Best way to keep in touch with USA?

onejontwo

Without going into too much detail my daughter is going on a 2 month trip to the USA without a laptop but with her smart phone, and as we are both on a virgin contract we checked the price and it will cost £1.50 per minute to keep in touch. Now over two months this would lead to quite a big bill so I'm after any advice as to the cheapest way to keep in touch. Thanks in anticipation.

grumbler

Three - Feel at Home

[STRIKE]Get two activated PAYG sims as roaming limit is one month.[/STRIKE]
In fact the limit is three months, so one sim will do the job: Terms & Conditions for Feel At Home

She will need monthly bundles - ether 100 minutes for £10 or 300 for £15. Incoming calls are free in USA.
http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Pay_As_You_Go

Alternatively it can be a 1-month rolling contract: http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones

ETA: even without a contract or a bundle all incoming calls are still free, i.e. you can call her as if she were in UK: http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Roaming_and_international/Mobile_Roaming?content_aid=1214306357859

Rev

If she will have access to free wifi hot spots there's plenty of smart phone apps that allow free texts and calls to other users of the same app.

Skype
Whatsapp
Viber


To name a few.


Do you also have a smart phone?


I believe with 3's feel at home a call needs to be made in the UK at least once every 30 days so that may not be an option since she's going for two months she won't be able to make a call in the UK.

d123

Take Grumblers advice, get a Three PAYG card, add 2 £15 All in one add ons and it covers you for the 2 months.

Calls, texts and data included as if you are still in the UK.

spannerzone

Three pay as you go with their 'feel at home' add on is the way to go for sure.....HOWEVER make sure the phone is unlocked and will work with a Three SIM before travelling!

onejontwo

Thanks for all the above replies but unfortunately as the phone was part of the contract I'm sure it's locked to virgin.
In answer to Rev yes I do have a smartphone.

DigForVictory

Skype all the way. Unless she's headed into a hilly bit of Alaska or somewhere equally light on internet coverage. My cousin found where she couldn't afford public wifi, she was able to ask & be granted access to work or home systems "just to reassure my folks", but it was rare to need to ask.

Just have each other's time set visible on your devices, so you don't try to call at 5 in the morning. (More than once.)

grumbler

onejontwo wrote: »

Thanks for all the above replies but unfortunately as the phone was part of the contract I'm sure it's locked to virgin.

Well, get it unlocked then or buy a spare one for a tenner, although you might find it difficult to find a tri-band or quad-band phone that cheap.

d123

onejontwo wrote: »

Thanks for all the above replies but unfortunately as the phone was part of the contract I'm sure it's locked to virgin.
In answer to Rev yes I do have a smartphone.

Just ask Virgin to unlock it and get a free Three sim just to use while abroad, upon return put the Virgin sim back in.

onejontwo

Thanks for all the helpful replies, so I took your advice and purchased a £10 top-up on the Three network and I tried it while I was abroad in the Republic of Ireland on the "Feel at home" package. It worked a treat and saved me some money. Now as you've mentioned the USA would work on the same package and save me even more money to contact the UK, but the question I now have is that if I was to have a week abroad in a" Feel at home" destination ie. Spain, the price plan doesn't apply and the costs are 15.6p per minute. So once again would anybody know of a decent package for phoning abroad whilst abroad so to speak?

grumbler

onejontwo wrote: »

...but the question I now have is that if I was to have a week abroad in a" Feel at home" destination ie. Spain, the price plan doesn't apply and the costs are 15.6p per minute.

Why?

So once again would anybody know of a decent package for phoning abroad whilst abroad so to speak?

Calling abroad where and how much? 15.6p/m isn't much for making a few calls.

Sainsbury's mobile are known for low roaming costs. In Spain they charge 8p/min for outgoing calls; incoming calls are free.