Calling home more expensive than buying food?

Calling home more expensive than buying food?

by Vyke Communications

Latest Expat Mobile Phone National Survey by Vyke Communications reveals Expats spend more money on their mobile phones than they do on their food bills

As part of a consumer programme, Vyke Communications (http://www.vyke.com/) the mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service provider, today releases its qualitative and quantitative research from its recently conducted national survey of the mobile habits of Asian expats. The campaign is being supported by Indian cricket legend, Sourav Ganguly. The international sports star is frequently away from home on tour and finds technology such as Vyke's VoIP help him to cost-effectively keep close to his family and friends.

So near but yet so far....

40% of British ethnic communities keep in touch with their families by calls and text

In the days before sophisticated technology descended, the word communication had a different connotation. Family and loved ones would wait in anguish for over two weeks for that cherished picture postcard from abroad to arrive, announcing their safe arrival.

Today, technology has completely revolutionised that scenario and has made communicating and keeping in touch with our loved ones abroad easier than ever. At our disposal, sophisticated gizmos sit snugly inside the palm of our hands, internet free calls and social networking sites allow us to send messages and photos instantly, wherever we may be 24 hours a day. prepaid calling card

According to new research by Vyke, ethnic communities value their friendships abroad more than those here in the UK. For a quarter of people who call abroad, their mobile phone calls and texts can cost over £60 a month. prepaid calling card

The expense of calling and sending text messages was the number one reason why more people prefer other forms of communication such as email and mail. prepaid calling card

Survey highlights:

More male expats are likely to call their friends abroad than their girlfriends.

More expats aged between 16-24 yrs old spend more on making mobile phone calls than they do on food prepaid calling card

Women talk more, spending more on their mobile phone bills than men do. Moving abroad, doesn't mean cutting off ties. Expats in London value their friendships more with 53% regularly calling their friends, whereas in Wales only 20% call their friends back home.

Quotes Sourav Ganguly, Captain of the Indian Premier Leagues Kolcata Knight Riders, comments, "Travelling globally, playing cricket keeping in touch with my family back in Calcutta costs a small fortune, now using Vyke on my phone, calling home has significantly reduced my phone bills". prepaid calling card

Sourav Ganguly, Captain of the Indian Premier Leagues Kolcata Knight Riders, comments, "Having Vyke means I can ring anyone, anytime, anywhere without worrying about how much its' going to cost me. It's so convenient, I'm totally Vyke'd up". prepaid calling card

Aaron Powers, Head of Business Development, Vyke Communications, says, "Mobile network operators are threatened by mobile VoIP. They have responded by removing VoIP capabilities from mobile handsets that they sell and by introducing very restrictive contract terms prohibiting you from using their networks to access services such as VoIP. By doing this it is further confirmation that the operators intend to continue overcharging consumers for as long as they can. prepaid calling card

Aaron Powers, Head of Business Development, Vyke Communications, comments, "We recently launched FreeTxT, which enables Vyke customers to send and receive free text messages to fellow Vyke users and considerably cheaper SMS than other VoIP suppliers, to non Vyke users. If you would like to try Vyke, sign up and get a free dollar to call or sms to test the different products for real". prepaid calling card