Mobile Roaming: Cheapest Calls When You're Abroad

redux

70 pence for 10 seconds? I think you'd better complain about that, especially as they even specify FM1 for the rate, which is for O2

Take a look through the marketing, and see how much they say they charge for European mobiles. Vodafone used to highlight 15 pence a minute for European mobiles, while still charging 50 pence a minute to Channel Islands and Isle of Man, which are in Europe.

But £4 a minute is ridiculous. Or have they also given up per second billing?

In any case, I understand that you wouldn't need a roaming SIM if you move to a new 4g contract with EE, as I've heard it said that roaming calls are included, but I haven't yet studied where this applies.

GKeeper

I did complain previously before changing my Roaming Sim, the last time they were charging £1.00 per min and all international calls are billed per min not per second, so I can only presume that the new cost is 0.70 per min, which is still incredibly expensive, and when I mentioned the fact that these were FM1 same as O2, I was told they were issued as IOM numbers to C9 and they were classed as int numbers because of the high termination rates EE had to pay.

Thanks for info on EE, I have not been informed yet about roaming agreements within bundle, probably because i am still on 3g contract plus we do not have 4g coverage yet. If you get any more info I would appreciate you posting, getting the correct info out of networks is like pulling teeth.

redux

Cloud9 numbers do seem to be slightly higher, but I don't think they can possibly support 50 or 70 pence a minute. The argument that international is expensive is getting more tenuous when some wholesale mobile termination rates in Europe are down to a couple of pence a minute. Do they also charge 70 pence a minute to French or German mobiles?

I don't have much info myself yet. Someone had told me that new EE 4g contracts would have free roaming, i.e uses inclusive minutes abroad, and so I did a brief search before my previous post and found a £56 iPhone contact, so it won't be for everyone, but people who do a fair bit of travelling might go for it. Checking in which countries would be something to do, maybe only in Europe, maybe plus half a dozen others such as USA Australia and so on ...

kevin14433

Hi,

It is Blackberry Curve 9308 and it is CDMA phone. Actually I bought it in Canada and right now I am residing in India. So I was not able to use this my Indian Sim cards in this phone. So I broke its CDMA application to GSM. Now I am able to use this phone here. Now I want to know that can I use this same phone in Canada or not.

Regards,
Kevin

redux

kevin14433 wrote: »

Hi,

It is Blackberry Curve 9308 and it is CDMA phone. Actually I bought it in Canada and right now I am residing in India. So I was not able to use this my Indian Sim cards in this phone. So I broke its CDMA application to GSM. Now I am able to use this phone here. Now I want to know that can I use this same phone in Canada or not.

Regards,
Kevin

I don't know. If it's a dual mode phone and you've made its GSM available I would tend to assume that it would still work on CDMA as well

But I'm having difficulty finding specifications for that model number

Can you find a way to test it in India on the Reliance network, which I understand is CDMA?

Or maybe you could use it as a GSM phone next time in Canada. Which GSM bands does it use? Rogers in Canada is on 1900 MHz and others use 1700

GKeeper

redux wrote: »

Cloud9 numbers do seem to be slightly higher, but I don't think they can possibly support 50 or 70 pence a minute. The argument that international is expensive is getting more tenuous when some wholesale mobile termination rates in Europe are down to a couple of pence a minute. Do they also charge 70 pence a minute to French or German mobiles?

I don't have much info myself yet. Someone had told me that new EE 4g contracts would have free roaming, i.e uses inclusive minutes abroad, and so I did a brief search before my previous post and found a £56 iPhone contact, so it won't be for everyone, but people who do a fair bit of travelling might go for it. Checking in which countries would be something to do, maybe only in Europe, maybe plus half a dozen others such as USA Australia and so on ...

No only to international desitnations classed as outside of EU, for some reason all major network operators in UK and I can only presume abroad, charge over the top when calling Channel Island numbers I.E IOM, Jersey etc. This is why you need to be careful when you see ads for "Free Roaming SIMs with UK +44 Number" if its free roaming with a UK +44 Number, odds on its a Channel Island number (as Tree Sar found out to his cost) and your family and friends will end up paying dearly to call them, its all about choosing the right one.

redux

Well they really can't justify that price of 70 pence, especially not as Orange used to include them before this merger and perhaps even may still do so for some customers (I don't know)

Would they also charge way over the odds for German mobiles on Vistream's +491570 numbers? The question is irrelevant now as it's closed down, but it was only a cent or two more per minute at wholesale rates and the other German networks didn't charge extra.

GKeeper

redux wrote: »

Well they really can't justify that price of 70 pence, especially not as Orange used to include them before this merger and perhaps even may still do so for some customers (I don't know)

Would they also charge way over the odds for German mobiles on Vistream's +491570 numbers? The question is irrelevant now as it's closed down, but it was only a cent or two more per minute at wholesale rates and the other German networks didn't charge extra.

It was in Orange bundle, but it all changed just before merger with
T-Mobile. All I know is that the UK Major networks now class IOM numbers as international numbers.

JPR

I guess it probably isn't classed as a major network but I regularly call a World SIM number with a GiffGaff phone and it is included in their goodybag minutes.

redux

JPR wrote: »

I guess it probably isn't classed as a major network but I regularly call a World SIM number with a GiffGaff phone and it is included in their goodybag minutes.

That might be because O2 also includes these numbers under discussion. But have you tried in the last month or so? Giffgaff announced some tariff changes recently and I thought some though not all roaming SIMs would be affected.