T-mobile text from NL to UK

fannyadams

Hi guys
As readers on here might know I got two T-mobile nokia 1100's (with £5 credit SIMs for each one) from Amazon and put my Orange SIMs into the phones and away I went - brilliant, thanks for all the advice I got you guys were brilliant. :beer:
I read the info from T-mobile that came with the phones and I can text another T-mobile phone for 5p per text. That's gr8, I thought... :j

Question - if I take T-mobile SIM in new nokia with me to NL and text the other T-mobile SIM in other nokia staying behind in UK from NL will the 5p per text rate still apply? (kewl - i can have 100 texts with £5 phone credit) or is it the slightly more extortionate 'band one' (or whatever that part of europe is called) rate?
I tried looking at the website but can't make head or tail of the charge. I think it'll be the latter charge but I'm sure one of you might know.
TIA for any help here.
<maybe I should call them up Monday and ask them>

redux

If the phone in UK texts the one in NL, it will be the normal tariff, and it is free to the receiver. The NL one will pay a higher rate to text the one in UK - it will probably be somewhere in the website details for roaming, but 20p seems likely; I'll take a look

ouch - it says 40p

grex9101

yep, you'll be charged the "band one" rate as you'll be "roaming" in NL.
sorry

fannyadams

Thanks grex and redux,
I thought that might be so. Still, i think it's better than Orange rates.
<checks website>
oh! that's a surprise it says 30p send and free to receive. That looks cheaper than T-moblie <checks website> 50p per text and if Uk phone texts then it's 40p. Coz SIMs are PAYG not contract.
Orange phone calls are *how much!* 70p/minute to send and 30p/minute to receive - OUCH
T-mobile phone calls are £1 per minute to make and receive calls!!!! DOUBLE OUCH
Well at least I know which SIM i'm taking with me.
Thanks both for helping me make a decision.

redux

It depends on how many calls/messages you intend, but if quite a bit it could be worth getting a local NL SIM card as well. Maybe helpful if you can get another phone, or you'd be swapping SIMs over all the time ...

You can get info about the various Dutch networks tariffs - there are 5 main ones, and several virtual ones (like Virgin or Tesco here)
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/netherlands.html

I think I might choose Lebara from those - it seems to be designed mainly for cheap international calls: €0.12 = 8p per minute to UK, but 35c to NL. And I just found that the rate for int'l texts is the same as local, at 12c each.

http://www.lebara-mobile.nl/en/rates/international/
http://www.lebara-mobile.nl/en/rates/ - has the text rate

It looks like buying online is only for NL delivery, but they seem to have plenty of shop outlets, all listed (link top right of page)

So you might be keeping the UK SIM in the phone to receive texts from home, then swapping to send one back, or phone home - cheaper to landlines than mobiles of course. I hope this is useful - 8p a minute to call home is a lot better than £1 - don't forget to add the +44 and miss off the first 0 of the UK number