Making and receiving calls and texts, and receiving voicemail is usually very expensive when you're overseas, but you can make it a lot cheaper with a little preparation.
By now anyone who cares probably knows this, but in case you don't: Britons are charged heavily to both make and receive calls from mobiles when abroad. We're also charged extra for texts and to listen to voicemails.
(Sometimes I think our network operators subscribe to the Homer Simpson view of staying in touch: "The problem is communication: too much communication!")
Each operator has various packages for roaming charges, making them hard to compare. With Vodafone, for example, you can use the standard tariff, the cost of which depends on the country you're in. To make or receive calls in Germany it costs 75p per minute. Vodafone also has a package where you can pay 55p per minute in North America and Europe. And they also have another package, which I'll come to in a moment. Do you know what package you're on?
Whichever provider, or package, you're on, the one thing they all have in common is that they're curse-ed expensive. However, you can hugely reduce your costs by using the following tips:
- Assume that things are not as they seem
Read the small print carefully, as roaming charges are rarely straight forward. For example, 'special' flat rates are often restricted to specified countries, or you may be charged more than you were led to believe if you're on the phone for, say, over an hour. - As cheap as SIM
For many of you, the simplest way to reduce your roaming mobile-phone bill is to buy a foreign pay-as-you-go SIM card. You'll often be able to get SIMs that will permit free incoming calls and much cheaper outgoing calls. For example, calling the UK from Australia with an Australian SIM could cost as little as 13p per minute.
You can buy such SIMs and top-up credits in airport shops and other tourist areas. Alternatively, you can buy on the Internet. You can find providers using a search on the Web, or by asking a question in our discussion board: Mobile Phones & PDAs. Examples are 0044.co.uk and cellhire.co.uk.
In order to use another SIM you have to 'unlock' your phone first, which simply means that you allow other networks to use it. Ask your network provider to do this or try websites like unlock.co.uk.
Don't forget to let your friends and family know your temporary number and save all your contact details in the phone's memory, not on your SIM. - Another Vodafone package
I'm sure many frequent travellers will like this package. You pay a 75p connection fee and then domestic rates for each call. The best bit is that you can use your bundled minutes, so a half hour call could cost no more than 75p! - O2's new deal
Frequent travellers to Spain may be interested to know that O2 now has a £5 monthly flat-rate for receiving calls whilst in Spain. Also covered in this package are calls back to the UK at 25p per minute, rather than O2's usual rate of 99p per minute! O2 intends to offer the same deal for more than 35 countries next year. - What to do with voicemail?
You're charged for receiving voice mails even if you don't listen to them. The simplest solution is to switch it off whilst abroad. (Again, ask a question on our Mobile Phones & PDAs discussion board if you don't know how.) Alternatively, you could divert your phone.
Many of you won't want to take such drastic measures, but you may find that there are other options. Vodafone, for example, allows you to access your voicemail over the Web, so you could save money by using a cheap Internet café. - Text messages
It costs about 25p to 50p to send text messages when abroad through your network provider, but you can set up your phone to charge as little as 10p per text by using websites such as 10ptext.co.uk. - Use a different phone!
It's far cheaper to have a long conversation by using a landline with a prepaid local phone card. For example, calling a UK landline from Spain in this way costs about 1p per minute. You can buy phone cards in newsagents around the world or you can search the Internet for various companies that will supply you online. - Use a different different phone
Rather than calling from a mobile or a landline, make a call through the Internet for free from an Internet café. Many of them will let you use Skype (skype.com), which is free to other Skype users. If you call a regular landline or mobile phone, it can cost as little as 1p per minute.
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