A freelancer we know writes, "I just bought a $30 calling card to talk to London to interview someone tomorrow for this gig. Is it pretty standard for freelancers to submit receipts for long distance to their editors or is that a charge that's ours?"

Bandwidth has gotten really cheap, so you might annoy your editor if you submit an expense that is under $10 - especially because freelancers need to cover most of their own expenses if they are to qualify as independent contractors under IRS regulations. However, I once had to call someone in Hong Kong, the rate was over $3.00 per minute, and after the interview, he wanted to reminisce about his years attending the University of Illinois. Ouch!

On the other hand, one of my Irish friends calls her sister in Cork more than I call my sister in Ohio, thanks to some cheap bandwidth deals. If you make a lot of overseas calls because of work and family, you might be able to get a good fixed-rate offer from your local phone carrier. If your local carrier isn't great, or if they want to charge you a monthly fee and you only make an international call once every few months, consider using a dial-around service or buying a phone card.

For dial-around, you punch in 10-10 and a three digit number before getting to the 011 and the rest of the numbers. Two that I've used successfully are 10-10-345, operated by AT&T, and 10-10-220, operated by MCI. It's hard to say which is cheapest, so check their sites to get the current rate to the place you need to call.

Phone cards usually require you to call an 800 number and a passcode, then your number. The rates can be really low. I've never used them, but I know people who swear by the ones sold at Costco.

Which brings up a point: some phone card and 10-10 operators are scammers, so find out who offers a program before you use it.

Finally, I find that some editors will agree to cover my expenses as a backdoor way to raise my word rate. It never hurts to ask, but don't nickel and dime the editor if he can't do it. (The aforementioned Hong Kong call was not reimbursed, but the publication in question paid $2.50 per word.)