobile phone as you would normally and deal with the roaming charges when you get home.
2. Contact your mobile carrier and get an add-on plan for your destination country.
3. Show up in your destination country and look for a local solution; pay phone, hotel room phone, or prepaid calling card.
4. Do some homework and planning ahead of time then leave on your trip with knowing that you have some real communication options.

Even if you’re beyond rich and couldn’t care less about excessive phone charges, or you don’t like your family and don’t plan on calling them while on vacation, option 4 is still the right choice. Most people never give this important question any thought before they travel or they rely on their existing mobile phone provider in their home country, only to be let down later. They either don’t think about it, don’t plan on making calls, or they’re from the USA and think that Verizon has network coverage in every corner of the planet. Of course they think they’re covered by their current “unlimited plan” as well.

Most of the time the result of no planning is just a big phone bill upon return. Sometimes it includes a very frustrating experience.
And in rare situations the result can be a $10,000 data charge from a wireless carrier upon the return home from tripping through Europe listening to a favorite streaming music service.

With a little research and planning you can make sure you have cost-effective calling options that provide real peace of mind. Staying in touch is always important, but having a calling tool in hand also makes traveling much more enjoyable for the convenience of confirming a hotel reservation, booking an excursion, or even calling a tow truck. Having these calling options available can make for a much more pleasant journey while keeping the cost reasonable.

Most people get their mobile phones from their wireless carrier. They get discounts on their new phones in exchange for signing up for monthly plans and long term contracts. These discounted phones are almost always locked to that carrier’s network. When you travel overseas this locked phone will likely work if it’s a GSM phone, but it will be very expensive to use because it has to roam on a foreign carrier’s network. Roaming rates are high and may also include start up, or flagfall fees. In order to save money and pay the least amount possible for mobile phone calling, the best solution is to arm yourself with an unlocked GSM phone. They are inexpensive simple mobile phones and very easy to use.  They take prepaid SIM cards from most any wireless carrier operating in your destination country and you can purchase a phone and/or prepaid SIM card before you leave on your trip, just click here.

If you don’t plan on making many calls, don’t want the expense, or you don’t need the convenience of a mobile phone you can always choose a Global Phone Card. This card works from most countries and is very inexpensive to use. You will need to set up an account in advance but it can be a real money saver for relatively little effort. Just make the call from a payphone or your hotel room using your Global Phone Card and you’ll be paying the least amount possible for phone calls while traveling abroad.

No matter which solution you choose, always print a Free Travel Calling Card and keep it with you. This is a wallet-sized list of international toll free numbers is connected to an international operator service call center that operates 24/7 and can assist you in making a call to anywhere in the world. The cost is under $18.00 for a 4 minute phone call, which is relatively expensive but still cheap insurance if you lose your mobile phone and have no other way to call. Considering the many horror stories of phone calls costing hundreds of dollars and other related rip-offs, the FTCC is a deal.

1. Passport/Visa
2. Driving permit
3. Immunization records
4. Itinerary
5. Business/personal information, phone numbers, addresses
6. Destination information
7. Sites/to-do
8. Gift list
9. Permits, tickets, reservations
10. Maps/guides

Medical

1. Medical records
2. Prescriptions
3. Vitamins
4. Aspirin/antacid
5. Cough/cold
6. Ear plugs
7. Sleep aids
8. First aid
9. Allergies
10. Eye-drops

Communications

1. Unlocked mobile phone – GSM
2. Free Travel Calling Card
3. Prepaid SIM Card
4. Global Phone Card
5. Dictionary/Language aids

Electronics/Entertainment

1. Camera
2. Digital storage
3. Adapters
4. Chargers
5. Phone/PDA
6. Binoculars
7. Headphones
8. Games
9. DVD/IPOD
10. Batteries
11. Books/magazines/playing cards
12. Pen/pencil
13. Golf glove/balls/shoes

Personal Products

1. Hygiene/personal
2. Hair products
3. Sunscreen
4. Sunglasses
5. Back pack
6. Money Belt
7. Appropriate shoes/hat/clothing
8. TSA Liquid Rules
9. Sewing kit
10. Umbrella
11. Hand sanitizer

Food/Snacks

1. Water purification
2. Snacks for plane
3. Gum/Candy
4. Favorite tea/coffee/creamer

Information/To-Do

1. TSA Guidelines
2. Insurance
3. Leave itinerary with friend/family
4. House/pets
5. Cash/travelers checks
6. Confirm reservations
7. Check-in
8. Leave expensive jewelry
9. Leave unneeded credit cards