Txt use abroad. Best way to go...payg/contract.

Sor

Hi all,

Been trying to check out the best deals on contacts / sims as my o2 contract is up for renewal next month. My 'problem' is that I have been travelling since May 2006 and certainly have another 6 months if not more to travel (I'll soon be in the expensive countries so I don't quite know how quickly the money will go, just that I'm in for a shock!)

I have been using my mobile just for texting home - allowance out of my monthly free texts. I've been paying 15gbp a month, never going over that.

For phone calls I'm using skype and am very happy with that.

Since O2's last offer was 25gbp a month, I'm thinking it might be better for my to go as payg... but with whom? I know the free sims from vodafone and orange but I can't find details on whether I can use these sims abroad and how much a text abroad to a uk mobile costs... Anyone know? Also how long does it take for the free sim to arrive? I need to sort this by the end of this month so I can cancel my current contract and transfer my number (hopefully getting my brother to do this using the sim in his phone and then taking it out to me at the start of February!)

I'd be happy with a reasonable contract for 15gpb a month. Is Tesco mobile the cheapest for txt from abroad? I think it is 40p a txt. So if I spent 15gbp that would be about 37 txt a month.... I'm sure I can limit myself to that, though its nice to not have to...

Have mobile phone contracts and mobile calls got really expensive in the last year or is it just that I don't realise the cost of living at home anymore?! (I'm currently living on $20 a day!) Ick.

Oh, cashback deals are not useful as I'm not going to be able to post in my bills!
Thanks for any advice.

Sor

Meant also to say that I have been very very happy with O2's world coverage. Have been able to use my mobile from every country I've been in (so long as there was mobile coverage to start with!) That would possibly be another favour for Tesco...or is their coverage alittle different. On their site it seems to imply that some countries are not covered yet I know from experience with O2 that they are.....????

seaniboy

what countries are you going too in the next 6 months?

Sor

From February I will be in Australia, March onwards for a few months in New Zealand. After that, depending on the money, Easter Island, south america or back to south east asia. To be honest, after new zealand I really don't know where I'll be going. I could end up having to come home cause I've spent all my money. But if I hear of somewhere nice I might just go... There is no major planning in my travels after March. Thus it would be nice to have a decent world coverage. For example, I now know that o2 has got good partners in russia, mongolia, china, vietnam, cambodia, laos.

Sor

OK, an updated phone call to O2.

offer:
75gbp credit
100 xnet anytime mins
400 texts
for 15gbp.

Probably not going to get a better deal now... not quite as good as last year but close.

seaniboy

many countries - best on o2 4 for 1 texts then!! just knock a better deal

ok there giving you 5 quid off a month = 60 + 75= 135quid discount, you could so port out and back in for a great handset free that you could flog @ double that on ebay .............. tell them that! let them know they are quids in as your not using mins allowance

Postcard

How about bringing an O2 PAYG sim card with you for home to contact you /emergency use, and then just use email to communicate?

When i went travelling I used my mobile 3 times to say id got there ok etc..all the other times i just emailed home. Works out alot cheaper in the long run..

redux

It sounds like you could manage without a contract, but if you keep it you could make better use of it by getting one of the global roaming SIM cards with an IoM number and forwarding incoming calls to it from your inclusive minutes.

Personally I'd switch that O2 to payg. People can send you messages at no different cost than if you were at home, and there is no incoming charge

You might also get local SIM cards in the countries you visit. O2 let you have one free message and a one minute call, per week, which you could use to send a message home about local SIM numbers.

Or, for Australia and New Zealand, you could have a Vodafone UK SIM on Passport. 75p per call connect fee, then normal charges. If your family had another Voda SIM on stop-the-clock, they could call you for up to an hour off-peak for the cost of 3 minutes.

But I think I'm introducing too many choices.

As you've said you use Skype for calls and you're used to mainly text use, look into the various Java programs in the phone that send text messages via wap/gprs, costing 1 to 5 pence each plus a small data cost. Virgin has the same data costs roaming as at home, and it would be about 1p per message.

See smsbug, vgsmail, mobisms, Babble and Vyke. The last two are mainly VoIP providers; Vyke's sms messages are the cheapest at US 2c each, and they gave me a free trial credit of $1.

Sor

Communicate by email - my parents are computer savvy and don't want to be computer savvy. My mother has learnt how to text since i have been away and is very good at it.

Having a phone to text from is good because
- it means an easy and convenient way to communicate with the parents - keeps them happy (especially since they didn't know I was going away for so long...or when I'll be back).
- internet is not always easy to find and it may not work.
- it is really nice to be able to send random texts if I just feel the need to communicate. (ok, this one is really more of a luxury than a need and I could do without).

Don't need a new handset and don't want a new handset. Not going to be selling anything on ebay for some time yet. I'm very happy with credit.

PAYG - I think tesco is cheapest for texts from abroad unless someone can tell me different???

Roaming charge - if I no longer have the international travel service do I get charged for turning my phone on, connecting to a foreign network even if i don't make a call? Muct ask o2 that...

Making calls from my phone while I'm abroad isn't a worry - I'm not going to do it and no one at home is going to call my mobile. Skype all the way. And if I can't find skype, then if I can txt the parents are happy that I am still alive. They wait until I find somewhere to call from, even if that is a couple of months down the line. Been there done that.

Thanks for the suggestions though. I'll check out virgin, although not sure how good their coverage is (for example I'm not sure if they are all that good at home! nevermind elsewhere...)

I might just sign up for this deal with O2. Saves alot of hassle, I get to keep my number and maybe next year I can still get a renewal deal from them.. *sigh* Too tired to think properly at the moment.

Thanks again for your replies, really.

redux

Sor wrote:

Roaming charge - if I no longer have the international travel service do I get charged for turning my phone on, connecting to a foreign network even if i don't make a call? Muct ask o2 that...
[...]
I might just sign up for this deal with O2. Saves alot of hassle, I get to keep my number and maybe next year I can still get a renewal deal from them.. *sigh* Too tired to think properly at the moment.

There really is no point in spending £200 or £300 for a year, hoping to get a good renewal deal the year after.

Switch to O2 payg with the same number. As you've already observed, O2 has good roaming agreements. No charge for switching on, and if you only receive texts, there will be no charge at all. You've also got one free text and a one minute call per week.

http://www.o2.co.uk/international/travellingabroad/paygoabroad/freecalltexthome

And try a couple of those Java sms clients in the phone, that use very modest amounts of data; a couple of pence per message is a lot cheaper. If you sent $20 to Vyke you'd get $2 bonus credit and have enough for 1100 messages. The data cost would probably be about the same.


edit - more boring - you could check the data cost while roaming. My O2 contract 100k included still gets used abroad and then it's 0.3p/kB. If they say a lot higher you could use a Virgin SIM instead - 0.5p/kB even abroad, and often available with £5 free credit, which would easily do your first 500 messages ... but if you do this, the Vyke account is not transferable to a different phone number ...