How to Save Money on Mobile Phone Charges on Holiday

We all use our mobile phones on holiday and we have all probably in the past come home to find a large bill for all those hours we have spent calling home. In this age of instant communications by mobile phone or mobile internet and email many of us have become addicted to keeping in touch with our friends or relatives and we also feel the need to check our email inbox on a daily basis or even keep our Facebook status updated.Personally, I think it is good to be “off grid” for a while when on holiday.

It’s amazing how stress free not having to worry about keeping in touch can be.  Once you have weened yourself off the urge to check your email whilst on holiday you realise how much you don’t actually need to stay in touch as much as you thought!

Mobile phone charges  abroad are very expensive so the first way you can avoid a large bill is by not using your phone apart from an emergency. This will also mean that you will have a more relaxing holiday. If you don’t use your mobile phone, it won’t cost you.If you have to use your mobile phone whilst you are on holiday you need to be aware of the charges. It costs upto £1 a minute to make a call from abroad back home.

You don’t need to be a maths expert to realise that the costs will soon mount up.If you have to use your mobile phone whilst you are on holiday here are a few ways you can keep costs to a minimum:1. If you have internet access get yourself a Skype account and use that to call another Skype account user.2. If someone calls you from the UK on your mobile then it will cost you the call from the UK to wherever you are abroad. The caller only pays a UK to UK rate, so don’t think that if someone calls you that they are paying for the call !3. Many mobile phone networks offer a cheap rate package for calls from abroad so check with your network provider to see if they do special deals.

Also, make sure your phone is set up to work abroad – many phones won’t work abroad.4. Sending text messages is equally as expensive and charges vary but can be up to 50 pence per text message. However, receiving a text from the UK is free so try not to get into long “text conversations”.5. If you need to receive an incoming call from the UK, get the caller to ring the hotel and have them put the call through to your room. It’s much cheaper than a call to a mobile.6. If you are going to be staying in an EU country it may be worth buying a Sim card for that country. This will mean that calls within that country will be cheaper than using a UK network.For more information about using a mobile phone abroad and the charges involved there is a very good article here.

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Footnote

New EU rules have come into place from 1 July 2010 in a bit to prevent mobile phone users running up huge bills whilst abroad. The rules apply to data roaming or in other words using your mobile phone to access the Internet. Many people have run up huge bills for downloading films and music. It is reported that someone who downloaded a film ran up a bill of £37,000 !The new rules mean that Internet users who use their mobile phone will be automatically cut off when their monthly bill reaches 50 Euros or about £41. You can contact your service provider if you want to increase this limit.


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One response to “How to Save Money on Mobile Phone Charges on Holiday”

  1. chrismv avatar

    Why not get a sim card from the actual country you are visiting. They usually come with some credit on them, and could save both the caller and callee some money. That is if you spend a reasonable amount of time in the said country.

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