calling home from abroad

busyhousewife

Hello, I have a teenage son going on a school ski trip in the new year. What is the best way to enable him to phone home from Austria (should he be bothered to!) - I have heard you can get pre-paid cards he could use from the hotel pay phone. Or should I enable his smart phone? (and disable the roaming!) Any advice from experienced MSE Travellers gratefully accepted.
Thanks

mazza111

I would be more tempted to give him a cheap mobile with him with some payg credit. Then he can use if he wants to. Rather than worrying about roaming charges etc. I keep a cheap nokia handset at home just for when I'm travelling and just top it up to use when abroad

grumbler

What network he is with and is it contract or PAYG?

InsideInsurance

I personally use VOIP for my telephony so use a free wifi hotspot and then phone home using that (100% free).

Other options are calling cards, getting an international sim or speak to your provider about bundles that can be added on. For the second option you'll need to check that the phone isnt locked.

busyhousewife

Dear Grumbler, he has a blackberry, on a monthly contract with Orange

grumbler

busyhousewife wrote: »

... he has a blackberry, on a monthly contract with Orange

http://www2.orange.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=OUKPage&pagename=PersonalIR&cid=1044131837837#ET

Buy Euro Traveller bundle for £5.10. It lasts for 30 days.
He will get 200 mins @ 27.4p/min to call you and 200 mins to receive calls for free from you. So, if he wants to call you, he just dials your number and hangs up. You call him back and this costs you the same as if he was in UK. If you are on Orange too don't forget about magic number(s).

And don't forget to disable data roaming.

NFH

As a general rule for families, always phone abroad from home, and avoid phoning home from abroad. Local residents of a country tend to pay lower charges for outgoing calls than visitors do. For example, it's cheaper overall if a UK caller phones a UK mobile roaming abroad than if a UK roaming mobile phones the UK. The same applies with hotel phones - free to receive calls, but expensive for outgoing calls.