10 Ways to Stay Connected While on the Road

Here's another creative solution for international travelers who want to avoid paying exorbitant rates for overseas calls. Voxox, a service by San Diego–based company Telcentris, provides a feature called Voxox Call Connect for SMS (a.k.a. SMS callback) that lets users make phone calls from a cell phone while abroad — without paying the carrier's rates. Here's how it works: Users sign up for a Voxox account (it's free to join) and initiate calls by sending a text message. Say you're in France and want to call home to Ohio. You'd text your home number to Voxox, and then a few seconds later, your cell would ring, and the call would be connected to your house. Instead of paying your cell carrier's rates, however, you'd pay Voxox's, which are generally much cheaper. Not that you can put a price on connecting with your loved ones, but 3 cents a minute sounds about right.

Voxox.com; rates vary by country