Help calling abroad to UK

cherylanne_2

My son is in Japan and only has a mobile phone so to call anyone here in the UK is costing him a fortune!
I am ringing through Dialaround to contact him at the moment but the service is unavailable for him to ring back to anyone in the UK.
Does anyone know of a cheap phone number that he could dial from Japan to speak to his contacts in the UK?
Would really appreciate any help with this as I am footing the bill for his calls at the moment lol..................

mjmal51

Ask him to buy and install a local sim card. On my recent trip to the Far East this is what I did and it was costing me about 6p/minute to call from there to a UK mobile. Hope this helps!

ukbill69

Or use skype from a internet cafe thats has a mic and speakers, or if he has a laptop and internet access then great.

http://www.skype.com/

2ax

To start with, what sort of phone is he using? Many Japanese phones have different standards - they don't have GSM. Is he hiring one, or roaming using a 3g (WCDMA phone), which I understand is compatible with one of their standards?

Also, I believe that prepaid is very expensive in Japan, and calls cost about 50p/min - that's not for international either.

Have you been calling him mainly on a landline or mobile? What he needs is a callback service or calling card, more likely the former, and preferably to call from landline, though some will allow more than one number on the account. The call is triggered by a call to another number, hang up on busy or no-answer, then the system calls back with a dialling tone; thus on a landline or local SIM card there is no charge for an incoming call, only the callback company.

For callback to UK landlines, typical cost would be 4p/min from landlines, 12p/min from Japanese mobile - in other words about the same cost as calling there from here with cheap call providers.

cherylanne_2

Thanks guys!
He actually bought the phone in Japan with sim already to use. He is on a contract and he has 2 people to ring in the UK who only have a mobile also. They also are on contract. Would any number be possible for him to ring cheaply from his mobile to their mobile from Japan under these circumstances?
By, the way just wanted to mention that everyone is so helpful in this forum.......head and shoulders above any other forum!

2ax

If he were to use a callback service for this it would cost from around 25 pence per minute, or 15p Japan landline > UK mobile.

For people calling Japan mobile from this country, the service of Simply-Fone allows calls from the inclusive minutes on O2 and Orange contracts during weekdays, but it would probably be unreasonable for them to always calll him.

There may be Japanese calling cards that will allow calls cheaper than above, using either 0800 equivalents, or ordinary area codes from the inclusive minutes. Perhaps he could find out if the freephone numbers are free, and investigate card tariffs. I'd be surprised if calling a UK mobile can come out much cheaper though.