Best value calls _to_ the UK from South Africa?

Sam_84

I love the International Call Checker and use it often when calling overseas.

My question is about the other way round - calling back to the UK when you're abroad. Specifically from South Africa. I'll be there in Dec.

Is there something general on the MSE site about this? I haven't been able to find anything (but this is more than likely because I can't think of the right words/phrases to search on at this time of night!)

A wild guess - does anyone know of a South African equivalent to the MSE site which has an International Call Checker ?

Thanks in advance for anything that you can contribute

Sam

d123

As South Africa still has a monopolistic National carrier you are not going to get cheap international calls via landline. Your best bet is going to be to use a PAYG "Global" simcard. The best I have found with a quick search is 24p per minute SA-UK and free to receive calls from the UK.
http://www.0044.co.uk/global-sim-card.htm#

The sim is £19.99 and comes with £5 credit.

Dave

redux

I think the OP is asking about from landlines, not mobiles, and perhaps the monopolistic carrier is worth looking at.

Telkom SA publish charges of 7 pence a minute to UK landlines, 14 p UK mobiles, per second billing, which isn't terrible

http://www.telkom.co.za/common/pricelist/prices/international/internationaldestinations/countries.html#u

They also have a calling card, though I haven't checked rates, and there will be others - but I haven't got a price comparison site.

From a mobile, it will be possible to use a local SIM card and a calling card with a local access number. Compare networks and tariffs at http://www.prepaidgsm.net/en/southafrica.html

It's also worth looking at callback services, which set up two outgoing calls and connect them together, the first to your own number, thus avoiding local tariffs, though I'm not sure you'd make big savings in this particular case

arfster

If you can use a computer, or a SIP device over broadband, then voip will be by far the cheapest option. Sign up for something like voipcheap, and calls back to the UK and most of Europe are free (well, 10 euros for 4 months, and you can spend the 10 euros on other calls as well).

Sam_84

Thank you moneysavers. That info is really useful.

Your replies have made me realise that I wasn't as clear as I should have been in my original post. I was looking for info on cheap calls back to the UK from SA as a tourist (so in my head I was thinkingcalling cards, mobiles, etc. - unfortunately the 'in my head' bits don't work unless you put them on the post!!!).

The info you've given is dead handy so I now know where to do some more research.

Thanks a lot :beer:
Sam