Mobile Roaming: Cheapest Calls When You're Abroad

Frozen_up_north

While in Spain this week, I noticed Orange offering pre-paid SIM cards where you could phone the UK from Spain for 1 Euro cent per minute and unlimited data for 30 Euro cents per day. The outlet was the Orange shop inside Carrefour in Torrevieja.

I don't know how much you had to spend in order to obtain these prices, nor how long the credit would last.

Note that in Spain you need to produce ID in order to buy a SIM card.

Frozen_up_north

Anyone know if the 7.8p per text message charge while roaming in the EU, is also the charge for texting those 5 digit competition and radio station short code numbers which are charged at typically 10p to 12p in the UK? And can you text them from abroad as they don't have a UK "prefix"?

JPR

JPR wrote: »

I've just seen that Toggle Mobile has added to its already decent Free Incoming calls in the USA by adding the country to its "Local" numbers.

That means you get an American number and calls are only 3p per minute, texts 9p.

Seems a good deal.

Apologies for quoting my own post but I just activated a Toggle SIM today (a second one for 2 person trips abroad) but they have raised the minimum Top-Up to £20 which would probably last us for a couple of years as it would mainly used for free incoming calls. Anyone interested should get "free" or 99p SIMS from eBay etc. rather than through their website.

Optimistically they also have a £100 top-up with £5 for the SIM.

Roger1

I agree that £20 is a high amount as a minimum recharge, especially as this SIM requires use within a shorter period than competing cards to retain the number.

I recently used my US number for a call to a UK mobile lasting 1 min 4 secs. It cost just 6p so I'll stick with it for a while.

One saving grace: I can keep the US number permanently for £5 a year, which is a modest sum to pay for a US number. It's a New Jersey (201) number. Not quite as cool as the Santa Monica (310) number I had with my US mobile, but I don't need that one any more.

JPR

Text messages for Toggle Mobile now seem to be 7p each in their "Local Countries". A step in the right direction anyway.

JPR

JPR wrote: »

Text messages for Toggle Mobile now seem to be 7p each in their "Local Countries". A step in the right direction anyway.

I feel rather embarrassed in posting the above but it turns out that despite advertising the new 7 pence rate for texts on their website and via Twitter they are actually still charging 9p.

Accounts have not been updated and their CS people have not come up with an explanation for well over a week now.

shudd1967

Off to America (New York State) in a couple of weeks time and wondering cheapest way of staying in touch at home.

I don't make hardly any calls and a lot of the threads and advice are about calls mainly. I will probably make one call to a US mobile phone when I land at the airport and then rest of the time it will be mainly sending texts home and some internet usage. Anyone have any tips for the best route? currently with vodaphone here

grumbler

You can afford making one call with any sim. Make sure that data roaming is switched off if it's a smartphone.
Then without doubt the best route is a local sim. Make sure your phone is not locked to your network.

Stephen7372

shudd1967 wrote: »

Off to America (New York State) in a couple of weeks time and wondering cheapest way of staying in touch at home.

I don't make hardly any calls and a lot of the threads and advice are about calls mainly. I will probably make one call to a US mobile phone when I land at the airport and then rest of the time it will be mainly sending texts home and some internet usage. Anyone have any tips for the best route? currently with vodaphone here

Personally I'd use an app for sms like fishtext 2p per message

or a toggle mobile sim

Macadamia

I wonder if any of you well informed people can tell me the best sim to get to make calls to the UK, and receive calls from the UK in Austria.

Should I be getting a UK payg sim - or should I buy a local sim in Austria?

I would be grateful for any advice.

(Austria inconveniently is not a toggle country - toggle charges are free to receive calls from UK, but .23p per minute to call the UK)