For many young people in the UK, making the move from home to university can be a big step. But for the large number of international students moving from foreign countries to study in Britain, the process can be much more lonesome. Couple this with the fact that staying in contact with overseas relatives by phone can be very costly, and you've got yourself a recipe for acute homesickness.

The miracles of modern technology, however, have made keeping in telephone contact with people in other countries much easier and cheaper. AndSo, if you're a foreign student studying in the UK, rest assured that there are now more affordable ways to stay in touch. For instance, many VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) providers allow users to make free or low-cost international calls to another computer. Applications like Google Talk and Skype, for instance, effectively route voice conversations over the internet or through any other IP-based network, enabling two people on opposite sides of the planet to talk to each other over their computers.

However, VoIP can be unreliable. Using VoIP to make phone calls via a computer relies on an uninterrupted internet connection and a good sound output and input device, in order to clearly have a conversation between two parties. Unfortunately, for Mmany foreign students in the UK, they often rely on their university library for internet access, where phone chats will be forbidden, or depend on their laptops for computer-use, which often have ineffective sound input and output devices.

A more reliable - and convenient - alternative is using a phone card or access number to make cheap international calls on a normal telephone. Most cheap call access numbers allow you to make calls to hundreds of countries worldwide at all times of the day, and usually work by a very simple process. You simply need to call the access number and then dial your international number; your phone service provider will then only charge you for calling the original access number.

And Plus, if you don't have access to a normal landline, you'll also be able to dial the access number from your mobile, so you'll be able to make cheaper international calls whether you're between classes or you want to share your degree result with your family as soon as it's known! Furthermore, Ttaking advantage of cheaper long-distance calls means that you'll be able to feel closer to your family while you're pursuing your studies in Britain. And while social networks, like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook , allow you to keep in close contact with your friends and relatives, sometimes there's just no replacement for a good old-fashioned chat!