VOIP phone service for a business owner in Thailand and a partner in the USA
This is a hypothetical example of how a US based VOIP phone service may work for an international business outside the USA.
See my recommended VOIP providers to the right. Click on a provider's name to learn more and sign up securely online. Both providers offer trial periods with money back guarantees.
Summary
A man in Thailand signs up with a USA based VOIP provider to call family in the USA and UK. He starts a business and spends hours on the phone calling overseas. He works with partners in the USA and Europe, coordinates various distrubutors, and places orders with a factory in China. Later he credits the VOIP service for helping him successfully launch and expand this international business.
First discovery
International phone rates from Thailand are expensive, so keeping in touch with a brother in the UK and parents in the USA was a challenge. "Tom" tried a variety of phone cards, but the rates weren't that cheap. He tried calling for free over the Internet using a "softphone" (like Skype), but he felt awkward sitting at the computer at a scheduled time every time he wanted to make a phone call. It felt unnatural and he didn't enjoy it.
Then he learned that VOIP services use ordinary phones with adaptors that plug directly into the Internet. These VOIP phones dial and ring just like any other phones. The services aren't free, but (he reasoned) you get what you pay for. He decided to give VOIP phone calling a try.
Choosing a provider
Tom signed up for iConnectHere (click here) after reading this review, because it had the cheapest plan. For $6.99/month he gets a US based phone number and all the convenience and benefits of VOIP phone service. He has to pay for calls on a per minute basis, but the rates are incredibly low (lower than Skype's rates). Unlike Skype, he has a phone that will ring or dial out even when the computer is turned off. Calls to his brother in the UK cost about 2 cents per minute.
Using VOIP international features
Tom chose a US phone number in the city where his parents live, so they can pick up the phone any time, dial a local number, and reach him for free. His parents hardly called before, and when they did they paid way too much. Now he often hears from them, and his close friends also calls him using the local number.
Tom is a business minded man, and having a local US number plus incredibly cheap international rates made him think about the possibilities.
He made contact with a factory manufacturing cheap digital music players and talked with the owner about selling the players in the USA. After coming to an agreement, Tom found a partner in the USA to help him start a new business. They made a plan, worked out the legalities, then placed an order with the factory owner. They launched a website, opened an EBay store, and the business began to grow.
Tom liasoned with the factory owner and started finding new products to sell. His partner in the USA handled the mail order business and started working with retail stores. Then they expanded to Europe.
He used the phone constantly throughtout this process.
How it works now
Tom's partner in the USA signed up with the same VOIP phone service, so they can call each other for free anytime. They used the VOIP provider to set up a toll free number. They use the toll free number to handle customer service and questions from their vendors. Tom and his partner each take incoming calls for a fixed number of hours per day, usually on their cell phones. They send calls to voicemail the rest of the time. The toll free number is easy to manage online, and callers have no idea whether their calls are being answered in the USA or Thailand.
Tom is a natural businessman. He moved to Thailand to work with a company there, but he never expected to be in business for himself. He credits the VOIP service for helping him break into the US market from a great distance.
Getting started
If you are thinking about trying VOIP, see my VOIP comparison (here). Check the details and rates, then click on a service to sign up securely online.