Finally, a Solution for Roaming Charges

Back in November, we wrote a blog on the ridiculous roaming charges that you can incur when travelling outside Canada and we had tips and ways to avoid being gouged. Well, at hereiammobile we have done something even better! We’ve been able to incorporate the SIM card into our feature offering for zero International voice roaming charges and have included this capability as part of our hereiam™ Travel Pack. Here’s how it works.

When travelling outside Canada, purchase a SIM card in the country you are visiting. Then, use the hereiam™ SIM access button of the mobile app to place voice calls back to Canada. Using this feature, you will be connected to your hereiam™ account and you can use your contact list and calling features as if you were in your home hereiam™ city.

For example, if you are working in Bogota, Columbia, when you reach the airport, there about a dozen or more shops where you can buy SIM cards. When calling back to Canada, use the hereiam™ SIM access button to place call and it’s just a local call with the SIM Access feature!!

You will be asked to pick the country you are in:

hereiam™ SIM access will automatically call in to your hereiam™ account and you can access your emails, call anyone in your Contact List or dial a specific number and you can dictate memos- all without being charged international rates! With hereiam™ Travel Pack, you will save an incredible amount of money when placing calls to Canada, and other international calls, when you’re outside the country.

But even if you don’t buy a SIM card when going outside Canada, hereiam™ has local ‘points of presence’ in over 200 locations around the world. It is extremely cost-effective to use local phones to call into hereiam™ as it is a local call.

While we’re on the topic of travelling, it’s important to remember that data roaming charges can get really expensive so here are some pointers when it comes to data:

· Instead of reading your emails in text on your smartphone, have hereiam™ read you your emails- there’s no data roaming charges with hereiam™ reading emails. The same applies for composing emails with voice which are then converted to text and sent- no data roaming charges.

· Call your carrier in Canada beforehand and find out what you can and cannot do with data while abroad. This may seem obvious but ask if your phone will even work in the country you plan on visiting.

· When not in use, put your smartphone in flight mode to prevent it from receiving emails, calls or texts.

· Use Wi-Fi and Skype when available.

With data roaming, the recent ruling by the European carriers in dropping their rates starting the end of 2011 only applies to in-country roaming and only to EU citizens visiting another member state. For the traveler, International data roaming rates are still extremely high. So when you’re doing emails, remember that hereiam™ doesn’t use data networks and you can save a lot of money on data roaming when you use the service out of country!