Cheapest PAYG for round the world

nedlog

Hi,

I will shortly be departing for a round the world trip to South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and USA. I would like to take a mobile with me ONLY to send and receive texts from home. What is the best operator to do this with?
I am currently an Orange contract customer but I have cancelled my subscription to convert it to PAYG. I would be happy to change to another operator to save money. I have a Nokia 7250i which I will unlock. Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks,
D.

GlennTheBaker

I have found that Virgin Mobile is generally the cheapest to use whilst roaming abroad. I've had a quick look and sending a text from Australia is 25p with Virgin compared with 45p on Orange PAYG. I bought a Virgin SIM from https://www.forwardcellular.com just for using abroad.

If you decide to go for it, make sure you are on the "Pay Monthly by Direct Debit" option as there is a much bigger range of countries in which you can use your phone than the standard PAYG. The tariff is the same no matter which way you pay.

One last thing - before you leave the UK, have all incoming calls diverted to voicemail so that you don't get stung for incoming call charges whilst abroad.

chalky_bertie

Pay Monthly on Virgin means that you pay for your calls and texts by DD but you pay NO line rental just the calls etc.

Better to go for this option as if you have to make a call (emergency) to the UK being on Pay Monthly is about 1/3rd the price of normal PAYG.


Have a smashing time!
;D

vangelic

i switched to virgin because of its cheap call rates from abroad. I spent 5 weeks in india and am going to south america later this year.

My advice is if you are spending more that a week or two in each country it might be worth while getting a local network sim, i did this in india because the text message costs to the uk were 10 rupees, less than 1 pence. Don't forget to take a unlocked phone though. Probablly best to get a cheap nokia off ebay and use that 8)

onzey

"Probably best to get a cheap nokia off ebay and use that "


and make sure it's a Tri-band model.



(just noticed nedlog already intends to take own 7250i anyway)