International calls from mobiles: Grab them for free article discussion

Silvermagic

This isn't free, but it is cheap. I have a PAYG O2 mobile with 500 free min a month. I joined Dial to Save, put £5 credit on (which you can do by text and have the £5 taken from your credit or you can pay by Paypal or by card). You call a London landline number then dial the international number you want and they tell you how many minutes you can talk.

My kids called their father in South Africa on his mobile and they spoke for an hour and 20 min. Tonight I called a friend in France, also on a mobile. I spoke for 11 min before the credit ran out. So for £5, there was that long call to SA, plus another to France. Dialling the London landline with my free minutes didn't cost anything either.

The url is http://www.dialtosave.co.uk/international/how.php

gregoldridge

A great idea, but have had this clause pointed out to me by O2, my service provider, which affects every service of this type. As yet, the O2 computer hasn't cottoned on to the fact the number I currently use is a call forwarding service, but I'm told it's only a matter of time.

"Inclusive Minutes and Call Charges

...all provided that O2 may exclude from your inclusive minutes allowance calls made to any number ranges which O2 reasonably believes are being used for call forwarding services, onward calling services or numbers that pay a revenue share."

At some stage that computer is gunna realise these numbers are call forwarding services & start charging you for them.

pacman_2

Don't worry. First of all ,it makes no difference to the provider whether the call is to a home landline or these type of telecom providers. It does not cost them any more. Calling cards have been around for ages and you can use a 0207 number. Also, these companies are clever. The access number keeps changing. almost impossible to keep a track of them. The call forwarding services they are more concerned about are 07744, 07755 and 078223. These are not part of inclusive minutes and are charged at 35ppm. I had some contact with Noo mobile who are pushing for their numbers to be treated as normal mobile numbers. That would be great as you can use them to make free international calls.

allthatmularky

Postdunous wrote: »

A few months ago I got a Vodafone rolling monthly contract SIM only deal (£15 per month for 250 free mins and 500 texts I think). However, my girlfriend has family and friends in poland and australia and texts to mobiles in these countries have sent the bill up to a staggering £130 a month even though she is not actually using all of her inclusiv mins and texts... Does anyone know of a deal / package / cheat where you can not pay for texts to international mobile numbers?

Cheers

As has been mentioned before - www.18185.co.uk are possibly your best bet.

Here's what I would do in your situation - I would assess what the mix of calls and texts to these countries was.

If it was mostly calls
I would get an Orange Racoon 15 SIM for £15pcm (it includes unltd landline calls) and 300 x-net mins.
I would then use this in conjuction with 18185 to call Poland (0.5p landline or 5p mobile) Australia (local rate or 5p to mobile). This should cut your bill dramatically.

Use 18185's 020 81 80 2828 free (from your Orange contract) then put a pause in and the number you wish to ring in Poland/Oz.
Just edit the numbers you use to call in Poland/Oz - preface with 020 81 80 2828 put a p in (on Nokias press * three times).
Remember Quidco will give you £20 for taking out a SIM only with Orange.

If its mostly texts - try use 18185 for 1p texts from the computer or use one of the pieces of software for your mobile to get cheap texts via the internet from your mobile.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/free-text-messages

Sorry - just read your post again - it appears it is mostly texts creating the cost - I would do as above or a simpler solution
http://www.lebara-mobile.co.uk/en/ - 10p for intl texts and use their recommend a friend offer for a £5 to knock back the cost even further to 5p.

AntWal

The services covered in the MS article are good value, and when they work they are great. But in my experience too frequently I cannot get through - typically a message tells me they may be calling me back or similar. However, if I dial directly on the number, it seems the call was not being connected and they have no idea I was calling. So full marks for trying to cut the cost of international calls, but the services needs improving.

kalifire

As somebody on a Racoon plan on an Orange contract, I get unlimited landline calls from my mobile. I use http://www.dialtosave.co.uk/international to obtain the best prices. The cost of calls to mobile in the states using this service is half the cost of '18185' (a 10p connection charge per call to American mobiles means you start saving after ten minutes).

loveheartz_2

I wasn't sure if I should email this to someone, but I guess a moderator has to read this to remove it if it's advertising, right?

Anyway, I was shopping around for Intl Calls from my moby 'cause I have mates in Germany and Slovakia (who for some reason don't have landlines). I definitely call more than I txt, so I considered loads of things including having a seperate simcard, and the cheapest thing I came across was the T-mobile international pass.

You pay a fiver (or increments thereof) for a set amounts of minutes to certain countries. For a range of european countries (incl poland!), this is 50 mins, making it 10p/min to call mobiles from my moby. This is cheaper than calling from home phones (for Slovak mobiles). The only problem is if you run out during a call it doesn't warn you, and you can't backdate a new add-on, you get charged 70p/min for every minute you're over. Keep track of your allowance, and your call time, and it's super cheap!

Like I said, all this is only based on the extensive research I did for calls to mobiles in Slovakia, you should check the site to see if it's better for you.
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/international-passes/

ps thnx for the article x
pps:I'm nt affiliated wiv t-mob, i ws an o2 grl all the way until this!

itgirlinuk

I use Rebtel on my T-Mobile contract successfully. T-Mobile does not charge for the calls and its part of my inclusive minutes. Does anybody know if Vodafone does the same? I want to move to Vodafone, but not sure if they charge for rebtel numbers or not. Does anyone know or have tried it?

digp

loveheartz wrote: »

I wasn't sure if I should email this to someone, but I guess a moderator has to read this to remove it if it's advertising, right?

T-mobile international pass.


http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/coverage/international-passes/

Utter rubbish line quality if you can actually get through. Wonder how they are routing the calls.

digp

itgirlinuk wrote: »

I use Rebtel on my T-Mobile contract successfully. T-Mobile does not charge for the calls and its part of my inclusive minutes. Does anybody know if Vodafone does the same? I want to move to Vodafone, but not sure if they charge for rebtel numbers or not. Does anyone know or have tried it?

What is this rebtel?

What are your experiences of it?