Calling USA to UK daily, most efficient way? (if new to a smartphone! -Whatsapp etc)

ballyblack

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redux

Some of the replies above concentrate on calling the USA cheap, and not so much on the other way.

US mobiles usually charge for incoming calls, so that needs to be thought about, especially if these chats will be often and 20 or 30 minutes a go.

There are plenty of VoIP providers cheaper than Skype for international calls, though obviously peer to peer calls would be free, but using data at both ends.

How long is the trip for, a few weeks or a full academic year? If longer I think the daughter should think about the EE contract, either moving or cancelling it, as EE doesn't yet have cheap roaming in USA; it's £1 a minute.

Some UK brands do have cheap and even free roaming there. Toggle Mobile might be interesting, with free incoming calls, but they recently put rates up to 7 p/min from 3p.

I would say look at Three UK. It has roaming in USA as one of its Feel at Home countries, so bundles are usable at the same price as here. Free incoming calls, calls to UK 3.3 p/min, but don't use it for local calls to USA.

Three have a potentially very useful bundle for these users of 3000 minutes to other 3 users for £5. So get a 3 payg SIM for this end as well, not necessarily with a bundle. Just call and hang up, then the other with the bundle calls back.

That might mean buying a cheap 3g phone here, but it doesn't have to be a smartphone. Secondhand Nokia would do.

In the USA, I can imagine someone using 2 phones, with UK and US SIMs. But actually it would be possible to have a data bundle on the Three SIM and use VoIP to and from US numbers, without a local SIM

Or skip the 3-to-3 bundle, get a bundle with some UK minutes, mostly use VoIP to call the landline or existing mobile in UK, and the caller in the UK uses cheap call providers or VoIP to call the UK mobile or US number. Rates start under a penny a minute for either (Skype is several times the cheapest rates).

GTR_King

why don't your friends mum get pay & go three sim with cheap calls to the us???

Ian011

Check the time limits on cheap roaming deals. They are designed for usage on short trips and holidays, not for people who are living abroad.

Frozen_up_north

GTR_King wrote: »

why don't your friends mum get pay & go three sim with cheap calls to the us???

Three have time limits on using their "feel at home" to roam overseas, from memory it's limited to 2 months, not sure if that's 60 separate days in a year or two continous months in one trip. I guess other networks are likely to have similar limitations.

redux

Yes, I forgot to mention that, as per the last two posts. I did ask whether this was a short course or a longer visit, then didn't tie the comments to Three to just shorter periods.

However the post just above is replying to one which seems to be suggesting the person in the UK uses Three to call to USA (using their short prefix it would be 3 pence a minute).