Mobile Roaming: Cheapest Calls When You're Abroad

Ziggy_Stardust

Captain_Starlight wrote: »

That's brilliant, Ziggy - thank you so much! :beer: (notice the German beer theme there!)
The Fonic seems to be the best deal, so Offspring will have to leg it to Lidl or wherever when he's there. Brilliant stuff!
xx

Glad to help

flossy_splodge

flossy_splodge wrote: »

DD has now departed for the land of the Dane but in the way of it did not sort out her phone before she went!
She will be away a year. She is currently on monthly contract with Orange and has one of the new Nokia phones, an N95 I think which she did not get unlocked - she is about half way through an 18 month contract.
My question is, what is her best option to call back to the uk and our best for calling her?
I obviously would check on Martins call checker but if there are any other bits of info on calling her, I'd be grateful.

:j:j bump :j:j

redux

Captain_Starlight wrote: »

The Fonic seems to be the best deal, so Offspring will have to leg it to Lidl or wherever when he's there. Brilliant stuff!
xx

Or Solomo, for calls

Fonic or Tchibo for mobile broadband

redux

flossy_splodge wrote: »

DD has now departed for the land of the Dane but in the way of it did not sort out her phone before she went!
She will be away a year. She is currently on monthly contract with Orange and has one of the new Nokia phones, an N95 I think which she did not get unlocked - she is about half way through an 18 month contract.
My question is, what is her best option to call back to the uk and our best for calling her?
I obviously would check on Martins call checker but if there are any other bits of info on calling her, I'd be grateful.

Well, given that it's a bit late to advice in advance, here are some potentially useful ideas

The Orange contract isn't a lot of help over there, as the inclusive minutes won't be used and roaming tariffs won't match what can be found with a local SIM.

To use that phone with another SIM, you're right that it needs to be unlocked.

You can find some info on Danish SIMs, and links to the network's websites (click logo) at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/denmark.html

There are also some brands which specialise in cheap int'l calls, which don't seem to have made it on to there, such as Lebara and Vectone

But she might get a main network one and use callthrough access for foreign calls

From here you can use cheap calls providers to reach Danish landlines and mobiles, as found in the Callchecker

Also, there is the question of whether the Orange contract can come in useful.

Well, one possibility emerges from the fact that a global roaming SIM with an Isle of Man number can be called using Orange contract minutes.

So she might get a second phone, you might send her a global SIM, she sends you the Orange SIM so you can call her like that until the Orange contract is up. You might also forward Orange incoming calls to the IoM SIM for when friends and family here call her - n.b do such a call diversion when the phone is in this country, as it may be chargeable when done abroad.

That scheme is no help for text messages though, as text messages can't be forwarded, so if she receives a lot of texts from here something else is needed. Note that an IoM mobile isn't inclusive on all UK networks, either for calls or texts. For texts I'd recommend Fishtext, which sends an equivalent using the phone's data connection

flossy_splodge

redux wrote: »

Well, given that it's a bit late to advice in advance, here are some potentially useful ideas

The Orange contract isn't a lot of help over there, as the inclusive minutes won't be used and roaming tariffs won't match what can be found with a local SIM.

To use that phone with another SIM, you're right that it needs to be unlocked.

You can find some info on Danish SIMs, and links to the network's websites (click logo) at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/denmark.html

There are also some brands which specialise in cheap int'l calls, which don't seem to have made it on to there, such as Lebara and Vectone

But she might get a main network one and use callthrough access for foreign calls

From here you can use cheap calls providers to reach Danish landlines and mobiles, as found in the Callchecker

Also, there is the question of whether the Orange contract can come in useful.

Well, one possibility emerges from the fact that a global roaming SIM with an Isle of Man number can be called using Orange contract minutes.

So she might get a second phone, you might send her a global SIM, she sends you the Orange SIM so you can call her like that until the Orange contract is up. You might also forward Orange incoming calls to the IoM SIM for when friends and family here call her - n.b do such a call diversion when the phone is in this country, as it may be chargeable when done abroad.

That scheme is no help for text messages though, as text messages can't be forwarded, so if she receives a lot of texts from here something else is needed. Note that an IoM mobile isn't inclusive on all UK networks, either for calls or texts. For texts I'd recommend Fishtext, which sends an equivalent using the phone's data connection

Wow, redux, thank you so much.:beer:
That's exactly the sort of help I was hoping for.:grinheart

I will endeavour to pass this on via Skype which does not work very well as she says she has poor bandwidth?
However I'm hoping that when she starts her first full day at the University tomorrow she will be able to access a better connection from there.

I think she was intending to reduce her contract to the minimum for the duration, is this a good option now do you think.
Thanks again, I'm grateful for all the detail you've posted.:T

redux

She might as well reduce the Orange rental if they'll allow it, as it won't get used unless you go for that suggestion about to the roaming SIM. As you've got Skype that's a lot cheaper than from and to mobiles anyway

Delhibelly

Hi, havent read all posts but A WARNING TO ALL. Free2roam sim worked fine last September but nothing at all this holiday - no service, no txt updates etc.When I return from holiday I check online & from the FAQ's discover that they wanted to charge 99p a month on the credit card used to put on credit & if they cannot get this the card will be blocked & any unused credit will be cancelled (stolen?), but a new one is free & will not run out.I had no emails from Free2roam or txts to the sim & I don't remember seeing this on the T's & C's? I had around £30 left on the card from last summer.Sort of defeats the point of the card......I have emailed Free2roam & await their response.

Raven

Just back from Turkey and a few of us using the simstogo travel sim, worked great and saved a small fortune :beer:



Did have to reboot once or twice to pick up the strongest network but received all calls from the uk.




Raven

Ziggy_Stardust

Raven wrote: »

Just back from Turkey and a few of us using the simstogo travel sim, worked great and saved a small fortune :beer:



Did have to reboot once or twice to pick up the strongest network but received all calls from the uk.




Raven

Brilliant, my daughter goes on Thursday, I've got the card and its all loaded and ready for use . To reboot it did you just have to switch it off and off again?

Hope you had a good holiday .

Raven

Hi Ziggy

Yeah had a good time, thanks.


I just went into settings > mobile network > manual search and chose another network (where we were I was always picking up at least three different choices) and this seemed to sort out any low signal problems.




I received (and sent) calls/texts from the other family members inside Turkey with out any issues.


I was able to receive (and make) calls from the uk and got calls from BT and Virgin landlines plus calls from mobiles on Vodafone, Orange and the 3 network without any issues.

The only issue I had was with a friend who tried ringing us from her O2 mobile, it wouldn't connect for her and she then just rang from her landline with out any problem. To be honest she may have stored the number in her mobile incorrectly.



Raven