Advice please: Texting the Netherlands

midgetgem_2

Right after a couple of spectaularly huge phone bill from my mobile, I figured it would be a good idea to ask for advice on here.

I'm in a long distance relationship with someone in the Netherlands, while we converse mainly over the internet, its nice to send/recieve a text, or talk when I'm away from home with work.

I'm on Vodaphone with my mobile, and I only realised last month that every text I send is costing me 20p, and dread to think how much calls are - initially at least I presumed (very wrongly) that the texts were included in my package (200min 500texts) but of course they werent.

The call costs is something I maybe will have to live with and reduce, but does anyone know of the cheapest method to text abroad - do any networks include texts to europe in their packages?

mmcgill

hi.

i think that the solution you are looking for could be skype.
if you have internet and your partner has internet, then both sign up for sype.
this way you will be able to talk at length for very little cash
Mark

midgetgem_2

We use MSN and ventrillo (Skype has been quite patchy recently), but I work away from home (and thus the PC) about 1-2weeks a month- its the texting thats... uhm... biting me!

I'm not sure there is any way to fix t other than just not texting him, or rationing it, but figured it was worth asking!

snoopysox

Hi midget gem!

I'm in a similar situation, my oh works away in Sweden and I like to send him texts throughout the day.... I too am on a contract with Vodafone but did a lot of reseatch and found that o2 PAYG have a Bolt on, its a one off charge of £5 and texts are then 10p each and calls are 30p per min, whereas they're 75p pm on vodafone......

Last night, as I was seaarching for ways to speak to him more cheaply, I found o2 are now doing a "your Country" extra, you get up to 200 free mins dependant on top ups and texts are 10p on this too..... so if you top up "30 in one month (300 texts), you get 200 free mins to spek too! Great deal for me as I spend well over the £30a month!!

To check out the deal for yourself, look under the pay and go section on the online shop. I think the sims cost £9.99 or are free if you buy a phone.

Hope that helps

Hopefullyuseful1

Midgetgem,

I can understand why you want to look at a cheaper option it can get really expensive when calling and sending messages to someone in another country.

We do have a couple of options that should make keeping in touch with your partner in the Netherlands cheaper for you. You could look at adding our International Call Saver (ICS) onto your price plan. It costs £2.50 a month and will reduce your calls to the Netherlands from 94p/min to 25p/min. It doesn’t reduce the cost of text messages these will remain at 24p per message however the savings on calls should compensate for this. (This is subject to price plan availability.)

Another option you could look into would be to use Vodafone’s mobile internet. You would have full access to the internet and so would be able to keep in touch by email even when you’re away from your PC. You could even download the MSN application to your phone and chat on the go. Browsing the internet will be charged at the Vodafone daily rate of £1 for 15MB and £2 per MB there after. For your MSN usage you would be charged at a flat rate of £2 per MB.

And finally your last option would be to use the email client on your phone, if it has one, to access your emails and keep in touch this way. The charges for this will depend on the size of the emails sent and received and will be charged the same as the above daily rate. One other thing to consider would be to add the Vodafone mobile internet data bundle at £7.50 per month for 120MB.

If you would like any further information on any of the above options just ask here and we will answer them or you can contact Vodafone Customer Services on 191 from your mobile and they will be able to help you out.

All the charges quoted are including VAT.

Thanks
Hopefully Useful
Vodafone UK

bandraoi

One way to do it is to have a cheap PAYG phone each for each country.
Just dig out some old handsets/or ask around and find yourself some cheap Sims.

So you have a UK phone and a Netherlands phone and
They have a UK phone and a Netherlands phone.

When you are in the Netherlands, text their Netherlands phone using your Netherlands phone. The cost is the same as a normal local text and they don't get charged to receive it.

They can text your UK phone back from their UK phone, again the cost is the same as a normal local text and you don't get charged to receive it.

It's awkward, but it works.

SALOPMAN

Dont know if this is any help but get yrself a Pay as you go Simcard (Free) from T-Mobile, then log onto https://www.yourcallworld.com and they give u special code to use thru T-Mobile - just checked for Netherlands and currently its 3p to ring a netherlands landline and 15p to ring netherlands mobile. Hope that helps....

snoopysox

Further to my above post, I bought the Your Country sim today from the o2 shop in my town and its brilliant!!! I got it for free as I topped up instore and once I'd registered, I phoned my oh and it worked!! Still 10p per text and free calls!!

God bless o2!!!