When moving to a foreign country (or continent, as the case may be), it’s important to fully integrate yourself into that new culture in order to gain the most from your experiences. That said, sometimes you’ve just got to call home! Staying in touch with family and friends at home is just as important for an expat’s emotional well-being as learning to use the metro. With price and convenience in mind, here are the top three ways to stay connected with those you love:

1) Skype (www.skype.com)

If you haven’t heard of this internet-based calling system, get thee to a computer! Extremely simple to use and free to install, all you need to get started is an internet connection. Just download the program (which takes a whopping three to five minutes) – and get the people on the other end to do the same - and you’re ready! You can call anyone who has Skype for free because the call actually takes place through your computer – when you receive a call, it will ring on your computer; when you dial a number, you punch it in on your computer.

You can talk to any other Skype user using your computer’s built-in microphone and speakers, or you can grab a headset and plug it in, which is recommended for better sound quality. The kicker here is the video call option – invest in a decent web cam (first check to see if you computer has one built in – many new laptops include a camera) and enjoy seeing your loved ones while you talk. Once you do that, you’ll never want to go back to old-fashioned phone calls again!
But what if your friends don’t have Skype (and don’t want to install it)? Skype offers incredibly cheap rates for international calls to landlines or mobile phones. Calls to/from Shanghai are currently only 0.163rmb/minute!

2) MagicJack (www.magicjack.com)

Another great communication tool that utilizes the internet is MagicJack. With this system, however, you actually talk through an honest-to-goodness phone. For about 200rmb/year, you choose the area code you’d like your phone number to have and, no matter where you actually are in the world, your calls are received like you are calling from that area code. Just plug the MagicJack into your computer’s USB port, plug in your phone, and that’s it! You have a phone in your apartment that’s able to receive calls from around the world – for free!

The only downside of this product is that, as of right now, area codes are only available from the US and Canada. So, calling from any country to the US and Canada using your MagicJack is completely free, but calling any other country requires you to prepay for international minutes. Not a big deal though, considering that right now the rates to/from Shanghai are 0.149rmb/minute! In addition, any calls from a MagicJack to a MagicJack are completely free, so if you don’t want to pay anything to talk, convince your friends to get one too!

3) Nobel Com (www.nobelcom.com)

Lastly, we have the good old-fashioned calling card. While you’ll see all kinds of cards for sale around Shanghai, it’s hard to beat Nobel Com. Though more expensive than Skype or MagicJack, they offer the convenience of allowing you to call from any phone anywhere in the world. Nobel Com offer four different choices for each of their cards, any of which you can buy in amounts of 136rmb, 272rmb, or 340rmb:

“Hello World” - The cheapest, but also the poorest quality connection. Even so, static interruption is rare.
Sample rates: 0.85rmb/minute to US; 0.86rmb/minute to UK; 0.89rmb/minute to Australia

“Talk World” – Better quality calls, but it has two-minute rounding which might eat into your minutes if you don’t time them right.
Sample rates: 0.86rmb/minute to US; 0.87rmb/minute to UK; 0.90rmb/minute to Australia

“Call World” – This card only has one-minute rounding, which makes it, I feel, the most bang for your buck.
Sample rates: 0.88/rmb minute to US; 0.88rmb/minute to UK; 0.92rmb to Australia

“One Second World” – As the name suggests, this card has one-second rounding, which guarantees that you’ll squeeze the most time out of your minutes. The sound quality is excellent, but you’re going to have to pay for it.
Sample rates: 0.92rmb/minute to US; 0.92rmb/minute to UK; 0.95rmb/minute to Australia

Happy calling!

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