April 19, 2011 International Students Stay in Touch with Social Media
Students across the globe call Kirksville, Mo. their home while in college, but with friends and family thousands of miles away, calling to check-in and say ‘hi’ becomes challenging. Despite the distance, Skype and social media help international students hear from or even see the ones they care about, while still keeping potential costs low.
Ramolaa Shah, a junior at Truman, uses Skype and prepaid phone cards to call her parents in Bombay, India. Shah realized how expensive international calls are when she was charged over $200 after accidently calling home without using a prepaid phone or card. Shah said a prepaid phone card is her preferred method because there are no additional use charges and she does not have to worry about paying extra bills. With a prepaid phone card, she only makes one payment of $20 per semester.
“You just need a phone. There’s really no other way you can properly talk to someone,” Shah said. “There are always clarity issues and signal problems with Skype or the Internet is down. A phone can be a lifesaver.”
She and her family talk via Skype, but one of the software’s premier features – visual communication – does not always work.
During her first weeks at Truman, she used friends’ phones because she did not have a phone of her own, and her parents did not have a Skype account.
“The Internet connection is sometimes really down in India and the quality is not as good as it is over here,” Shah said. “I don’t even get to see them half the time. The webcam is blurry.”
When international students first arrive at Truman, the International Student Affairs Office provides students with information and resources to help them begin communicating with their families back home. The ISAO offers a two-day orientation each fall and spring that includes a short presentation on communication, where they discuss phones, phone cards and Skype.
“We basically let them know that you don’t want to dial direct because that’s too expensive and you want to buy a phone card or want to get a Skype account,” International Student Advisor Randee Rae Phelps said.
The ISAO encourages students to buy prepaid phones with international capability from local stores such as Wal-Mart and Kum & Go.
The ISAO provides resources for students to call home, like a free prepaid phone cards when they first arrive at Truman. The purpose of the card is to allow students to call home and inform their parents that they arrived safe in Kirksville. ZapTel, an international prepaid phone card company, provides the university with the cards. The provided cards only allow for 5-10 minutes of talk-time. The ISAO makes sure all new students call home, and then they educate them on how to do so with their own resources.
According to the Consumer Reports website, using alternative services such as Skype may be the best option for international calls because prepaid phone card use requires additional, sometimes hidden fees. Call-connection and call-completion fees may be charged to the prepaid card, in addition to per-call fees.
Consumer Reports recommends purchasing cards online from independent companies, like ZapTel because there is often a greater selection of rates to select from than a major phone company. The site also recommends Skype because international rates are very inexpensive and users are no required to have a computer.
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