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Entrepreneur Travel Tips: How to Avoid International Roaming Charges While Traveling Abroad

Posted by Erica Berry

May 10, 2018 10:49:08 AM

Last week we wrote about the convenience of having a virtual PBX service in your pocket when you travel. From on-the-go account management to call recording and much more, most virtual PBX services have a slew of travel-friendly features for entrepreneurs. This week we are talking about travel features that help keep costs down-- specifically: avoiding those pesky international roaming charges on your mobile phone.

Traditional business phone systems are not so easy to manage once you leave the confines of your office and roaming charges on mobile can rack up in no time. A virtual PBX service provides several ways to stay in touch without extra charges or being tied to a landline—despite the fact it works directly through your mobile phone.

Here are a few creative ways to use your virtual PBX service to keep in touch with business contacts while enjoying a little R&R and keeping costs low:

1. Forward business calls to your hotel room number

While on vacation, why not take a little vacation from your cell? You can set up your virtual number to forward calls to your hotel room phone. If you're expecting a business call, it's a great way to eliminate any chance of roaming charges, especially if you don't have WiFi or your connection is down. Setting up call forwarding to your room’s landline is a sure way to keep your entrepreneurial ventures uninterrupted while also being able to enjoy all that this world has to offer when you're off the clock. This can also work with extensions for your work colleagues when they are traveling!

2. Check voicemail without roaming charges

Not only is visual voicemail convenient for those who don’t want to (or simply don’t have time to) listen to multiple voicemails, it’s also available to view over WiFi—which means if you can pick up a WiFi signal you can read it for free through an app, assuming the virtual PBX service provider offers this feature (Cloud Phone does!). An added bonus is that visual voicemail lets you reference the call’s information without having to go back and sift through your old messages.

3. Voicemail transcription

Similar to the perk above, you can connect to WiFi and retrieve your transcribed voicemails via email or you can also get texts with voicemail transcriptions, if you so choose. Best part: you can then forward the voicemail transcriptions to your business partners or colleagues back home! After all, you can’t be expected to take care of everything.

4. Conference calling via WiFi

Sometimes meetings just can’t wait, even if you’re in the middle of enjoying a pina colada. That’s where conference calling comes in. Find a quiet space (away from the tiki bar), connect to WiFi and dial in the gang —it’s that easy! Make sure your virtual PBX service provider has a solid conference calling feature. Voxox Cloud Phone, for example, will let you conference in 5 people through the Cloud Phone app.  

5. Professional greeting 

Say you forgot to record an out-of-office voicemail greeting before you went abroad. With a virtual PBX service, you can easily swap your greeting anywhere you are via mobile app -- no need to call your business number and incur roaming charges. You can change your greeting as many times as you need based on your fluctuating travel schedule and availability, all without roaming!

Leaving soon? No problem! If you already use a virtual PBX service, then just make sure you have the service's mobile app on your smartphone and you're all set. When you get to your destination you can manage your settings, forward calls to your hotel number, etc. If you haven't signed up yet, check out Cloud Phone! There's a 30 day free trial, so all the more savings. Some texting is included for free with your bundled plan, so savings there too. After a few easy steps, you’ll be ready to hit the beach – or wherever you choose to go – all with your business contacts in the palm of your hand.

Topics: Virtual Phone System, international travel, visual voicemail, virtual pbx, roaming charges