Three Go Roam from USA making calls to USA

BlueVinney

Shortly going to USA and was expecting to upgrade my PAYG with an Advanced Plan to cover roaming for the couple of weeks I'm there. Two problems which I've realised after looking through the 'detail'.


1. In the 'Plan' calls to the USA from the USA are not at 3p/min but 55p. So would it work instead to dial the 'indirect routing service' I use for calls in UK (@3p/min) then let it redirect the call back to USA (@1p/min) i.e total 4p/min? Has anyone got experience of using that technique?


2. I wouldn't want to initiate the Advanced Plan til I'm in USA, more than 3 weeks after leaving UK. Looks like that can only be done from the phone which will be in the USA without voice or data service. Again, any suggestions how I could do that?


Thanks for any ideas.

eDicky

1. If the number you call for the service is a UK geographic or mobile number, yes it would work.

2. Maybe use WiFi to contact..?

grumbler

What's 1p/min?

BlueVinney

Thanks for your reply eDicky.


Yes the redirection service provides an 0808 number for use by mobiles. I was a bit concerned about any call quality issues caused by 2 stages of redirection and 10,000 miles transmission even to a property only a few miles down the road!


I'll check again with Three about setting up Go Roam. They originally said I can't login to my account on the Three website to buy and activate the 'Advanced Plan' when I'm in USA.

BlueVinney

Hi Grumbler, you're quite right. Haven't used the service since last year, prices have risen!



Costs break down as:
Go Roam call to redirection line = 3p/min (from mobile Plan credit)

Redirection service call to USA = 2.5p/min (charge to my Rs account)
Total for redirect call to USA = 5.5p/min


Still rather less than 55p/min for Three PAYG.

Roger1

BlueVinney wrote: »

Still rather less than 55p/min for Three PAYG.

Yes, not bad.

My togglemobile SIM lets me call US->US landlines and mobiles for 3p per minute and has the option of a permanent US number. (I use this.)

Frozen_up_north

Check out Ringo, not sure about being mobile in the USA, but it’s cheap/free to some destinations via a UK (03xxx) number.

chrisunitt

Let's face it, most people just want access to the internet whilst roaming and calls/texts are not a priority when you have services like Whatsapp/Facebook messenger/Skype

From my experience, for the USA the best solution is to get your phone unlocked if not already and buy a local T-Mobile Pay as you go sim

It costs 3$ per month to keep the SIM active and for 10$ per week you can purchase a 'data pass' to get unlimited data, although it is throttled at 128kbps after you use a gigabyte, but for whatsapp/google maps/uber/facebook etc it works fine for me. You can purchase another 10$ weekly data pass at any time to lift the speed restriction. There is also a tourist SIM but I personally find the above more cost effective and the SIM stays alive for your next trip so you keep your US number.

You also get 30 minutes of domestic talk or text (a text costs 1 minute) for the 3 dollars per month, which is perfect for making the occasional local call.

You can purchase these sims in the us or if you go to us ebay (ebay.com instead of ebay.co.uk) you can purchase one there and have it shipped to the UK. I have had no issues activating the SIM in the UK with a UK credit card.

Once set up, you could set up a redirect service to your US number while you're away instead of routing calls back and forth, this should mean less delay on the line. Calls to US numbers and internet traffic won't have lag introduced by routing via the UK either.

merchcon55

BlueVinney wrote: »

Shortly going to USA and was expecting to upgrade my PAYG with an Advanced Plan to cover roaming for the couple of weeks I'm there. Two problems which I've realised after looking through the 'detail'.


1. In the 'Plan' calls to the USA from the USA are not at 3p/min but 55p. So would it work instead to dial the 'indirect routing service' I use for calls in UK (@3p/min) then let it redirect the call back to USA (@1p/min) i.e total 4p/min? Has anyone got experience of using that technique?


2. I wouldn't want to initiate the Advanced Plan til I'm in USA, more than 3 weeks after leaving UK. Looks like that can only be done from the phone which will be in the USA without voice or data service. Again, any suggestions how I could do that?


Thanks for any ideas.

1. This is exactly what I do when I visit USA. When calling the indirect routing service, use the USA international format 011, then 44, then your services UK number.

The quality of the calls are perfect - and as you say, it will cost you the 3 per minute charge of 3p per minute + your services charge to USA


2. I have certainly been able to log into my 3 account in USA and to top up if needed. I once had an issue topping up - so I went onto the online chat. For the inconvenience, they topped up my account £5 free of charge.


3 internet in USA is not the best - it can be quite slow. OK to check on emails, facebook, etc.. but for anything else it can be very very slow.

Gloomendoom

I'm on 3 PAYG and have never added an "Advanced Plan" to cover roaming.

Roaming seems to work fine, even so.