Cost of receiving voip calls on a mobile phone???

msworried

I live in France & use Voipcheap to ring my partner on his French mobile when he is abroad, but am not sure if there is a charge for him to receive voip calls on his mobile as there would be for receiving calls from other providers when abroad, can anyone enlighten me on this please????

medic1978

if he is abroad when he receives calls he will be charged for receiving calls as usual (roaming). it doesnt matter where the call originates (i.e. landline/mobile/voip) as the person dialling gets charged the normal rate

jnm21

I think you have misunderstood the question - if the calls are voip to normal phone calls (i.e. skype out) then you are right that roaming call charges will apply, but I think the OP means fully VOIP calls, in which case roaming GPRS charges will apply, assuming your provider allows GPRS to be used for VOIP - these will be quite high & rarely published in my experience - possibly £10+ per Mb.

BexTech

msworried wrote:

I live in France & use Voipcheap to ring my partner on his French mobile when he is abroad, but am not sure if there is a charge for him to receive voip calls on his mobile as there would be for receiving calls from other providers when abroad, can anyone enlighten me on this please????

Do you mean your partner is running VoIP software on his mobile, or do you mean he is using the mobile as a normal voice call mobile.

If it is he is using his mobile like a usual mobile, as it how you used to use it for many years - as a mobile phone, they if that mobile is roaming outside the country the account is based then yes he will be charged whatever charges he is charged for incoming calls whilst roaming.

The VoIP system doesn't know that the mobile isn't in it's home country, so just like when using a mobile or landline to call a roaming mobile, the actual call enters the country of origin, as you are dialling a French phone number, that call is sent to the French network in France where once it's on their system transfers the call to wherever the mobile is. The same way if two French mobiles are in the UK and you call each other, the caller has to pay high roaming charges back to France and the callee has to pay high incoming call roaming charges.

msworried

He is using his mobile as a normal mobile, ( no voip software on it) I ring him through voip from my computer as it's cheaper than ringing from my landline, he receives it as a normal incoming call on his mobile, so I guess he will get charged the normal SFR (vodafone france) charge for a received call???

redux

msworried wrote:

He is using his mobile as a normal mobile, ( no voip software on it) I ring him through voip from my computer as it's cheaper than ringing from my landline, he receives it as a normal incoming call on his mobile, so I guess he will get charged the normal SFR (vodafone france) charge for a received call???

That's what I thought you meant.

Yes, any roaming calls received outside France will be charged at roaming rates, whatever the origin of the call.

If he travels a lot, he might get one of the various global roaming SIM cards that have free incoming calls in plenty of countries. I'd suggest one with an Isle of Man number, which most providers count as same tariff as UK mobiles, eg voipcheap.com about 5 pence a minute at the moment

Here is Martin's article about roaming
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1119870249,48922,

there is a discussion thread on it
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=2530781#post2530781

and here is a list of most IoM SIM brands
http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1609