Mobile Roaming: Cheapest Calls When You're Abroad

bertietheblue

redux wrote: »

VoIP providers for reaching a French mobile number, with an allocated UK landline number? Well, of course there are loads to choose from. The Dellmont VoIP brands have decent rates for the calls, but don't always have incoming numbers available. At the moment I quite like Localphone and it's range of services, decent tariffs (2.9p France mobiles, 4.8 p UK main network mobiles, 9.8p Lyca mobiles, hence my suggestion to divert to the French number on the Toggle SIM), incoming number, and callthrough and callback options which may be useful as well from time to time.

Thanks. So, I can get a VoIP number, give it as my office number, and UK clients can call me on that number whether I'm in the UK or not. When I'm in France I can redirect the VoIP to my French Toggle number and the cost to me if I go with Localphone will be 2.9p/min; when I ring back the client will see my UK Toggle number and the cost to me will be 3p/min.

When I'm in the UK, I can switch the VoIP redirect back to my 3 One Plan number (I don't want to use Toggle in the UK because data's 15p/MB). Clients still ring the same VoIP number and the cost to me is (not sure?); and I ring clients on my 3 mobile as normal.

Have I understood correctly? The important thing is that clients don't incur charges for ringing France and, although it's not a secret, I don't want to draw attention to the fact that I'm pootling around the French countryside whilst their stuck in their offices - so I want them to see a UK number when I call (even though the ringtone would give me away if they gave it much thought).

redux

That's about it, yes. UK mobile 4.8p with Localphone.

If you carried two phones you could save a bit by forwarding to the French number all the time.

A very slight proviso is that a VoIP incoming nunber will be in a different range than BT exchanges, so once in a while someone local to you might ask are you sure that's right; probably most people won't notice

blacksta

Hello I am an currently working in Germany and would like to know what the best option is for calls and data roaming. I have a uK vodafone contract who charge 3 pounds per day to use my plan abroad. I would prefer a cheaper alternative. Is a local sim suitable or should i go for one of the uk prepaid travel sims

Thanks

Higgins91

I am currently living in France and have the €19.99 Series RED option from SFR. It is a great service. I can't complain at all. You get unlimited calls to French landlines and mobiles as well as to landlines in over 40 countries (I am always calling the UK and so with this plan it doesn't cost anything extra!). You also get unlimited texts and MMS to French mobiles as well as 3GB mobile internet with tethering and VoIP allowed (Skype and Viber work fine).

Link: http://www.sfr.fr/telephonie-mobile/series-red-de-sfr.html

SFR offer this on an on/off togglable (if that's even a word!) contract through their JOE Mobile brand. It's €20 a month (so only 1 cent more).

Link: http://www.joemobile.fr/home

If you want a UK number for clients to get through to you in France on your French number, use a through-service. You can pick a standard 01 or 02 number so any calls to that number will be 'free' if they have inclusive minutes. I used to use:

http://www.ereceptionist.co.uk/virtual-receptionist-pricing-packages0
Hope this helps!

(This service also allows you to enter several of your numbers in order, so that if the first number is unavailable, it will try to reach the second and then the third etc. You can also set up 'select option 1/2/3 etc' style menus).

If you need a hand with any of the French, let me know.

By the way, I know a friend with the €2 Free Mobile offer and she said it's fine. I think she gets 2 or 3 hours of calls and unlimited texts. Check that out if you are on a tight budget!

bertietheblue wrote: »

Hi all

I want to work month-on-month-off from a mobile office, in France, but I don't want UK clients (and indeed friends and family) to incur the cost of calling a French SIM. On the other hand, I need a French SIM for data roaming/tethering (I was thinking Free Mobile - but is their deal too good to be true (see my next post/question)?). Is there a VoIP or other solution (currently clients ring a VoIP landline number which redirects to my mobile but my provider tells me this only works if UK mobile no.)

Thanks for any advice
Bertie

Higgins91

I use a Simyo SIM card in Germany which is cheap (https://www.simyo.de) for data roaming. It runs on the ePlus network which is not the best in the sticks. If you want the best service, choose a service which uses the Vodafone or T-Mobile network - eg: https://www.klarmobil.de.

