One of the things I really love about the unified communications sector is the vibrant blogging community that surrounds it. I'm simply a sideliner who observes and writes about the happenings. Yes I sometimes advise companies and do some consulting and implementation work at times, but I'm not a vested player in the sector. So many of the bloggers in the community of interest are.

One such person is Pat Phelan over in Ireland. Pat's interests are pretty varied and he watches everything that's going on. Since I've got family over there (in County Mayo), I've taken a slightly deeper interest in watching what Pat's doing. Today he made his reservations for the O'Reilly ETel Conference, and I'm going to do everything I can to grab some time for a podcast chat with him while we're both there.

Pat's direct efforts are with Roam4free.



Roam4free supports use in over 115 countries, with no additional charges for received calls in 65 countries. It works on most mobile phones and virtually any network. They'll even help unlock your phone for a very reasonable and modest service charge.

I confess, being an American who doesn't do a lot of international travel these days, I don't have a real appreciation for how painful roaming charges really are. I know that my globabl friends and colleagues spend a fortune on them.

Even though this got talked about widely on a number of blogs in the past week or two, Pat graciously sent me some PDF background material. Here are some snips I took to share with you.











I only included the roaming info for the US, but there's a wealth of information on the Roam4free web site. If mobile roaming charges have got your budget in a death grip, or you travel abroad, Roam4free may well provide a solution to throwing money at wireless carriers with no end in site. Go check them out.