Voice & Text: Traditional vs. High Tech Options

While traveling the world you become more aware of how traditional options to stay in contact aren’t as feasible to use in all places. A couple of factors are coverage, cost and ease of use. During my normal day, I place calls on my cell phone to talk with friends & family as well as text them. Most friends have an iPhone so I can iMessage them but some are on Android or older flip phones which require the use of SMS. Rarely do I use FaceTime Audio, FaceTime Video or Skype to communicate.

Voice:

Traditional Phone Calls- Communications are transmitted through your local cell phone tower or landline which is then patched to who you’re calling

FaceTime Audio (iPhone to iPhone) & Skype Voice Calls- Communications are transmitted through the internet over your data connection which is then routed through the internet to who you’re calling

WiFi Calling- The is a new and upcoming advancement which will allow users to use the internet to make traditional calls but there might be limitations. We will see how this technology evolves across carriers

Text:

Traditional SMS- Short Message Service was the first type of communication for texting and requires your cell phone’s carriers signal for it to be transmitted through their network and then to who you’re texting

iMessage (iPhone to iPhone)- Apple’s implementation of text messaging but using their servers to transmit the data which only requires a data connection to send the message to the other iPhone user

Line- A popular mobile app in Asia which allows users to text between each other similarly to iMessage but not using Apple’s servers as the transit point

Conclusion: While out of service domestically or internationally I can’t use SMS or traditional voice calls so those users have a delayed response. The major benefit of internet-based communications is that you can use these anywhere in the world as long as you have a data connection so I tend to use FaceTime more often while abroad. Try using a high tech option on your next trip where your traditional carrier doesn’t have service.