While traveling in Europe recently, we discovered a VoIP (Voice-over-Internet Protocol) call forwarding service that allows travelers to forward their calls from a home or business line to a fixed or cell phone. This can facilitate travelers ability to receive important calls while they are on the road or away from their home country. RoamAbout is an alternative international roaming service designed to function like regular roaming with affordable fees for roaming calls.  It allows travelers to keep their mobile number everywhere they travel and to make calls from a remote destination for lower fees that the regular mobile phone companies charge.   

 Instead of carrying multiple phones or having to dial a long phone card number or call back number we had the option of using RoamAbout. Bonus features include free voice mail, conference calling, easy to use SMS (Short Message Service) and the option to purchase a SIM card (Subscriber Identification Module) or phone before the trip. The SIM is the mobile number and account information for the phone we use while traveling.

To use the RoamAbout Mobile web site it is necessary to register for the services. Although registration is free, there is a one time activation fee of $10, which can be charged to a credit card. Once an account is established users can access it from any computer to make changes or from the local Automated Attendant IVR system in any origination country, which RoamAbout lists under the Help Tab. 

Services, SIM cards and/or phone choices can be selected menu fashion from the Products & Services Tab with a RoamAbout Shopping Cart. Upon forwarding a phone users receive a free voice mailbox and SMS capability via the RoamAbout web portal. It is possible to forward home and office numbers. It is possible to make outbound international calls from RoamAbout origination countries to any destination in the world.

RoamAbout also offers a Scheduled Conference Bridge with service for up to 100 connections. Instructions on how to schedule a teleconference appear under Conference Bridging . Users can purchase a pre-paid SIM and/or a GSM phone on their own or from RoamAbout.

In essence what RoamAbout does is allow users to forward their mobile phone calls to RoamAbout and RoamAbout forwards all the calls from the user’s “regular” mobile number to another mobile number anywhere in the world (usually to a low cost, local pre-paid SIM the user has, acquires or purchases)

RoamAbout plans to expand to 100 countries. A free soft phone product can be used with a laptop, PC or PDA to call from any Internet connection to anywhere. The target audience for RoamAbout are international business travelers who have to stay in contact with their vendors and clients and often encounter the highest roaming charges. People who live in one country and work in another called Cross-Border Workers are good candidates for this service. According to RoamAbout, there are more than 12 million of these workers in the European Union alone and this group makes the next largest user group of RoamAbout services. Often, these users have had to carry two mobile phones, one for work and another for home (three of us had six cell phones between us).

RoamAbout suggests travelers consider their services if they have international roaming bills of $65 or more on a regular basis and want to save on the roaming charges. Because of the arrangments we had made prior to our departure we didn’t use the RoamAbout services this time. We will keep them in mind for a future trip and have recommended them to several friends and acquaintances who travel internationally often.More information is available at RoamAbout.