For anyone who has traveled internationally, you know that roaming charges are a like a dark cloud hanging over your cell phone use. You might do the old “Airplane mode” trick to keep your phone on without racking up unwanted fees, and gleefully springing on any free Wi-Fi hotspot to finally send and receive over-the-top (OTT) messages. But with VoIP technology, we are no longer limited to online messaging and can make phone calls abroad too. VoIP provider Vonage (News - Alert) is introducing a new system called ReachMe Roaming, which will bypass carriers altogether while still letting travelers use their existing cell phone numbers abroad.
Incoming calls made to U.S. cell phone numbers are captured by the app using VoIP, which pushes these calls over an Internet connection instead. The beauty of this for people traveling outside the U.S. is that, if you're on a Wi-Fi connection while traveling, you won’t receive any roaming fees for answering the call. Because only the person receiving the call needs to have the ReachMe Roaming app, anyone can call from a regular phone connection and the call will automatically be re-routed.
However, users of the app have the option to toggle the feature on and off, so that if you don’t want calls to be re-routed when you’re outside a Wi-Fi hotspot, you can simply turn off the function. With Vonage Mobile, you can also set the feature to use 3G/4G connections. While useful for making calls within the U.S., this would defeat the purpose of avoiding roaming fees in other countries if the calls are made via a carrier network.
Currently, only the Android version of Vonage's app has the ReachMe Roaming feature, and you'll need to be on a GSM network (AT&T (News - Alert) or T-Mobile, rather than a CDMA one like Verizon) in order for it to properly intercept your calls.
The ReachMe Roaming feature is, sadly, only free during this “limited time” preview period, after which point Vonage will begin charging for the service. Even as a paid service, it may still be a cheaper option for international travelers than carrier roaming plans—especially for those U.S. travelers who are less frequently abroad.
Edited by Maurice Nagle