Telephone the UK while in France, advice sought

Christabel

We're going to the south of France in September and don't normally ring home, just whats-app my friends but my elderly parents aren't very well so I'll need to ring every day. I've got an iPhone. Can anyone advise me how to ring their landline cheaply please?

ossie

What network is your phone on? Some networks allow you to use your allowance from UK free.

Christabel

I'm with EE.

ossie

http://explore.ee.co.uk/4gee-extra-plans-roaming-benefits

Christabel

Thank you, i'll follow the link. I should have sad I have a SIM-only card though, this will probably not apply to me.

gettingtheresometime

What about getting a sim only from three? Martin has included the full details on his newsletter this week

Roger1

There's a lot of information in this week's free e-mail, just to the right of this thread.

If you have a PAYG phone, you can get 'free' roaming (i.e. to and from the UK) with Three. See http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-roaming-calls#three for details of how to go about it.

You could also get a data allowance which could help with local maps on a smartphone. But download before you go to avoid data costs.

Christabel

Will look at newsletter, thanks.

novelty-socks

If you have Wi-Fi access (I assume you have some sort of data connection in order to use WhatsApp) then you can place calls to normal phone numbers via Skype or similar. This will still cost you, but may be cheaper than relying on your roaming.

eDicky

Roaming charges are capped within the EU so just calling with your EE phone will be quite reasonable if you don't talk for too long:

"Calls cost 4.4p/min to make and 1p/min to receive, texts 1.8p." (From EE text announcing prices on my arrival in Slovakia, should be the same for France.)

Christabel

Thanks Novelty Sock and eDicky, both worth considering.