What's the Best PAYG Network for receiving calls abroad?

gizzmo_2

Hi Mobile gurus

I've just come to the end of a 12-month cashback deal that gave me my line rental for nothing over the 12 months. It was with Three.
However I have been working abroad since Sep and although I visit the UK every couple of months I wasn't really making use of my free bundled minutes and txts at all - and the hassle of claiming my cashback while I was abroad was a bit onerous as I had to rely on friends to send the paperwork off and then had to chase up the retailer from abroad. Since I'm going to be working abroad until the end of August I am reluctant to get tied into another cashback deal at least until I get back to the UK for good.

That said I'm considering porting my number to a PAYG. So I am wondering which network has the best PAYG call rates. It would mainly be used to make and receive calls / texts during my home visits to the UK, and as a way of retaining my number. I also will occasionally receive incoming calls and txts on it while I am abroad. Ideally I'd need to be able to top-up over the internet too. I know that some have special deals like free weekend calls and texts etc so it's quite hard to compare like with like. But if anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate it.

Also - does anyone know if it is possible to port your number to a different network while you are abroad? Or if I have to do it while I'm in the UK what sort of advance notice would I need to give them. If I'm home its usually only for a few days so I'd have to time it perfectly!!!

Thanks in advance.
gizz.

reduceditem

I've been in a similar situation to you for the last 6 years, more than half of which has been spent abroad. I finally cracked with my Orange contract and ported my number over to Tesco mobiles 'extra' tariff on PAYG. If you set up an online dd for £15 p/month all calls are 10p min and all texts are 5p (in the uk). After month one your dd drops down to £13.50 cos you get 10% off for a regular top up. So for £13.50 you get 150 mins a month...better than most contracts. This call credit will accumulate while you are abroad if you don't use it (no more wasted minutes). You can use it abroad and they have just published new rates which are not half bad depending on which country you are in (check it out on https://www.tesco.com). Also, you can top up online and you still get a credit remaining message after every call even when using it abroad (very handy). Personally I only use my uk sim whilst travelling to my destination (Romania). I then use my Orange Romania PAYG sim which costs roughly 13p a minute to phone back to the uk with. I have a spare phone which I put my uk sim in for receiving any really important calls.
I just love the new 'controlability' that I have now...no more worrying about bills turning up at home that I can do nothing about. Plus, NO CONTRACT!

Other good money saving tips if you are abroad for extended periods (forgive me if you've thought of these already)....You can suspend your BT home phone line for 3 months but RETAIN your number (switched back on in 5 mins every time I come home) this saves me £33 pounds every time...even if you go away for more than 3 months just phone them after the 3 months from abroad and reactivate your line...you'll still have saved 3 months line rental. Also check with your gas/electricity supplier....if you can change to a no standing/service charge rate (your unit rate will become more expensive) then you'll save on standing charges while away...simply swap tariffs again on your return. Of course these ideas only work if you are leaving an empty nest back in the UK.
Good luck.

redux

I really can't see the point of paying any fixed amount per month to make no calls.

You cannot port numbers between countries, so could use a UK SIM for incoming texts and occasional calls, and probably have another phone with for outgoing calls

I think it would depend what countries are involved - most UK networks have better roaming tariffs in Europe than the rest of the world - so perhaps you could say which countries

As initial suggestions though, look at Vodafone Passport, O2 MyEurope and 3's new Like Home product (only 7 countries), but also consider local or global roaming SIMs

gizzmo_2

Thanks for the replies. To clarify i don't use my UK number to make calls while I am abroad - I also use a local sim which allows me to phone the UK for about 7p/min.
I'll have a look at the Tesco deal - although I doubt I'll even be using £13.50 a month so I'll just end up with loads of unused credit to use when I get back.

seaniboy

what country?

reduceditem

gizzmo...sorry if I made it sound like the £13.50 online dd is compulsory, its not. If you think you won't use the credit you build up then simply stop the online dd and you won't pay anything while abroad (I make lots of calls when I'm home so I know I would use up all the credit eventually). When you return set it up again and bingo you've got 10p calls and 5p texts.(thats the amount you need to put in for the special low rate but your phone will still work fine abroad if you don't do this.) I researched a lot of different PAYG tarrifs before selecting tesco but check the rates for your country of course. Good luck.
7p a min calls back home...blimey I wish I could get that!

redux

gizzmo wrote:

That said I'm considering porting my number to a PAYG. So I am wondering which network has the best PAYG call rates. It would mainly be used to make and receive calls / texts during my home visits to the UK, and as a way of retaining my number. I also will occasionally receive incoming calls and txts on it while I am abroad.

With the cheap UK bound calls you have from a local SIM, it sounds like your main motives are split between having a UK number for incoming texts and cheap calls at home.

All SIMs would have the same free incoming teaxts. As well as my previous suggestions I'd suggest T-mobile for its 12 pence a minute calls while in UK.

But if you'll receive more than a few incoming calls you might consider addionally having one of the global roaming SIMs with an Isle of Man number (you can't port your UK number on to one of these). Some but not all networks/providers count this as a UK number, so people calling you could use eg call18185 for 6 pence a minute from a landline, while people on Orange and O2 can call from inclusive minutes.

gizzmo_2

seaniboy wrote:

what country?

Hi - Sorry for the late reply. I'm in India at the moment. The mobile phone tariffs here are very cheap!!!
:j

Thanks everyone for your replies - I'm looking into both Tesco and T-mobile at the moment - will let you know what I decide to do.
Cheers
gizz

redux

ok - cancel the advice about global SIMs then, as they're all expensive in India