Having a teenage daughter who has a phone with the ability to use the internet, we were all too familiar with her going way over her data plan and needless to say we were more than hesitant to send her internationally with the ability to rack up massive charges. However, we felt like we had to contact her once and a while and were not comfortable with sending her that far away and having only google chat and email to connect with her. So, where do we begin sorting out logistics?
When Caillean was accepted into the YES abroad program the supporting organization sent us a very thorough handbook of sorts explaining some of the options for communicating. Options like jail-breaking your phone which sounds cool but really limits what your phone can do, buying an internationally calling card which come to find out doesn't always work well with some cell phone carriers because you end up being billed by your cell phone carrier and the calling card, and information like Skype has been blocked in Oman were laid out. So we started with calling our cell phone provider AT&T to find out what our options are.
I have spent hours and hours on the phone with AT&T because not only is there the issue of international calling but also data usage for things like international texting and internet use that we needed to figure out. The first thing we did was have our daughter post and text all of her friends outlining the ways they could get in touch with her- ie don't call and don't text me or my parents will go broke. We have learned we would be billed for her listening to her voice mails, responding to texts, opening pictures sent by text (that's a doozy), and using the internet when not on WiFi with the additional international fees. So far, that has worked. Her friends haven't done any of the aforementioned things (thank you!) and Caillean has kept her phone on airplane mode which has limited using it when it is off of Wifi. That alone should prevent the massive data usage that was driving us nuts when she was in the US.
The next step has been to download and install on my phone, my husband's phone, and Caillean's phone an app called Whatsapp. This allows us to text via Wifi. If she isn't in a place with Wifi, it stores the message and she can retrieve it once Wifi is available. Her home doesn't have Wifi yet, hence no blog posts, but the Amideast center does. So far they have been at the Amideast center at least once a day around 4pm local time in Oman. That turns out to be around 9am here. We Whatsapp text her and find out if and when to call and once she responds we call her Amideast issued cell phone.
Then there is the how to call question. Let's just say it has been an evolution. First we added an internationally calling package to her line from AT&T. This allows her to call us for a reduced rate of $1.19 a minute. Not exactly a bargain but cheaper than no package. But, it doesn't allow us to call her for a reduced rate, that's another option to buy. So for an additional $3.99 a line, Greg and I can call her for the reduced rate. All of our calls to her have been to her Amideast issued cell phone because it reduces the fees. Whew.
Then came Skype. Video Skype calls do not work in Oman. For video chatting where you can actually see your child you have to use google chat for which you need a google account. Google chat is free and easy but again, you need a wifi connection on both ends and a computer and for us that is only when Caillean is at the Amideast center. Calling internationally on Skype is an option and so far it seems to be the cheapest way to go. For a $19.99 monthly charge per Skype account (not phone) Greg and I both installed the Skype app on our phones and use that to call the Amideast issued cell phone. That rate is only $.19 a minute and since we are calling her, she doesn't accumulate international fees. We need a wifi connection or if you have an unlimited data use package on your cell phone and can use 3G, (the 3G option is in theory as we haven't use that yet) you can use Skype to call.
She texts her local Omani friends on her Amideast cell phone just like she would in the US. Since it is essentially local texting, there are no additional fees to us. She texts us on her US cell phone using Whatsapp. Now, we are thinking about suspending Caillean's US iphone cell phone line. That will save us the phone line charge and essentially hold her cell phone number for her until she returns to the US and we turn the line back on. That means we will also take the international calling package off her cell phone line next month and save us that package charge of $60. It will protect her from accumulating voice mail messages and texts but still allow us to contact her via Whatsapp since we will leave the data package on. That's the plan to be confirmed later today. Is your head spinning yet?
Keeping in touch with my daughter who is living in the future (they are 8 hours ahead of us) has been key in keeping us connected and calm. It has afforded us the ability to touch base every day and hear her voice. Hearing her stories and the excitement in her voice has made us all so much more comfortable with the distance between us. We feel like we are learning along side of her so much about Oman and the warm people that have welcomed her. For other parents with children abroad I understand keeping in touch has been hard. Please feel free to friend me on Facebook or email me. I am happy to share what I have learned and make it a little less lonely being far away from our kids. This information may change as I learn more about technology and using it to keep in touch so feel free to share what you have learned and I will do the same.
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