There's also an overview of a handful of operators here with prices:
http://phone-guide-germany.com/overview-prepaid-plans-germany/4299/

For international calls I would recommend Skype or if you really want to call directly from your phone, grab a Lebara, Lyca or Ortelmobile Germany SIM.

Hope this helps!

If you need a hand with the German let me know!

blacksta wrote: »

Hello I am an currently working in Germany and would like to know what the best option is for calls and data roaming. I have a uK vodafone contract who charge 3 pounds per day to use my plan abroad. I would prefer a cheaper alternative. Is a local sim suitable or should i go for one of the uk prepaid travel sims

Thanks

GordonComstock

Hi, I am about to set off on a cycle tour from London which may take me as far as Sydney. Travelling through Europe (France/Belgium/Germany/Switzerland/Italy) the Balkans (Slovenia/Croatia/Albania/Montenegro) Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, China, SE Asia and then Australia. (There is small chance I will have to reroute through Georgia/Kazakhstan etc if visas aren't issued)

I am currently with 3 mobile but intend to cancel that contract and have been researching the most cost effective way of using my phone (unlocked Iphone4) during the trip to make local calls and receive calls from home.

Is 0044's global Sim the best option? Will it cover me for all the counties I will be passing through? Is the coverage I will get - especially in some of the more remote regions of these countries likely to be poor? Is it cost effective for making calls to locals numbers while I am abroad?

Looking forward to hearing your response.


Kind Regards
Tom

jnm21

Great post about malta redux!

jnm21

Gordon - with reference to the 0044 sim - I have used my one fine anywhere I have been, though only western European cities & the bit in between. One word of warning: mine has an O2 UK number - this is where it gets complex - they now issue a +44 number which is NOT UK (i.e. Jersey/Gurnsey), so your callers may get bill shock. I think this is terrible - +44 is the UK prefix, but non-UK areas (Jersey/Guernsey/IOM, etc.) are allowed to use it & worse still, on the same network codes as true UK networks - OFFCOM should be ashamed! I believe it is possible to port a UK mobile number to Lyca & have it forever charged as a foreign number (even if ported back to a true UK network). Shocking!

EDIT: Also I would like to see a Jersey/Guersey/IOM call & text checker added to the site - very bad to include services that use such numbers & not include a way of reducing costs for others to then call the service you have suggested.

JPR

jnm21 wrote: »

I believe it is possible to port a UK mobile number to Lyca & have it forever charged as a foreign number (even if ported back to a true UK network). Shocking!


Can this be true? If I ported a Lyca number to say, Giff Gaff, the new network would not allow me free calls within the network??? I am planning to port an 07438 number there so would like to know.

redux

jnm21 wrote: »

I believe it is possible to port a UK mobile number to Lyca & have it forever charged as a foreign number (even if ported back to a true UK network). Shocking!

JPR wrote: »

Can this be true? If I ported a Lyca number to say, Giff Gaff, the new network would not allow me free calls within the network??? I am planning to port an 07438 number there so would like to know.

Not true.

It's not a foreign number in any case, as Lyca is based in the UK

But you're not doing exactly what is descibed in that post, as you're moving a number in the other direction.

If you port your number to giffgaff, then giffgaff will treat it as a giffgaff number.

Others may still treat it as a Lyca number though.

If someone ported a giffgaff or O2 number to Lyca, I believe it would be treated by other non-O2 networks as still an O2 number.

The principle seems to be that only the number originating network and the network ported to actually know the port details, and otheres will still count it as the original

I haven't tested this myself, but base it on other posts I've read here.

So for example it seems worthwhile to consider porting an O2 number to Toggle, as both Toggle and O2 will treat it the same, and O2 includes Lyca numbers in bundles, whereas those such as T-mobile that sanction Lyca numbers would then include the O2 number.

Given that wholesale rates for calling UK mobile numbers now start from about a penny a minute, that might come in handy.

Test it before getting carried away though.