Cheaper global calling services

What’s the cheapest way to call my family overseas on my cell phone? There are a couple of options here, including a new one that should be intriguing for frequent overseas callers.

You’ve probably realized that calling overseas from a cell phone is a real drain on the wallet. For example, it costs $1.49 per minute to call Colombia on a Verizon Wireless cell phone. On AT&T, it’s $2.19.

But if you’ve had the foresight to sign up for their international calling plans for $3.99 monthly, the cost is 20 cents or 17 cents a minute, respectively.

That’s still expensive. You could get lower prices by getting a calling card, but beware of gotchas like connection fees, weekly fees and billing in five-minute chunks.

Outright fraud is also rampant in the calling-card industry: A study released by the Hispanic Institute in December found that the average card only delivers 60 percent of the promised minutes.

With that in mind, it’s worth looking at a new technology that you could call a “high-tech” update on the calling card, except the principle is really quite simple. It was pioneered by a Swedish company, Rebtel Networks AB, in 2006, but a couple of competitors, like California-based Jajah Inc., have started offering similar services.

You can sign up with one of these companies on its Web site. You enter your own cell phone number and the numbers you want to call overseas. For each one, the Web site gives you a domestic number. (If you don’t have access to the Web, you can call the main local access numbers of these services.) On the other hand a company called Onesuite.com already has a hybrid service which combined regular online phone card account with Voip access so you get to enjoy best of both worlds and accounts are accessible over the web.

Sooner or later, overseas calls will be dirt cheap (if its not already) and most calls will go through Internet lines one way or the other but for the meantime hold on to that landline of yours.

Why most workouts dont work

Did you know the average health club exerciser quits after just six months for one of the following reasons:

1. Not Enough Time
2. Not Seeing Results

Sadly, most people become frustrated and quit exercising before they see any real results. But it’s not surprising given the common mistakes many people make with their training programs. Are you making these workout mistakes?

Common Reasons Your Workouts Don’t Work

All Quantity, No Quality
Take a look around the gym (if you haven’t quit going yet) and see how many people are really getting a quality workout. I’m always amazed by how many people are wandering aimlessly, walking leisurely on a treadmill while reading a book, lifting weights so light that not one hair moves out of place, or simply look bored. A lot of exercisers head to the gym out of habit, and as if on automatic pilot, put in some time and head back to work
or home. If you are one of these people, ask yourself, “What do I want to get out of this?” If you want serious results, you need to do serious exercise. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it and have fun. But it does means you need to focus on what you are doing and increase the quality of every movement. Once you start exercising with a real purpose and pushing both your aerobic capacity and your strength you will find your workouts take half the time and give better results.

Overestimating Your Exercise
Most exercisers are far too generous with estimates of exercise intensity and time, weight lifted and the frequency of their workouts. To avoid overestimating it’s helpful to keep an exercise log and track these items. Additionally, many people mistakingly believe that if they exercise at a moderate pace for 30 minutes they have burned lots and lots of calories and fat. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. While exercise does burn calories over time and consistent exercise is one of the best ways to lose weight and keep it off, it’s hard to lose body fat through exercise alone. Which brings us to the next mistake. . .