Use VoIP to Telecommute for a Merry Christmas!

How do save money in this worldwide tight economy so that you can have a Merry Christmas with lots of gift giving? (Not that gift giving is the main point of Christmas) Well, one way is by using VoIP to telecommute. Research done by Aastra found that commuters driving into the UK's largest cities could potentially save enough money by Christmas to buy more than half a kilometer of wrapping paper if they worked from home just one day a week. Based on commuters with 50-mile round trips, the average transit time soars in London to 111 hours - almost fourteen working days a year. Researchers found that London was the most expensive and time-consuming city to commute into, followed by Leeds and Bristol.

                                                    Aastra 57i CT phone

Telecommuting just once per week could save on average, could save £19.36 per day of telecommuting or £174 ($271 U.S. dollars) in the nine weeks running up 'til Christmas - enough to buy 17 turkey crowns, with change to spare for cranberry sauce - if they were equipped to work from home one day a week. In London, this figure soars to £41.90 a day - more than twice the national average due to parking costs, traffic delays, and petrol.

I wonder if this study was done since the recent petrol/oil price jobs? In any event, the research commissioned by Aastra revealed that commuters making 50-mile round trips by car, on average, could save £19.36 per day by working from home. In London, this figure soars to £41.90 a day - more than twice the national average.

I have an Aastra 57i (see review) at home that I use to telecommute myself. One nice thing about the Aastra VoIP phones is that they licensed Packet8's NAT technology for their firmware, which solves those pesky VoIP-over-NAT issues.

Working from home one day a week could also save penny-pinching parents with young children more than £460 in day care (£286) and travel costs (£174) in the build-up to Christmas - enough to buy all of this year's top 5 most wanted presents, as predicted by the Toy Retailers Association, with change to spare for more than 130 bags of chocolate coins for their Christmas stockings.

According to Aastra, as Christmas looms and inflation hits a decade high, more people are looking to home working as a means to enjoy a better work/life balance and save money.

Michael Calvert, UK General Manager of Aastra, who commissioned the research, said: "Commuting to work everyday can be a major strain on people's finances, and considering the current economic climate it's not surprising that the mood of the country is more credit crunch than Christmas lunch. Commuters equipped with the right, readily-available technology, could save money and lower their stress levels by taking advantage of flexible working practices. With many workers able to do their job equally well, if not better, from home, it's a wonder why more companies are not encouraging home working."

"It's not just commuters that could see real economic benefits from flexible working practices, many companies could benefit from lower real estate and energy costs, higher morale, and increased staff retention. Flexible working technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol phones can even reduce the cost of calls, while making corporate communications more effective."

If commuters with 50-mile round trips by car worked from home one day a week they could save enough money in time for Christmas to buy:

• 1 Xbox 360
• 3/4 of a Playstation 3
• 3,400 fairy lights
• 1,560 migraine tablets
• 828 Christmas crackers
• 207 mini Christmas puddings
• 58 pairs of men's novelty socks