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Phone home

01 May 2013

Calling home when you’re overseas can become an expensive exercise. If you set your phone up to support global roaming, you can be hit with a very large bill on your return home. This is because you pay for the international part of any incoming call, over and above your normal monthly fee. Messages also tend to be pricier as do outgoing calls from your mobile.

The alternatives

There are plenty of other options for you to keep in contact with your family and friends.

Travel sim cards

Travel sim cards act as a prepaid service. Most companies that offer a travel sim have coverage in nearly 200 countries so you can use the phone almost anywhere.

Essentially, you swap your current sim card with a travel sim card and this will greatly reduce the cost of your mobile networks’ roaming rates. This is because the company that offers the travel sim card purchases airtime from an international mobile network for a fraction of the cost. This is then on-sold to you.

Of course, this means you’ll receive a different number, generally an international number, so anyone wanting to call you will have to know that number. This does mean, however, that anyone calling you will have to pay the international fare, rather than the local fare they would need to pay if they were calling your Australian number.

There are some companies that provide an Australian landline number, rather than an international mobile, that then redirects the call to you on your international phone. This means that anyone calling you will only be charged a local call.

Another downfall of using a travel sim card is call quality. The sound may not be up to scratch purely because there are several connections that need to be made before the call reaches your handset.

It can also be difficult when making a call. When you dial out, the network will essentially hang up on you. You’ll then receive a call back connecting you to the number you were trying to contact. This is because the cost of receiving calls is less than the cost of making calls. So in the end, it’s cheaper for you.

If you’re using a smartphone, data usage can also be quite expensive when going through a travel sim card. The charges can sometimes be three times the price of using data through your normal phone roaming and up to ten times the price of using data through a prepaid mobile roaming plan.

Which travel sim cards to look at

TravelSIM

SimCardGlobal Atlas +44 

Max Roam 

GoSIM 

Use the country you’re in

The other alternative is to organise a local sim card from the country you’re visiting. At most international airports or in most shopping malls, there will be a local phone shop. All you need to do is go in and request a prepaid local sim card and off you go.

Of course, this means you’ll either have to travel with two phones (one with your Australian sim card in it and the other with the local sim card in it) or you’ll have to travel without your Australian number.

Local sim cards generally offer the best rate for local calls and a reduced rate for international calls and texts. You can also get a data pack with the local sim card which are cheaper than using your phone on global roaming.

You’ll have to provide some personal details, for example your passport number and a local address, so be prepared to hand that over. You’ll also have to provide everyone with your international number. A good idea can be to put it on your local number’s voice mail so when someone tries to call you on your Australian number, they’ll know which number to call.

If you’ll be travelling to several different countries on your trip away, it may not be beneficial to purchase a local sim card as that will constantly change. Another tip is to be very well prepared with the amount of data you’ll need. Better to have more data available than pay the extra fees for going over.

In both situations when you use a travel sim card or a local sim card, you’ll need to make sure the network you’re with in Australia unlocks your phone. Generally, phones are locked to the network provider you use in Australia. If you don’t unlock it, the new sim card won’t work.

Using your Aussie number

If you absolutely have to take your Australian number away, there are still ways to keep the costs down.

Make sure you only take calls, rather than make them, and make all phone calls brief. Try to use Skype and other free internet services as much as possible. Lastly, try to use internet messaging services as well so you avoid any international SMS charges.