With nearly 32 million foreign-born Americans in the country, chances are you know someone overseas, even if several generations of your own family have called the United States home. Globally aware Americans increasingly turn to technology to help them maintain personal relationships with loved ones abroad.

(ARA) - Think you're not part of the global community? Think again. With nearly 32 million foreign-born Americans in the country, chances are you know someone overseas, even if several generations of your own family have called the United States home. Globally aware Americans increasingly turn to technology to help them maintain personal relationships with loved ones abroad.

"Wide spread use of the Internet, e-mail and cell phones has helped simplify the process of keeping in touch with friends and family in other countries," says Jenny Fielding, founder and COO of Switch-Mobile, which provides low-cost international calling access to cell phone users. "Technology has made it possible for us to not only keep in touch with people we know in foreign lands, but also to connect with new people as well."

Americans' communications technology toolbox includes a wide variety of implements that all share two fundamental qualities in common - convenience and low cost:

* E-mail - In 2004, Nielsen/Net Ratings reported that 75 percent of American households had access to the Internet and e-mail. Advocates of taxing, tracking or otherwise controlling e-mail traffic have so far encountered a seemingly insurmountable obstacle: the sheer volume of e-mails sent around the world each day. Estimates range as high as 62 billion.

* Other Internet communications channels - From instant messaging to the proliferation of Web sites that post home-made videos, Americans make the most of the Internet's communications potential. Blogs and personal Web pages allow their creators to publish a daily record of their lives - records that can be viewed by anyone in the world who has Internet access.

* Voice-over IP - The only communications mode more used than e-mail today is the telephone. The innovative technology of voice-over IP allows users to make a phone call over the Internet. The cost of VoIP is generally far less than that of traditional land line calling rates. Until recently, however, the technology was not readily available to cell phone users.

* Cell phones - Research by Harris Interactive shows that one in four Americans who make international calls use their cell phones to do so. It's estimated that more than half of American international callers would use their mobile phones to call internationally if the rates were better.

"Currently, the majority of cell phone users who want to use their mobile to call overseas either bite the bullet and pay egregiously high rates, or contend with complicated calling cards that require access numbers and PINs. What's more, the cards often mislead consumers about the actual number of minutes they'll get for their money," notes Fielding, a New York attorney with a loved one living in Germany.

In April 2006, Fielding and her Switch-Mobile partners launched Globe Dialer, an innovative software application that allows cell phone users to direct dial international numbers at rates far below typical land line international rates. In the last five months the company has almost doubled it's number of users every month.

Cell phone users log on to www.globedialer.com, create a free account and download the software directly to their cell phones. The software acts as both a phone book and direct dialer for international contacts. With the touch of a few buttons, the mobile user can place a call directly to an overseas number using Globe Dialer's proprietary VoIP network. The domestic portion of the call is part of the user's existing cell phone plan. The international component is billed at Globe Dialer's low rates - typically far lower than a land line rate and comparable to calling card rates.

"The technology combines the convenience of mobile phones with the cost-savings of international calling cards, and eliminates the need to dial a long series of numbers, including PINs," Fielding says.

To learn more about Gl obe Dialer, visit www.globedialer.com.

Copyright © 2006, ARA Content