Best (cheapest) way to call the UK from Sri Lanka?

nik_k

Hi folks

I'm jetting off to Sri Lanka in 3 weeks time, and am wondering what the best (cheapest) way of calling the UK from Sri Lanka is going to be?

I'm aware that I could buy a Sri Lankan SIM card out there and use that. However, my mobile is not unlocked, and therefore that's not a possibility.

Any advice would be very gratefully received!

luci

If it is a smartphone, register with one of the Voip companies online. Some of them give free calls to the UK for 90/120 days when you load them with €10. Check the rates before joining.

Download the MobileVoip app to your phone and put all calls through it while you are away.

If it's not a smartphone, ignore the above.

nik_k

luci wrote: »

If it is a smartphone, register with one of the Voip companies online. Some of them give free calls to the UK for 90/120 days when you load them with €10. Check the rates before joining.

Download the MobileVoip app to your phone and put all calls through it while you are away.

If it's not a smartphone, ignore the above.

Luci, yes it's a smartphone (iPhone) but I don't want to rely on using it to call home, as I won't want to use data roaming, and don't know if I'll have access to WiFi out there.

The reason I said about having my mobile was that I wanted to make it clear that a local SIM wasn't an option.

What I'm looking for is the best/cheapest way of calling from a landline/payphone. All the info I can find is calling from the UK to Sri Lanka, not the other way round!

Any ideas?

Bob_the_Saver

For G*d sake, just buy or borrow an unlocked phone, you can get a simple one for s*d all.

When you arrive in Sri Lanka, go to a high street phone shop and pick-up an Airtel Sim card for free, (The Manchester United -whoever they are - promotion pack). Calls to the UK are then just a pittance. Other networks are available.

Unless you are one of these people who MUST call everyone to say you are on the beach and then talk for hours about F all (which I'm sure you're not) the whole trip will cost less then a 3-4 Lion Beers.
What is the point of a bl**dy i-phone though if you can't use it. Mrs Bob the Saver wanted a poncey i gadget for Christmas so I got her an i-ron but I made sure it was unlocked so that she can use it almost anywhere in the world

Bob_the_Saver

PS. if you are arriving in just 3 weeks I hope you took the moneysaving option and applied for your ETA (basically permission to enter Sri Lanka) before then end of December when it stopped being free, if not it's $20 a head now, more than the cost of a cheap unlocked mobile!

nik_k

So that's the best way then, get myself an unlocked mobile and use a local SIM...not really the money saving answer I might have expected! Oh well!

I was kinda hoping that, like we have over here, over there they'd have calling cards for calling abroad to the UK. Is that not the case?

By the way - yes I did get in before the deadline for the ETA

budgetflyer

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

Mrs Bob the Saver wanted a poncey i gadget for Christmas so I got her an i-ron but I made sure it was unlocked so that she can use it almost anywhere in the world

I can see her hitting you with it if she finds out about the Thai twins

ince_mon

budgetflyer wrote: »

I can see her hitting you with it if she finds out about the Thai twins

Probably the cheapest way for you to phone home,is to use someone else's phone.;);)