It may not have been Mount Everest, but I was impressed all the same.
A friend recently called me as he gazed out in the distance at the vast field of Buddhist temples that dotted the landscape of Bagan, Myanmar. He didn’t just call me from a country that recently was under a repressive political regime, he called me for free.
Yeah, he was a mobile VoIP user.
Mobile VoIP delivers free or cheap calling almost everywhere in the world. That’s because all it takes is some form of Internet connection, not a cellular contract or telecom provider—something my friend almost certainly would not have been able to get in Myanmar. No cellular signal? No problem.
Mobile VoIP now can be leveraged from places that many people might not expect.
Even if you’re not taking in the sights at the gold-encrusted Shwedagon Pagoda in Myanmar, you still can take advantage of mobile VoIP at many beaches. Los Angeles and Ireland now offer Wi-Fi on many of its beaches, for instance, meaning mobile VoIP can travel with you along with that tattered old paperback.
The same is true for public parks. While many parks have a time limit on their free Wi-Fi access to limit squatters, even a time-limited Wi-Fi connection means that you can place a call while on a picnic blanket looking at the squirrels.
Or you can call while looking at ocean waves. Cruise liners know how to keep customers happy, so even if they can’t guarantee cell service to their guests, most now deliver Wi-Fi for e-mail and Internet. This means savvy travelers can also make calls with mobile VoIP.
Smart travelers even might be able to call from their plane.
Yes, you heard it right. While cell phones are prohibited on airplanes, mobile VoIP is safer because information travels through a different spectrum. Many planes now offer Wi-Fi, and this means that travelers who use mobile VoIP can finally call from 30,000 feet.
Then there’s Mount Everest. Yeah, believe it.
Even on the top of the world, mobile VoIP lets you stay connected. While there are no cell towers on Mount Everest, there is a 3G wireless antenna that generates Wi-Fi signals. Climbers with mobile VoIP can whip out their iPhone (News - Alert) and share their victory even though AT&T doesn’t have coverage there.
Really, is there any place that mobile VoIP can’t go?
Edited by Rachel Ramsey