It can be hard to phone home when abroad. At the very minimum, one seems obliged to lug a mobile phone, laptop, spare batteries, a box full of adapters, cables and other paraphernalia that may or may not work when you get there.
Seasoned travellers know that using hotel telephones can be extremely expensive.
Even finding an American pay phone that allows international calls is surprisingly difficult. The mobile phone user has greater freedom and arguably more options to integrate data services. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ZDNetUK is prohibited. ZDNetUK and the ZDNetUK logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company.