International Mobile Roaming Discussion Area

TomW_3

Am off to Egypt this week. I have an O2 contract phone. Please tell me stage by stage in laymans language what to do to cut the cost of me ringing back to a uk mobile or uk land line. I intend to talk for about 1 hour a day over 7 days.

If the above is not going to work very well then can I arrange for my girlfriend to call me on my mobile in Egypt or my Egypt hotel room land line. If her calling me is cheaper then what should she do. She has a vodafone mobile contract and a uk landline.
Many thanks
Tom

knuckledragger

TomW,
Take a second unlocked phone with you, buy a local sim, use that in the phone. Text your girlfriend with the number and get her to call you (from her landline) on it using one of the cheap companies (see the CallChecker link above).
Don't forget to set your usual mobile phone to divert all incoming voice calls to answerphone. Set a message on the answerphone saying that you're not receiving voice calls until <insert date> but you can be texted on this number.
Strange but it would appear to be 1ppm cheaper to call an Egyptian mobile than a landline.

BexTech

Remember to set the divert all calls up before you leave the UK, otherwise you will be double charged for calls to your voicemail.

andy88_2

Tom if you set up an account with a callback company for the Egyptian number, you will be able to make calls to UK for from US 23c per minute.

I'm not allowed to name the companies though, even though I have no connection except as customer, but it is possible this post will be deleted as suspected spam even so, like previous ones.

Your girlfriend should be able to use cheap calls providers to make calls to your Egyptian number for 1p per minute offpeak or 4p peaktime, if you get a bit crafty about it, though as I'm away for a few days myself I haven't tried for a few days.

If you decide to use the O2 mobile just to initiate her calling you back, remember to sign up for O2's International Traveller Service option, which dramatically cuts the cost of calls.

I'm not so sure about the voicemail discussion above. I think there are differences between the call being diverted to VM when ther phone is on or off. One thing for people to make sure of is to have the phone on when crossing borders. I can't say I'm a great expert on VM abroad, but I believe that if the phone is off, but has been used or on for more than a couple of hours in a new country, then it diverts at home.

andy88_2

It does seem rather inconsiderate of uk2abroad to use 0870 numbers, not only for customer services, but also as the trigger number for their over-priced callback service.

This means that those of their customers in countries where it is impossible to ring UK 0870 numbers will find that it is impossible to use the callback service, or ring up to enquire why not. (Many networks, including several GSM networks, do not define UK 0844, 0845 ,0870, and 0871 numbers as in use.)

andy88_2

grumpyoldgit wrote:

In Uganda I use MANGO (Uganda Telecom) costs me about 30p a minute to phone home to UK and top up cards are available on virtually any street corner. SIM cost £5 with £4 credit

In Kenya I use SafariCom - costs about 32p a minute for home. SIM cost £4 with £3 credit.

alternatively, use a callback service, costing from US 32c for Kenya and 21c for Uganda

andy88_2

A1ia5 wrote:

Hi - looking around to get a riing sim card - just been on the phone to them and they sell for 50 CHF in switzerland - this includes 25 CHF for the SIM and 25 CHF for calls. Over in the UK same card sells for £30 approx, this is about £9 more than in Switzerland. Anybody know a cheaper UK retailer or a Swiss/Euro company that does them cheaper and will ship to UK ?

Cheers

as I said in a now-deleted post, there are several retailers abroad selling cheaper than this

Try Globalsim or Call4T in Germany; postage costs about 5 Euro (sorry I'm on a foreign keyboard; can't find symbol) - look on eBay or https://www.globalsim.net

I must make it clear I have no interest in either company and will be upset if this post is also deleted on such an assumption.

Once current stocks are run down, the SIMs will have 15 Euro credit instead of 5

andy88_2

mouseclick wrote:

Disclaimer: I have not checked call prices in detail, but most providers seem the same with the exception of sim4travel who quote prices in UKP and perform their own currency conversions.

Footnote: Call prices ARE different. Some providers charge for incoming calls even when the mobile is in the UK. I don't have time to look into it in great detail so maybe someone else could. It is all very confusing with VAT, currency conversion, some prices quoted in UKP and Euros etc, some with call setup costs, different text prices etc
[...]
Several hours later...

I think Riiing are the best.
1. They are generally slighly cheaper to use than the others
2. Credit expiry time is 9 months, extended if the phone is used.
3. No incoming call charges in most European Countries.

Martin, if you read this, unless I am mistaken this card is better on all counts than the sim4travel one that you suggested in the recent article. Does anyone agree / disagree?

The UK agents tend to quote Riiing's call charges but neglect to mention that they then add UK VAT, which means that 28p/minute is wrong, as for example Oneroam's exchange rate is 15 Euro = 12.80 Pounds

I told Martin about Riiing 3 months ago, and hinted at how to use it for even still cheaper calls, but he appears to believe I have an undeclared interest

TomW_3

Andy, Bex and Knuckledragger
Really appreciate your advice. Just ordered a dual band any sim nokia 1100 from carphone warehouse £40 if throwing in my old phone and charger.
Tom

andy88_2

I'm rather surprised nobody, including Martin, has mentioned Hop mobile yet

cheaper rates in USA, etc, where UM rates tend to be a bit higher - in many countries incoming calls 35c outgoing calls 95c - I've also read that this SIM can be roamed at these prices in certain satellite phones

sorry, got to go, maybe more tomorrow - or perhaps when Martin gets round to his comparison of the major operators ...