Mobile Roaming: Cheapest Calls When You're Abroad

lovesong

Er,the cheapest roaming option in China is buying a local cards. Is this true?

GKeeper

lovesong wrote: »

Er,the cheapest roaming option in China is buying a local cards. Is this true?

yes a local sim card is the cheapest option, but read the thread "roaming around Asia and China" not just China, it defeats object if you are buying and topping up local sims in every country you visit, and you will have to contact your friends and family everytime, to give them new number, you can now see how this can be more expensive in the long run, not just for the traveller, but for there friends and family too.

Dan_Jones

When I am on a trip abroad I prefer to make calls via Skype instead of calling from network.

lovesong

GKeeper wrote: »

yes a local sim card is the cheapest option, but read the thread "roaming around Asia and China" not just China, it defeats object if you are buying and topping up local sims in every country you visit, and you will have to contact your friends and family everytime, to give them new number, you can now see how this can be more expensive in the long run, not just for the traveller, but for there friends and family too.

Oh, I did forget that. Moreover, remembering numbers of my friends and families is really troublesome.Thank you so much!:D

redux

GKeeper wrote: »

yes a local sim card is the cheapest option, but read the thread "roaming around Asia and China" not just China, it defeats object if you are buying and topping up local sims in every country you visit, and you will have to contact your friends and family everytime, to give them new number, you can now see how this can be more expensive in the long run, not just for the traveller, but for there friends and family too.

Not necessarily

Someone could separately have a VoIP account with an incoming phone number which is forwarded to the choice of SIM in use at the time, and perhaps also use the same account for callback if the local SIM international rates aren't attractive - which actually they are in some of those countries.

People at home call a UK landline not the foreign number

And the user calls home for from under 2 pence a minute.

GKeeper

redux wrote: »

Not necessarily

Someone could separately have a VoIP account with an incoming phone number which is forwarded to the choice of SIM in use at the time, and perhaps also use the same account for callback if the local SIM international rates aren't attractive - which actually they are in some of those countries.

People at home call a UK landline not the foreign number

And the user calls home for from under 2 pence a minute.

you would still need to pay and top up your VoIP account and very few come with an incoming numbers, Sykpe for instance charge around £4.00 per month or £40.00 per year for incoming number and they will no doubt charge for forwarding call. If you have any examples please let me know.

Aaron

wrote:

http://www.draytel.org/incoming-numbers says "Get a UK geographic number for FREE after you purchase your first £10 call credit, or when you subscribe to a monthly plan" - forwarding call charges are on "Click for Full Rate Details" in the header.

GKeeper

Aaron wrote: »

http://www.draytel.org/incoming-numbers says "Get a UK geographic number for FREE after you purchase your first £10 call credit, or when you subscribe to a monthly plan" - forwarding call charges are on "Click for Full Rate Details" in the header.

Kind of defeats the object if you have to have an account with another provider. And it still costs you £2.99 plus Vat.

redux

GKeeper wrote: »

Kind of defeats the object if you have to have an account with another provider. And it still costs you £2.99 plus Vat.

I'm not quite sure what the object is, if you will just pour cold water on everything and say everything is too tedious to bother with making any effort.

It's true that a global roaming SIM can cover a lot of places, but it's also true that they are not the best option everywhere, including various Asian countries.

There are other VoIP providers with cheaper or free incoming numbers, and I only made that suggestion because you complained about having to give people a series of numbers for a range of foreign SIMs rather than just one.

charlierogan

Hiya, I'm going to be in Australia for a year, and have a 3 contract. Can I use the inclusive minutes at all? or is there any package I can get to reduce the cost? My contract won't run out till 6 months after I get back, so I can't even cancel it