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Before the mobile phone came into existence you had no way of knowing if there was any urgent business that needed attending to when you were out of the office or travelling.

Thankfully that has all changed, and carrying a mobile phone with you means you are able to be contacted almost anywhere in the world. It also allows you to phone the office with any urgent requests as soon as they occur to you.

Communication has advanced greatly over the past few years. Email and instant messaging are now regularly being used to contact colleagues and clients anywhere from the next work desk to the other side of the world. Companies such as Skype and T-Mobile have rolled out services that can make a real difference to the lives of business people while they are on the move, once they get the hang of the new freedom that the technology offers them.

Many business people rely heavily on phone calls and email messages to keep in touch with clients, but the big advantage of the internet phone is the ability it gives you to use instant messaging to get in touch with almost anywhere in the world with a suitable network provider.

Just as you would on a computer, you can also indicate whether you are contactable or not, which is perhaps one of the best features of using an internet phone for business purposes. If you are available to talk to a client you can indicate this and talk to them on your phone while on a train, in an airport lounge or wherever your business takes you. If they send you an email they have no way of knowing when you will pick it up and act on it.

Another key feature of this kind of phone is that you have access to the internet twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. This can be extremely useful if you need to get hold of some urgent background information on a client, or perhaps do a spot of quick last minute research ahead of a key business meeting. If you can have a phone that can do so much more than just allow you to make standard phone calls, you can see the effect this could have on your business.

If your job involves a lot of travelling and not much time in the office, you can gain a lot more usable time in your working day by having a phone which allows you to access the internet. Even if you get delayed waiting for a train your time won't be wasted as you will still be able to complete certain tasks that would otherwise have to wait until you got to the office.

So if you want to make the most of your travel time to and from the office each day, an internet phone could change the way you do business forever.

Andrew Regan is an online, freelance author from Scotland. He is a keen rugby player and enjoys travelling.