phoning dublin to uk

albalad

i'm going to be working over in dublin for a while , and am worried that my phone bills are going to go through the roof ...... due to dublin being classed as international .......... what are my options , i'm curently with 3 and have just recently upgraded , so don't really want to get tied into another contract.
Are there any cheap international services that can be accessed from my 3 mobile ?

thanks

albalad

anyone ........... any ideas

redux

As you say, using 3 will be expensive.

Get a local SIM card in an unlocked phone, and use a calling card to reach UK from a local number. Unlocking some phones on 3 can be tricky, so it might be worth using a spare old phone.

http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/ireland.html has info on Irish networks

For calling cards, I believe 0800 numbers are free, but some providers may well be blocked or surcharge; this happens in other countries. It may be worth using a local area code number instead.

Or I've found Alpha Telecom not to be blocked on the continent; I've never been to Ireland. They'd charge 16p/min

https://www.masterbell.com or find local ones
edit - I noticed that it says that the Dublin access number is blocked from mobiles, so maybe this isn't so useful

https://www.alphatelecom.com

You might also investigate whether local rate calls are at normal tariffs on mobiles and try Telestunt
https://www.telestunt.ie

dan2002

hi if you get an 02 sim in Dublin and put it in an unlocked phone you will find this the best ,now for the good news about this ,have to say I have done this a few times,sim card costs 10 euros ,you now get5 euros in it (used to be 10 euros)then tell them were you are staying and you get 5 euros a month for the next 4 months,+at the weekends its only 12 cents a min to phone a land line back home (to N/Ireland anyway) and to phone a mobile is always cheaper than any uk network on roaming ,so give it a go

albalad

thanks redux and dan fro your replies, i'm looking into my options

redux

If it turns out to be too tricky to find calling cards cheap enough from mobile, also look at callback services around 15p/min

dan2002

I have also found that because you get 25 euros of credit for around £6 its cheaper to bring this sim abroad ie spain ,found this cheaper that my 02 uk sim and at the end of the credit you just buy a new sim and get another 25 euro credit ,it was better last year you got 30 euro credit then,oh by the way if you need a phone there is an even better deal in most shops in Dublin,buy a new phone for 99euros and get 80 euros of credit ,then get the phone unlocked and you can work it out that the phone has cost very little ,the phone I priced on Sunday was a sony ericsson k700i but there are others

albalad

dan2002 wrote:

buy a new phone for 99euros and get 80 euros of credit ,then get the phone unlocked and you can work it out that the phone has cost very little ,the phone I priced on Sunday was a sony ericsson k700i but there are others

this sounds like a good option to me dan, was this in Dublin ? if so could you pm me with details of where to buy this , thanks