International roaming: send high mobile call costs packing

Be aware before you travel

Before you read on and become an international roaming expert it's vital that your phone is capable of making any journey with you. Most UK phones will work anywhere in Europe, but in North america and South america generally you will need a tri-band phone as a minimum. Many new handsets now offer quad-band coverage. If you don't know if your phone can handle the jetlag, call your mobile phone provider and check.

We already know that in the UK we have a ludicrously high cost of living compared to our European counterparts and unsurprisingly the charges we face for roaming are no different. Some networks charge in excess of £5 for a four-minute phone call (try calling home from Malta for four minutes on the Vodafone network – you’ll be stung with a charge of €7.36 – approximately £5.04) and it even costs to receive calls!

the charges for British users are among the highest on the continent, but there is good news. the European Parliament has reached a preliminary deal to cut roaming charges in EU countries with calls home from member countries costing up to 34p/minute – a huge drop from the current rates which can be as high as 94p/minute. However, these rules will take time to implement and there is a strong argument that they do not go far enough.

What type of user are you?

the solution to your international roaming woes is largely dependent on your circumstances.

Frequent flyers - Perhaps a business traveller who regularly travels abroad, someone who works overseas or someone who is going away for a long-time such as to backpack or for gap-year travel? In this case, you should take advantage of the SIM-PLE way to save.

Leisure travellers - are you a leisure traveller who only travels abroad for perhaps a week at a time once or twice a year? Do you want to be able to use your own mobile phone number so you can be contacted with ease? If this is the case, you should take advantage of the networks.

Frequent flyers – the SIM-PLE way to save

If you're a regular traveller, the way to secure big savings when abroad is to switch the phone's SIM card so that your calls go through a different provider. this can offer massive savings as long as you are planning to make/receive more than an hour's worth of calls – otherwise there is really no point. It is an additional hassle to get a SIM card (usually costing from £15-£30) but it will offer worthwhile savings in the long run.

As you're using a local SIM, calls are cheaper and there are no charges to receive calls. However, the people calling you will have to call an international number – though this should only cost pennies. Local SIM cards are ideal for people who consistently visit one country - perhaps if you have a favourite holiday destination or have regular meetings in an overseas head office. Bear in mind however, that your phone number will change using a different SIM card overseas.

Another option is to buy a GLOBAL SIM. these allow you to roam almost anywhere in the world with a single SIM card and are ideal for backpackers and gap-year travellers who are moving across countries, or even business travellers if your corporate work takes you around the world. One thing to note though is that most of these cards have automatic top-up systems, so if you want to avoid adding more credit than necessary, opt out of this system.

The following table illustrates the savings that can be made for a leisure traveller who makes and receives no more than 10mins of calls while on holiday in Spain:

As the tables illustrate the savings that can be made are massive for a frequent user. the cheapest SIM card has a total cost of just £24.00, which includes the initial cost of the SIM card. By contrast, the most expensive network, in this case O2’s PAY-as-you-go service without its My Europe or International traveller Service would charge £198 for the same call time - that's more than £170 more expensive! Even the cheapest network, also O2 using its My Europe service charges £70.00 - meaning you can save about £46 just by using the right SIM card.

Again the tables clearly emphasise the importance of choosing a SIM card if you are a frequent flyer. One hundred minutes of incoming and outgoing calls costs a mere £19 with the cheapest SIM card provider, compared to £110 from the cheapest network, in this case 3 Mobile. Even more shocking is the gap to the most expensive network with O2's regular PAY MONTHLY service charging £215 for the same call time. Clearly if you're a regular traveller, these savings (approximately £196) should be at the forefront of your mind.

For frequent flyer tables featuring all call charges in France, Spain, Germany and the Australia across all SIM card companies and UK networks, click here

Leisure travellers – take advantage of the networks

If you're a leisure traveller the savings that can be made with SIM cards are unlikely to be to your benefit once you have factored in the costs of buying the SIM, top-ups and the inconvenience of changing your regular mobile phone number and having your phone unlocked. Consequently, if you only travel for a week or two at a time, once or twice a year, it's probably best to stick with a mobile phone network. this will work out more cost effective as you don't have to splash out for a SIM card and you have the further convenience of using your own phone number. However, which network offers the best rates for overseas roaming?

