Ditching Landline

Gummomarx

I'm thinking of getting rid of my Virgin Media phone line which currently allows free calls to any UK phone under my Talk More Anytime contract.  The reason I'm doing this is that those SIM-only deals look much better value with their unlimited minutes and texts.

My question is in relation to calling the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland where I live - will these be free also?  If not, please recommend an alternative.

eDicky

Presumably it's an international call with any relevant charges applied. I think Lebara include RoI in the inclusive international call minutes of their tariffs, you can check.

savergrant

AFAIK uk networks do not operate in rep of Ireland, and Irish networks do not operate in NI. So crossborder calls/texts will be international calls. Most networks will allow you to use some of your included minutes for international calls, but it will be limited. If you need to make a lot of calls to the Republic it may be worth looking into purchasing a local sim and checking if calls from the UK are still included in eu roaming.

Gummomarx

If I call a UK number belonging to someone who's holidaying in Dublin, is it classed as international or is it included in unlimited minutes?

eDicky

Gummomarx said:

If I call a UK number belonging to someone who's holidaying in Dublin, is it classed as international or is it included in unlimited minutes?

Calls to a UK number will always be classed as such to the caller, no matter where that called phone is roaming.

Gummomarx

And if he calls me, will he be charged?

Neil49

Gummomarx said:

And I he calls me, will he be charged?

Only if they have roaming included in their contract. If they don't have roaming then they will be charged for an international call. 

eDicky

Gummomarx said:

And if he calls me, will he be charged?

It depends which network he's using. He is roaming in EU, some networks still give inclusive EU roaming according to the regulations that ban roaming fees within EU, and others don't since Brexit. If the latter he will pay roaming charges to call you and probably also to receive a call from you.