Using mobiles in Spain?

dp1

Hi I'm going to Salou in Spain next Saturday. I have a Tmobile contract and my daughter has orange PAYG. I'm puzzled at to how much it will cost to text each other while in Spain. I asked Tmobile customer services and they said if I use my phone in Spain, I would get charged for each text rather than the texts being taken off my allowance.....is this correct? I'm not sure she understood that I would be texting a UK mobile. Obviously in my daughter's case, she would just run out of credit, but I don't want to run up a bill.
Oh, she's just pointed out she has free texts with Orange......so would any texts she sent me come off her allowance or the price deducted from her credit?

Very confused mum........did suggest we just stay together....but she's 16!

grumbler

dp1 wrote: »

Hi I'm going to Salou in Spain next Saturday. I have a Tmobile contract and my daughter has orange PAYG. I'm puzzled at to how much it will cost to text each other while in Spain. I asked Tmobile customer services and they said if I use my phone in Spain, I would get charged for each text rather than the texts being taken off my allowance.....is this correct?

Yes

I'm not sure she understood that I would be texting a UK mobile. Obviously in my daughter's case, she would just run out of credit, but I don't want to run up a bill.
Oh, she's just pointed out she has free texts with Orange......so would any texts she sent me come off her allowance or the price deducted from her credit?

No.

Yes, both of you will be calling/texting to UK from Spain. Also, both of you will be charged for all incoming calls.

T-mobile: Find out about the costs of using your phone abroad
Orange: Click here for international Roaming costs

Mobile Roaming - Martin'a article.

dp1

sorry - both myself and my daughter will be in Spain, so texting each other in Spain......

Guys_Dad

Slightly off topic, but as you seem to be a little inexperienced in overseas charges, if you have a smartphone, do remember to turn off Data Roaming if you don't want a £40 plus bill.

mazza111

dp1 wrote: »

sorry - both myself and my daughter will be in Spain, so texting each other in Spain......

And you will both be texting UK numbers in Spain. Therefore will be charged for them. Good point about turning the data off if you have a smart phone or blackberry.The links grumbler provided should show what you will pay.

grumbler

dp1 wrote: »

sorry - both myself and my daughter will be in Spain, so texting each other in Spain......

As you both have UK mobiles, then in fact you will be texting to UK. Incoming texts are free everywhere, but incoming calls will cost you (as well as outgoing).

Im_just_careful

When you think about it, it has to be this way but it is not obvious.

If you have 2 UK mobiles (or being pedantic phones with UK registered SIMs in them) abroad all calls, texts etc go from where the phone is (say Spain), back to the UK first.

Your phone sends the text or call to the Spanish network, they send it back to your UK network (T-Mobile). Your UK network looks at the number and sends it to your daughter's network (Orange). Orange then deliver the text to your daughter's phone which is abroad.

Hence, even if you are standing next to one another an call or text goes, Spain, UK, Spain. You pay for a text or call while roaming (not free in a bundle), your daughter pays to receive a call while roaming (texts are generally free to receive abroad).

Also if either of you has a smart phone I strongly recommend turning off roaming data to avoid a nasty post holiday bill or having used up all the PAYG credit on the first morning on a bit of Facebook !

dp1

Thanks for your replies - I understand now:j

I'm going to take my mobile but it's not a smartphone, so won't have to switch anything off. Daughter just going to leave hers at home....she'll have her ipod so can use wifi when my company gets too exciting!!

benjus

BTW: Data roaming charges within the EU are now much lower than they used to be. I'm with T-mobile, and if I use my smartphone to browse the web in an EU country I get diverted to a page inviting me to buy a Booster, which costs between 17p and 33p per Mb depending on how much I buy. This gives enough to catch up on emails etc, while I can find a wifi hotspot if I need more data.

the-mango

benjus wrote: »

BTW: Data roaming charges within the EU are now much lower than they used to be. I'm with T-mobile, and if I use my smartphone to browse the web in an EU country I get diverted to a page inviting me to buy a Booster, which costs between 17p and 33p per Mb depending on how much I buy. This gives enough to catch up on emails etc, while I can find a wifi hotspot if I need more data.

Yes, they've come down loads, when I'm in Europe texts only cost me c.12 p.

Guys_Dad

benjus wrote: »

BTW: Data roaming charges within the EU are now much lower than they used to be. I'm with T-mobile, and if I use my smartphone to browse the web in an EU country I get diverted to a page inviting me to buy a Booster, which costs between 17p and 33p per Mb depending on how much I buy. This gives enough to catch up on emails etc, while I can find a wifi hotspot if I need more data.

Just be careful that buying a booster doesn't end up costing you more.

Willing to be corrected, but if you opt for a booster then if you overspend you lose the protection of the EU data cap.