Happy New Year! As we settle into 2012 we are all hopeful that it is a good year but many of us are prudently cutting costs in our businesses and personal life. Recently the same question has been circulating among many of my clients at Ignition, “how do we reduce our cell phone roaming bill?”I too wanted an answer to this question, to avoid some of my previously horrifying roaming bills which have been in the $700 range. Thus as I travel quite a bit for my job to the various Ignition offices I find myself in Halifax, Atlanta, Cayman, New York and Jamaica quite often and I have several tricks for keeping my roaming bill low.Boingo Wi-FiI’ve signed up for Boingo which is a wireless provider in the North America and parts of Europe which usually has great coverage in the major airports and cities. I pay a subscription of $9.95 per month which allows me to jump on wifi with my laptop, iPad or iPhone as soon as I touch down in airports. It is great because I can download my email straight away, Skype my wife and surf the web for a fixed fee. My Boingo plan is central to all my other cost savings tips in this article because the wifi service gives me connectivity at a fixed price.Mobile SkypeOnce I have my connectivity with Boingo I use Skype to make cheap phone calls back home and join conference calls while I am on the road. Also, the video conferencing is great because when I call home I can have a great face to face chat with my wife without incurring roaming data charges. I even use the Skype IN service so that I have a telephone number that I can always be reached while on the road, thus reducing the need for me incur equally expensive voice roaming charges.Soft VoIP PhoneClosely linked to my Skype usage I also have a mobile app installed on my iPhone which puts my office extension on my iPhone. It connects to our office’s phone system using the iPhone’s on-board VPN client thus making my iPhone a part of our office network. Anyone who calls my direct line or extension in Bermuda is routed over the Internet to my iPhone soft VoIP phone where it rings and I answer like I am sitting at my desk in Bermuda. My favourite soft VoIP phone is the Media5-fone app for iPhone.Follow Me NumberAlso, I can use a follow me number (like Google Voice) so that anyone trying to contact me calls one number which simultaneously rings my Skype IN and office extension number. If I don’t answer the call it actually bounces the call back to my voicemail in the office, which then converts the voice message into an email attachment which is sent to my inbox where I simply open the file and listen to the voicemail. This saves me from having to dial my voicemail box from my cell phone and incurring additional voice roaming costs. North Rock now offers a follow me number service which can be used as I described, particularly if you don’t have a VoIP phone system in the office.T-Mobile Pay By The DayMore recently while in New York I purchased a T-Mobile Pay By The Day SIM card for my iPhone. I didn’t need to do a credit check or sign a contract with T-Mobile I simply put $20 in my top up account to activate a SIM with a NYC number. The Day plan costs me $3 per day for unlimited calls, text and web surfing in the USA. This is great when I am in an area without Boingo wifi, for example when I am walking around NYC using Google Maps to get me to my destination. Also I linked in my Follow Me number to also ring my NYC number so that I can always be reached.iPhone vs- BlackberryWhile I am an iPhone fan and gave up on Blackberry last year, the iPhone is brutal for roaming because as a device it uses up much more data pulling down emails, videos, syncing apps and so on. Also the Blackberry compresses its data thus in addition to it being a less media rich device it is more efficient with its data usage. Thus if you are a true road warrior a Blackberry may be a better option to help keep your roaming bill low.Many companies are looking for ways to cut costs and avoid those surprise roaming bills, hopefully these tips will help you in 2012 to keep your costs down during a time when it is needed the most!Michael Branco is executive vice-president and general manager of the Ignition Group of Technology Companies