The Family Man

Amit Kaushik

One day, Amit Kaushik had a brainwave.

The 30-year-old sales adviser lives in Hounslow, London, with his wife, his parents and a cousin. Many other members of his family live in India. Which, for Amit and his family, means regular trips abroad. And we're not talking weekend breaks. "When my parents go, they can stay up to three or four months," he says. He and his wife travel a lot, too, sometimes together, sometimes separately.

It's no surprise that the phone calls were expensive. "I was also spending about £20 a month on international calling cards," Amit says. Amit needed a cheap, practical way for family members to stay in touch. He opted for V-Plan 2, which gives him unlimited‡ anytime calls to 15 countries using his existing Virgin broadband connection. He cancelled his expensive BT line.

International rates to India from a Vonage line are competitive (just 5p a minute). Amit, though, thought of something even better. Four months after getting his first Vonage line, he bought a second one - complete with a second adapter.