Which Mobile Phone Contract? (1 Viewer)

[RogueStorm]

Having planned our trip to the Nth degree (obviously not!), someone mentioned that my current phone contract was going to be expensive as we're away for about 90 days in France, Spain, Portugal and possibly Italy from the 24th Feb. I'm currently with Orange on a sim only contract and I have an iPhone 5. I do NOT want data as we will tap into wifi on my laptop when available but I need the phone for family calls, emergencies and texting. Orange offer a £2.00 per day,only if you use it bundle, that kicks in the moment you make a call and you can make as many calls as you like up to an hour at a rate of 18ppm. The problem is that the £2.00 per day also applies to incoming calls and as I have no control over who calls me this could work out extremely expensive especially as I seem to be getting the PPI calls more frequently now.

I have been looking into pre-paid European sims but the more I delve the harder it seems to get.

Does anyone have a pay once, fix all solution or something that they have tried which would be of benefit?

Many thanks.

 

[Addie]

My advice would be to not get a contract and instead look at a PAYG or 30 day SIM card. If you spend a lot of time abroad there is going to be a lot of changes (hopefully) in the next 12 months and we don't know which network is going to come out top.

Three, for the countries it covers which for Europe, is probably going to be your best bet. Those countries are: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. From 1st April 2015 you can also use it in Spain. So the only country outside of the ones you list not covered is Portugal.

This allows you to use your phone (answer calls, make calls to the UK, data, texts etc) for no additional charge while you are abroad. If you have a contract you must use the phone in the UK for the first 30 days before you can use it abroad (so it wouldn't work until 5th March and you'd have to go online and enable roaming also) PAYG SIM's, however, work abroad from day 1. Only restriction is you can't (officially) tether to other devices.

The EE/Orange/T-Mobile data packages are very poor in comparison to this - they want £5 for 100MB of data valid 24hrs.

So why not just get a £15 'all in one' PAYG SIM from Three. £15/mth for 300 minutes, 3000 texts and 'Unlimited Data' (restricted to 25GB when abroad). http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Pay_As_You_Go

While the Three SIM is restricted to 3 months abroad, a month is only counted as a month if all 30 days are used in a 'Feel At Home' country. So if you go to Portugal on the 29th day and use the phone once that whole month does not count as one of the Three.

When in Portugal you can use data for £5/day (unlimited) or calls are standard EU call rates - which means answering a call is only 4p per minute - enough to tell the PPI caller to go forth and multiply I suspect.

 

[Harrers]

Have a look at 3
Can't give a good link from my phone but try looking at

www.three.co.uk/feelathome

They removed international roaming charges for 16 destinations which include France and Italy and from 1/4/2015 they're adding Spain and New Zealand.

I used my 3 sim in France last year for calls home and it was excellent just used my free mins so no extra cost at all. Look at payg sim - there's a £10 pm which might suit you or a £15 pm which includes unlimited data.

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[callumwa]

No brainer...

Three Three Three Three.......

On a PAYG sim or a sim only monthly contract. (You can cancel the contract at any time with 30 days notice). I have several thousand minutes and text every month as well as unlimited data for £15 per month on my monthly rolling contract so I can use them at no extra cost in all the countries already mentioned and Spain form April 1st.

 

[pappajohn]

You could put all incoming calls in the reject call list.

 

[pappajohn]

No brainer...

Three Three Three Three.......

On a PAYG sim or a sim only monthly contract. (You can cancel the contract at any time with 30 days notice). I have several thousand minutes and text every month as well as unlimited data for £15 per month on my monthly rolling contract so I can use them at no extra cost in all the countries already mentioned and Spain form April 1st.

No charge for incoming calls or text messages.
register for 'feel at home' on three and pay the same as in the uk for calls and texts in many countries...inc Spain from April.

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[Harrers]

I was going to refer you to Addie's comprehensive thread on using sims in Europe and see now that he replied whilst I was struggling with my post on my phone!

A thought occurred to me that if you have Internet and so does the recipient (or they have good 3g or 4G connection) you could call them for free using Skype or WhatsApp or even Rebtel.

If it's family members you're calling and they also have a smartphone, it's worth setting up one or all of these apps on their phone and yours before you go and trying it out.

Also if you are in a feel at home destination with a 3 payg sim with unlimited data and your minutes have run out you can still use the apps to call for free.

Another option if you have A bt land-line and bt broadband is to set up the bt SmartTalk app on your phone. You can make calls on your smartphone as if they were being made on your land-line so it depends on your bt tariff but most broadband packages includes free calls at weekends and evenings and you can add anytime calls if you want. Obviously again you have to be connected to the Internet on your phone. I find this app very useful for calling 0800 numbers from my smartphone.

 

[Wickolad]

I agree that Three is the way to go, however, i am pretty sure that if you use a Three PAYG sim, then in order to get the 'feel at Home' benefits offered by Three, you have to buy an ADD ON. Where as if you have a phone or sim only monthly contract it is free. Just worth checking before you commit. Well worth using whatsapp and facetime as well when wifi available.

 

[Addie]

I agree that Three is the way to go, however, i am pretty sure that if you use a Three PAYG sim, then in order to get the 'feel at Home' benefits offered by Three, you have to buy an ADD ON. Where as if you have a phone or sim only monthly contract it is free. Just worth checking.

I can confirm that this is not correct - all PAYG SIM's are activated for 'Feel at home' for no additional charge from the first day of use

Edit: Actually, hold my hands up on this one, yes all PAYG sim's are activated for use abroad from day 1 but it is the PAYG packages eg the Add On's that are valid for use abroad as per my original post further up: http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Pay_As_You_Go

The 3,2,1 PAYG tariff (where you pay 3p per minute, 2p per text and 1p per MB) isn't valid abroad itself, I don't believe.

It is still 'free' like it is on the contracts - but you need to have an activate package.

I'd go PAYG over contract right now and see what comes out in the wash in December.

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[Wickolad]

I can confirm that this is not correct - all PAYG SIM's are activated for 'Feel at home' for no additional charge from the first day of use

I stand corrected . Don't know where I got that from... Sure I heard it this morning on the radio, the quiet bit at the end of the advert, bit like the smallprint at the bottom of a contract.
Edit... I just looked it up and you are correct. But on payg you just have to convert your credits to an add on as quoted on Three website...
"If you're on Pay As You Go, all you need to do is convert your credit into an Add-on. You can then use the allowance in any Feel At Home destination."

 

[RogueStorm]

I guess the overwhelming result to this question would be to go to Three. I actually saw the advert for them at the pictures last night (Kingsman), and discounted it because we will be in Spain for most of March, however, may need to re-think that one. As Orange Wednesday finishes on the 25th Feb I'll probably do a complete switch rather than get a temporary Sim. Many thanks for the answers.

 

[mjltigger]

Don't jump just yet. The top tier of EE packages have no EU call roaming charges so dependent if you have high usage or not you might be better off with one of those.

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[RogueStorm]

I have an Orange sim only contract, £11 a month, don't use data and barely scrape through the free minutes and text so I guess mine won't be a top tier package. Plus the bloke down the EE shop last week p!55ed me off with his 'don't give a sh!7 attitude'. Orange Wednesday finishes this month so nothing to keep me with them, been going to the cinema every week since it started, saved £32-40 per month on tickets. The Three, sim only, rolling monthly contract for £13 looks to be the best bet at the moment, though still open to suggestions.