Cheapest way to call the UK from New York?

RowaN

What is the cheapest way to call the UK from New York? I'm going to New York next week for 4 days. I have an unlocked quad-band phone with an O2 simcard (ForLife UK contract - 200mins inclusive to landlines/o2 mobiles)

Is there some kind of Simply-Dial equivalent I can use when calling home from New York?

If not, the best I can come up with so far is that O2 is currently offering "International Traveller Service" (£2.99 for 30 days) service that would temporarily reduce my call charges as follows:

outgoing: 90p/min vs £1.37/min
incoming: 45p/min vs £1.20/min

With or without this "bolt on" (if thats what its called) text is free to receice and 25p to send.

Any idea appreciated, thanks in advance guys.

kaaloo

Hi Rowan

Having just got back from Pakistan I can share my experience with you.

I took an unlocked mobile with me using a Vodafone pay as you go sim card with £12 credit.

I used the Voda sim when actually travelling (just to receive calls which was very expensive as I was roaming).

When I arrived in Pakistan I purchased a local sim and informed my contacts that this was my number during my stay.

The cost saving was amazing - I only made a couple of calls on my voda sim but also received a 3 or 4 - my credit was at £2 within hours of me leaving the uk.

On the local sim, the equivelant of approx £8 credit lasted me a 3 weeks with daily texting and local chatting and the odd brief call to uk mobiles. Anyone calling my voda was greeted with a message telling them of my international sim and they had the choice to pay to call me or not or text my voda sim (which was free for me to receive and cheap for them too).

Massive savings for me - hope you can do the same in the states!

redux

Get a US SIM - they are listed in detail, with network links on
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/usa.html

Beyond Wireless seems to be an interesting new one, as some offers include a phone as well. One or two (Oxygen) do have their own call-through number, but calls to UK landlines via a calling card would only add cost another 2c or so anyway.

https://www.pinonsale.com
https://www.masterbell.com
I think I'd use Bizon from the latter one

US cellphones cost the same to call as landlines, but pay to receive calls. People here can call your US number using cheap calls providers for 1 or 2p per minute, or from the inclusive minutes on some mobiles. You could even set up your own 0844 number directly, and divert your incoming O2 calls to that, thus free forwarding, but maybe for only for 4 days ... it depends how many calls you expect.

timviola

RowaN wrote:

What is the cheapest way to call the UK from New York? I'm going to New York next week for 4 days. I have an unlocked quad-band phone with an O2 simcard (ForLife UK contract - 200mins inclusive to landlines/o2 mobiles)

Is there some kind of Simply-Dial equivalent I can use when calling home from New York?

If not, the best I can come up with so far is that O2 is currently offering "International Traveller Service" (£2.99 for 30 days) service that would temporarily reduce my call charges as follows:

outgoing: 90p/min vs £1.37/min
incoming: 45p/min vs £1.20/min

With or without this "bolt on" (if thats what its called) text is free to receice and 25p to send.

Any idea appreciated, thanks in advance guys.

The cheapest way to call home from USA is to forget about your mobile and buy a local phone card from the High Street eg. Walgreens and use public phones or even hotel room phones with it. This can work out at only a few cents per minute. Obviously this doesn't solve the problem of high charges when you take an incoming call on your mobile.

redux

I already mentioned a calling card at 2c a minute, and are you really suggesting 14c minute is high to receive calls compared to O2 roaming charges?