Viber's New Feature Lets You Text & Call In Another Country (Without Crazy Roaming Rates)

Going abroad, especially for the first time, is equal parts exciting and stressful. Sure, there's the thrill of finally seeing places and trying things you only dreamed of once upon a time, but the preparations needed before you fly out can be pretty overwhelming. Are you going to need a visa? How much are plane tickets? How do you find an affordable place to stay at? And, in case of emergencies, how do you stay connected to people who can help you out?

Once you finalize everything you need to book, usually, people just hope that they'll be able to connect to a cafe's wifi if they really need to reach someone. But you can skip this headache with Viber's new feature: Viber Local Number.

It's exactly what the name suggests: Viber has found a way for travelers to you own a phone number in your country of destination, so anyone outside of the Viber platform can contact you—at local rates—with no roaming costs!

This *free* service lets you book reservations and stay in touch with friends you meet while traveling, but you can also give this number to people back home so you're never out of reach.

Available globally, the Viber Local Number feature gives you the option to own local phone numbers in the U.S., UK, and Canada. To access this feature, go to your Viber app and click "More."

For the launch, the first 10,000 subscribers will only have to pay P105/month for life (or until you decide to discontinue); after the promo, the charge is P265/month.

What are you waiting for?

This story originally appeared on Cosmo.ph. Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.