Mobile Roaming: Cheapest Calls When You're Abroad

JPR

I've just managed to get hold of a Lycamobile France SIM card before a longish trip to France. It comes with 1€ credit so I have been calling family numbers so they can easily enter the number in the Contacts.

For one UK mobile number it comes up with a message "Number doesn't exist" - quite clearly it does so I wonder why that should be.

The number is currently on Giff Gaff (but so are others and those worked) but it has been ported a few times - originally Virgin I think.

The Lycamobile FR SIM is roaming here on Vodafone. Any thoughts at all?

spacemanc

I've recently been to Spain on holiday. I bought a Yoigo Sim card from one of their shops (you can find where they are through the website). I went on the 'La del ocho" plan which you can see half way down this page:

http://www.yoigo.com/tarifas/contrato/voz-e-internet/index.php

The PAYG Sim costs 20 euros, but it has over 20 euros of credit on it, and you then control your account on the webpage (enter your Sim's mobile number as username, and you get sent the password as a text)

I mainly wanted it for internet (I popped the sim in my mobile and then created a mobile wifi hotspot for laptop, kindles etc), so I went for the 'Bono 8' internet bolt-on for 8 euros which gave me 500mb for a month, which can then be topped up with 300mb extra at 5 euros a time if 500mb is not enough for you.

The best and most unexpected part was the call charges. By entering a few symbols before any call, I got seriously cheap calls when i called international landlines - you can see the prices here:

http://www.yoigo.com/tarifas/llamadas-ip-internacionales.php#p_0

Even calls to international mobiles were very good value (I can't remember exact price but it was far cheaper than the roaming cost with my UK carrier)

The best value 20 euros I've spent in quite a while!

spacemanc

JPR wrote: »

I've just managed to get hold of a Lycamobile France SIM card before a longish trip to France. It comes with 1€ credit so I have been calling family numbers so they can easily enter the number in the Contacts.

For one UK mobile number it comes up with a message "Number doesn't exist" - quite clearly it does so I wonder why that should be.

The number is currently on Giff Gaff (but so are others and those worked) but it has been ported a few times - originally Virgin I think.

The Lycamobile FR SIM is roaming here on Vodafone. Any thoughts at all?

Some mobile numbers will be saved in your contacts with the +44 automatically added, so they will work whatever network you are using around the world.

Any numbers which you have manually added will probably just start with 07, and therefore wont work when you try to call them with a 'foreign' Sim card installed. Add ' +44 ' to the start and remove the first zero, and it should work.

topgirl2011

Went to Egypt recently for 2 weeks. On arrival immediately bought a local PAYG Vodaphone Egypt sim for calls & internet use and got the guy in the shop to put the equivalent of £5 Sterling credit on. Contacted their customer service (who were able to speak English) and they sent me the settings for picture messaging & internet and VOILA! Internet charges were only the equivalent of 10p max/day! Text messages were also very cheap. Didn't make any calls but call charges are MUCH cheaper than in UK. Just sent a text to my UK contacts giving them my number. Would definitely recommend for anyone spending 2 weeks there. :j

spiro

spacemanc wrote: »

I mainly wanted it for internet (I popped the sim in my mobile and then created a mobile wifi hotspot for laptop, kindles etc), so I went for the 'Bono 8' internet bolt-on for 8 euros which gave me 500mb for a month, which can then be topped up with 300mb extra at 5 euros a time if 500mb is not enough for you.

Just looked at this and for serious internet use its only €35 for 10gb.

What tab do I need to find the shops?

spacemanc

spiro wrote: »

Just looked at this and for serious internet use its only €35 for 10gb.

What tab do I need to find the shops?

http://www.yoigo.com/tiendasyoigo/index.php

Don't expect them to speak English in the shops, but the guy I had was very helpful even with the language barrier. I kind of thought he was trying to scam me into paying for the Sim as it was hard to understand that it included the credit, but we got there in the end. They need an address due to a Spanish law, but he was happy to either use their shop or where I was staying. I think they maybe needed my passport too.

And yeah €35 for 10gb is a bargain, but the real surprise for me was the international call costs (to both landline and mobile).

EDIT - I've just checked the 10GB offer - it's contract only and for that you need the Spanish equivalent of a direct debit (Wasn't easy for them to explain that to me!). As a visitor you need to get the 'La del ocho' PAYG SIM which is near the bottom of the page on the link I gave earlier in this thread. The guy in the shop had already activated the €8/500mb bolt on and that had come out of the €20 credit that was on the card.

onesixfive

O2 no longer appear to feature in the mobile abroad articles - help!! - I'm going to Malta soon & earlier this year I relied on Web Daily Europe in Greece at £1.50 a day - is that no longer available - all I can see on O2 is now £1.99 a day for data - thats a significant increase (isnt it?)

julianruso

I have personally used VykeMobile very frequently recently with no roaming charges at all. There is no need to change your SIM card, just download the app from App store or Google Play or directly from get.vyke.com on to your smartphone and call on WiFi.
The VykeZone offer is stunning with calls to participating countries for only £0.09 per HOUR!
Also, if you have access to a local landline, then you can use the callback service by registering the local landline number in your account and calling the global callback numbers.
The VykeMobile Support Team are extremely reliable and friendly. They respond to your queries the same day with helpful guidance on how to save on your calls and also on your international and even national SMS!
By the way, VykeMobile has now a local international access number with the same fantastic rates. So, if you don't have a smartphone yet, you can benefit from the service and the rates with a stunning call quality!:j
You can check all this on the website vyke.com :T

scouseman

I am going to to China and Thailand for a couple of weeks at the end of the month and have been looking for a suitable sim card to take with me. I have narrowed my selection down to https://www.simstogo.co.uk & https://www.worldsim.com . I am having trouble deciding on which company to go for as they are both reasonably similar in cost. Does anybody have any experience with either of these company's or any other suggestions would be most appreciated.
Cheers
scouseman

pearsonian

after years of visiting philippines the easiest way for me was to simply go to the local phone office there were 2 or 3 different phone companies,give them your phone and tell them you want net for the duration of your trip.They did everything including the settings,this is much cheaper than buying any international sim card. I suggest u just search google for thailand phone companies you can always use google translate if no english ,get an idea of how much it is then go to there office when you arrive.I dont know about thailand or china but in philippines you can buy sim cards practically anywhere,even if your phone is locked they can do this cheaply also.Im pretty sure china and thailand cant be any difference.You can make calls and message people anywhere by using viber on android market using yr net connection so you dont have to worry about calling or texting prices ,just get the people you wish to communicate with to download it before you go,make sure though you get a decent sized data package maybe 1gb will be a good one.When you have a wifi connection in the hotel or coffee shop turn it on and conserve your data usage as long as your not watching movies or downloading 1g should last you 2 weeks.Probably is easier to unlock your phone before you go.On reading another forum a guy said he used company called DTAC and paid 1000baht for months net,looks like there are plenty of packages on their site and you could get the sim for peanuts from anywhere.Im not sure about china but shouldnt be much different.Then next time you go back there just insert the same sim card.