The tables highlight that the largest saving can still be made by using a SIM card – however, the money saved is minimal when compared to the cheapest network, in this case the O2 My Europe tariff. the tables show that the vast majority of networks offer cheaper rates than all but the cheapest two SIM card – and of course sticking with your network is much more convenient as it saves you the inconvenience of having your phone unlocked. In addition, the table also emphasises the importance of taking roaming into consideration when choosing your network. there is more than £10 to be saved on just 10mins call time each way by choosing the O2 My Europe tariff over the regular O2 PAY-as-you-go charges.

How the networks compare

O2 was one of the most expensive networks for mobile roaming but that changed in July last year. Previously the network charged 99p/minute for PAY-as-you-go users to receive calls in France from the UK and making calls cost £1.49/minute – the highest cross-Channel call charge on the market. Yet this changed with roaming and call charges slashed to 25p/minute through the My Europe service (previously known as the Euro Bolt-on service). To reduce roaming charges outside Europe take advantage of its International traveller Service (ITS), which is free for users on higher charging contracts and will reduce your calling costs abroad, or the Chosen Country service (previously known as the High Roamer service) which is available for trips to Spain. the network now tops our network tables for 100mins and 10mins of calls to and from France, Spain and Germany. Importantly though, its regular PAY MONTHLY and PAY-as-you-go network roaming charges are among the most expensive on the market – so be sure to take advantage of these specialist roaming tariffs if you’re with O2.

Orange is offering call bundles for network users overseas. You can receive calls anywhere in the EU for an effective 30p/minute flat rate, while making calls costs 70p/minute. according to our tables Orange is the second cheapest network for 10mins of calls to and from France, Spain and Germany. the network also offers a call abroad SIM card allowing you to call 33 countries from the UK for as little as 5p/minute. the SIM card costs just £1.

3 Mobile is also among the cheaper networks for travellers at the moment, particularly outside the EU. To receive a call in australia on a PAY MONTHLY deal 3 charges just 30p/minute and you can make calls for just 80p/minute. the same call charges apply within Spain, Germany and France.

T-Mobile slashed its costs last year with the price of receiving a call from the UK falling from £1/minute to 55p/minute for PAY-as-you-go and PAY MONTHLY customers. the network is also top of the pile for calls to and from North america thanks to the stakes it holds in several North american networks its call costs over a 10minute period are significantly lower than even the cheapest SIM card from the USa - currently, it costs 55p/minute to call home from the USa. these prices are the same whether you are on a PAY MONTHLY or PAY-as-you-go deal.

Vodafone remains one of the most expensive networks – despite having agreed to cut roaming charges by at least 40 per cent in april 2007. at the time this article was produced in May 2007, those changes had not come into effect meaning that Vodafone has failed to meet its original projection. Whether these changes are implemented in the coming weeks or months remains to be seen but if you can’t wait that long, take advantage of Vodafone’s Passport service - this costs nothing to join with a one-off 75p fee to connect you to your home network and you are then charged the same tariff as in the UK whether you are making or receiving calls. Be sure to check the next update of this article to see if Vodafone has implemented the proposed changes to its roaming pricing.

For leisure traveller tables featuring all call charges in Germany, Australia and the USA across all SIM card companies and UK networks, click here.

Europe's Information Society includes a page that lists all typical roaming tariffs charged by UK operators when users travel to a number of destination countries. Visit this site for the latest call cost information. GSM World also offers independent mobile phone roaming information.

Making the most of new technologies

Emerging technology could change the way we phone home from abroad. Holidaymakers could even now call home for free if they route their calls over the internet by using a process called 'voice over internet protocol' (VoIP).

VoIP is established thanks to many consumers using the process at home to make cheap phone calls using broadband. Now, VoIP manufacturers are moving into the mobile phone market by launching handsets that can send and receive both calls and texts over the internet. the key however, is whether the phone is in range of a VoIP 'hotspot'. the disadvantage of VoIP is that it will only work within the range of a signal, but the massive advantage is that charges will remain the same wherever you are in the world because the internet does not recognise geographical boundaries.

Further alternatives are emerging such as combining this technology with the networks allowing you to switch between VoIP and network usage - which removes the inconvenience and still allows large savings to be made. However, this does create problems, as you might not be aware when you move out of VoIP range and consequently you c