calling UK mobiles from Turkey

submarinewasher

Apologies if this has been asked before.

I spend 5 months of the year out of the UK.
I spend 3-4 hours daily on the phone.

I want and need to continue trading from my holiday home in Turkey (a 100% holiday would drive me nuts)

I'm currently with Orange Business Panther something-or-other until Oct 2014
I’ve just now called the Orange helpline to ask about prices to call UK mobiles from Turkey usiing my UK mobile phone.
They want £1.30 per minute outgoing calls
They want 49p per outgoing text
If I pay £5.10 extra per month, then I get 30% off the above figures, i.e. 91p per min calls and 35p for texts

I then called O2 regarding their so-called international package. Being an international package, I thought it would be cheaper, but turned out to be more expensive than Orange.

I need to call and text UK mobiles from Turkey as cheaply as possible.

I don't have a Turkish landline as the apartment block shares wifi for all residents.

(PS I've just bought a Skype headphone set off eBay. Costs will be 15p per minute, but then it's not really a mobile solution).

Could anyone tell me my mobile options please?

PS - I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but how exactly are the phone companies working out their charges as it seems that the cost of software / automation / making deals with “foreign” telecom companies can’t possible be anywhere near £1 a minute. I wrote “foreign” because everything is anyway.

grumbler

submarinewasher wrote: »

...
I’ve just now called the Orange helpline to ask about prices to call UK mobiles from Turkey usiing my UK mobile phone.
They want £1.30 per minute outgoing calls
They want 49p per outgoing text
If I pay £5.10 extra per month, then I get 30% off the above figures, i.e. 91p per min calls and 35p for texts

I then called O2 regarding their so-called international package. Being an international package, I thought it would be cheaper, but turned out to be more expensive than Orange.

Why call if the information is easily available online?
http://www.orange.co.uk/roaming/turkey/ - and it's 40p, not 49.
http://international.o2.co.uk/internationaltariffs/travelling_abroad

Could anyone tell me my mobile options please?

28p/9p - http://www.lycamobile.co.uk/en/roamingrates
http://www.togglemobile.co.uk/tariffs/en - the same
22p - 'smart roaming' http://www.vectonemobile.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/vm-rates/standard/roaming.aspx

However, I think a local sim (probably combined with some local low-cost international calling provider) is likely to be cheaper.

Also there are some special sim cards for roaming.

MSE article:Mobile Roaming

submarinewasher

Thanks, I'm happy now.

My decision was traveltalksim