We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. A travel blogger, Mark never goes anywhere without his smartphone, tablet and list of local WiFi zones.This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. This article was contributed by Mark Evans.

Roaming charges can be incredibly high when abroad, and these charges can be avoided by using a WiFi hotspot to access Facebook and keep in touch when abroad. If you are going to download photos, make status updates and ‘check in’ on Facebook using your phone then always use a WiFi hotspot. There have been many horror stories about people using social media sites such as Facebook on their cell phones while abroad and then being hit with huge charges when back home. Using Fring when abroad isn’t free but calls to any cell or landline are a fraction of the normal cost of calling abroad. Find a WiFi hotspot and then make calls using voice over internet (VoIP) providers such as Google Talk. If you have a smartphone then Fring is definitely an app worth downloading in order to stay in touch with people back home. However, if you are abroad then its best to use Skype from a computer to contact home in order to receive free Skype to Skype calling. Skype is free to download and free to use if you are contacting other Skype users. Skype is of course one of the most well-known and reliable apps for chatting and video calling. As long as you are using a WiFi hotspot abroad the video calls will be completely free anywhere in the world.

If you are calling someone who also has an Apple device such as an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Macbook then it’s completely free to chat face to face using the video app. Apple has certainly simplified communicating by video via their Facetime video app.

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