Calling Canada from a Virgin PAYG?

angel

I'm going away next week and will only be able to use my mobile which is a Virgin Pay as you Go. I was thinking of using Telediscount which is an 0845 number. Is that a good idea, or is there another cheaper way?

redux

I think 0845 calls are 10p/min all the time. If you used a calling card or 18185 account with a London access number, you would be on Virgin's first 5 minutes at 15p, then 5p/min, plus the other account cost of 1 or 2p per minute.

So it probably depends how long your calls will be in a day - under about 10 minutes in a day, use 0845 - for longer or if you've already used the phone a few minutes by the time you call Canada use the other method

18185 or similar account would be the easiest callthrough method, as you set it up online then it recogises the caller ID. Ordinary calling cards would mean entering a PIN number as well. https://www.18185.co.uk

angel

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

The 18185 is the best option as I tend to talk for a couple of hours at a time. The problem is that I only have a Visa Electron debit card and they don't accept that.

Do you have any other recommendations?

redux

2 hours - yikes!

- some ideas for using other SIMs if you can unlock the phone easily - if Nokia see the thread at the top of the board

- a Mobile World SIM charges 5p per minute to USA/Canada - you can get one free from Carphone Warehouse

I think there is a T-mobile SIM Int'l call bundle of 4p per minute to there - see part of the way down this page -
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=ctl_rlt_ca&nmid=rlt_ca_payg&pt=payg
- and see the T&C which says "Maximum of six [£2] bundles per customer." ie 300 minutes. But this is only worth it if you can get the SIM pretty cheap though - they were free a few weeks ago

more complicated - get an O2 SIM - the first £10 in a month gets you 100 free minutes, but £15 gets 150 more off-peak minutes as well, then you spend the credit as well. 0844 calls cost 10p/min evenings and 5p at weekends, so you might manage another 200 minutes for your £15, thus 450 minutes in total
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But cheaper than from the mobile - can you get a calling card and use a landline?

angel

Thanks again for the reply and all of the advice.

I have a free T-mobile sim card here that I was sent a couple of weeks back so I think that I'll go with that. That should do me until I get home on Friday so long as I keep the yakking to a minimum!

angel

Oh goodness, I just put the T-mobile sim card into my phone and it said " SIM MEP lock failed".

Does that mean that it has to be unlocked? I wish I had a teenager here!

Dee123_2

You're calling Canada from the UK, right?

Try Superline - you can use your Debit card to set up an account and prepay or pay in arrears (they email you a statement).

It'll be through an 0207 number so you'll be billed for however long you are on through Virgin. Then for Canada from your mobile it's 2.5p a min or you can prepay £12.99 for 12 hours (this includes to Canadian mobiles and landlines).

The prepay might work out the best value.

http://www.superline.co.uk/mobile.html

pricefighter

https://www.1899.com only charge 1p a minute (3p connection) via an 020 access number cheaper then Superline and unlike 0844/0845/0870 access numbers you dont pay if you dont get through.After you have used up the first 5 (15p) minutes a day on your Virgin Payg Phone the call costs (5p to virgin .1p to 1899.) 6p a minute.

1899 now allow you to pay by D/D.