Long Distance Players

Internet-based Telephony has helped tremendously in allowing people to enhance both their personal and professional connections anywhere in the world, since a long-distance call would be much less expensive than one placed through a traditional call set-up. A blocmate, for instance, can appease the demands of her parents to come home more often to Davao during the school year simply by keeping in touch with them through Skype. An uncle who is into the mail-order business can expand his enterprise through VoIP into markets he could not have imagined tapping into 10 years ago. A Frenchman who stayed with my family for two years as an exchange student regularly updates us on the latest accomplishments of his one year old daughter. Friends are earning extra spending money as on-line English tutors for Korean students. Having placed a number of internet calls myself, I wonder for how long will this awesome form of technology be available to us so easily at no extra cost, just like the time when you could SMS all you want and not worry about paying a piso per text. It will probably come as no surprise if telecommunication companies are now lobbying for regulations to severely restrict such services that may cut into their share of the international call market.