How to: Sort out your international phones
How many phone numbers do you have?
Some of us are lucky enough to just have one, others (like me) don’t have that luxury. To keep sane I have a pretty well sorted system that I use to keep it all in check. Here are my phones and how I sort them:
- US private/personal mobile number
- US BlackBerry work mobile number (with attached unlimited world data plan, cheap data no voice plan)
- US “Desk” Skype number
- UAE “Desk” phone number
- UAE mobile
I will let you in on a little secret: there are only two devices.
My ATT BlackBerry is just an email device. I do not give that number out to anyone. The ATT BlackBerry data plan is the cheapest I’ve seen in the world.
Now for the other 4:
My private phone is on a family unlimited US plan. That number calls to my US based skype number which has unlimited international calling. The skype number forwards to my mobile phone from Etisalat in the UAE that has free incoming.
My UAE desk phone forwards to my UAE mobile phone.
My outbound calls are either made through my UAE cell or if international my Skype Out account (connected through a VPN since its blocked in the UAE). Etisalat also happens to have some of the cheapest roaming charges around.
In case I miss a call, my voicemail system sends me an MP3 via email that I can sort and listen to at any time.
I use a Nokia E51 (highly recommended, pictured above) for all my voice calls (including skype through Fring) and a road warrior Curve as my mobile data hub.
In short: Use an online call/routing system to call a line that has free incoming calls as a “hub number”. Have that number be the number where you get a lot of calls from, but not where you local mobile is.
Shoot me an email or leave a comment if you have a better system 
7 Comments, Comment or Ping
james
how about a 1800 AED phone bill instead????
Feb 25th, 2009
sheynk
Hey James,
Yeah roaming gets out of hand very quickly. 1800 dihrams ($490 US) is pricey…. if you are a jet-setting continent hopper my system definitely helps out with the telco bill.
I forgot to mention that if you are on the go in the US, iskoot is a great program that lets you make international Skype calls from your cellphone using your local minutes.
Feb 27th, 2009
Randy
I’m a little confused about how you get from skype to UAE for free (or what do you pay for this?).
I use a grandcentral (google voice) number, which forwards to any SIP device (any where in the world) for free. With a Linksys PAP2T voip adaptor, people in the U.S. can reach my Panama house for free, no cost to them (assuming they can reach my U.S. google voice number for free), and no cost to me. Call my google voice number and my local landline phones ring.
With google voice’s new international forwarding, I can also have my local (aka non-U.S.) mobile number called, for relatively cheap rates. Call my U.S. google voice number and my local mobile number rings at google’s cheap international dialing rates. If I’m in a country with free-incoming mobile calls, it’s no air time.
Also with google voice, I can make international calls at google rates using my local minutes (no need to pay the cell phone provider’s international rates).
Summary: google voice provides some useful capabilities. I also enjoy the SIP nature of google voice’s offering, as opposed to skype’s proprietary VOIP architecture.
Mar 14th, 2009
sheynk
Hi Randy.
Google Voice is great. Skype provides international call forwarding, but not the same SMS and multi-phone management tools. I gotta see if it works with international SMS… maybe I can adjust my system!
As far as your skype question goes:
Etisalat (UAE telco) incoming (even if international) is free. So my skype forwards to that number. I pay for the skype call. This is done as a convenience to those calling from the US for business purposes. Also great in case my grandparents want to chat. That way they don’t have to pay long distance fees… although I taught them how to use Skype recently
Mar 14th, 2009
roby
There a much better alternative now that Google Voice is launched:
GVdialer http://www.gvdialer.com – The first mobile application for Google Voice, supporting iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Microsoft, Symbian.
Use Google Voice for your mobile phone and enjoy these great features:
One number – Present your Google number as your Caller ID on outgoing mobile calls. Keep your mobile number private & get people used to your Google number.
Simple calling – Dial directly from your phone’s contacts, speed dial, call log or keypad, and GVdialer will automatically get you connected using Google Voice. When GVdialer is installed, just dial and GVdialer takes care of the rest.
Google Voice access – get instant access to your Google Voice features like Voice mail, Inbox, GOOG-411
Customizable – GVdialer gives you the flexibility to configure when GV would be use – e.g. all calls, international calls, or decide on each and every call
more at: http://www.gvdialer.com
*** GVdialer is not a Google™ service
Apr 10th, 2009
sheynk
The moment Google Voice can aggregate international numbers I am all in Roby!
Apr 23rd, 2009
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