Mobile/ Cell Phone Usage and Roaming Charges in the UK

When coming to the UK, most travellers see no need for arranging local SIM cards for themselves as they think it is best, and easiest, to just use their usual phone contracts, from their own countries, and paying “roaming rates”. Travellers, beware! If you are coming to the UK from anywhere outside the EU, you need to be very cautious when using your mobile phone. Because you will be using your phone outside your operator’s network, you will be charged “roaming rates” and these usually work out to be prohibitively expensive. The average roaming rate in the UK is £1.66pm (per minute) to make a call home (as compared to the local rate starting from about £0.04pm to call home if you buy a local SIM card!) If you roam, you will also be heavily charged for receiving calls, sending texts (SMS’s), using data (e.g. 3G services), and even when people leave messages on your answer phone! (You will also be charged heavily to receive your voicemail.)

Option 1 – Pay as You Go local SIM :

One way of ensuring that you don’t get a fright when you open your next phone bill is to purchase a pay-as-you-go UK SIM card to use whilst in the UK. This can save you a lot of money, even if you do not plan to make a lot of calls. By buying a SIM card, with a new number, you will not receive annoying- and expensive- calls from people who do not know that you are away and you will not be charged heavily for receiving calls from home that you do not answer and that are, therefore, routed to your answer phone.

You will need to make sure that your phone is unlocked, and can work on GSM 900/1800. You can check both of these by calling up your network provider, and asking them. Otherwise enquire at your local mobile phone store. If your phone does not work on these frequencies, you can find GSM 900/ 1800 phones for very little on the Internet. Any time you go away you can use that phone, and save money.

Option 2 – Get a Cheaper Deal from your Network Provider:

Find out from your network if they have any deals on international roaming which would significantly reduce roaming costs. They won’t get you lower rates than getting a local SIM card, but if you need to have your home number whilst you are away, this could at least help to reduce the cost.

If you are coming to the UK from the EU, you do not need to worry too much about using your usual phone in the UK, unless you intend on staying in the UK for a while or are a heavy user, because there are EU regulations that restrict the maximum cost for roaming in the EU. However, making calls will still be more expensive than it is at home, and you will be charged extra to receive calls and to use data services.
For more information on this check with your provider.

Voicemail Charges Explained

The snowball effect
This is the snowball effect that occurs when you don’t pick up a call:
You pay
Someone at home calls your mobile and, since you’re roaming, you’re charged for the international leg of the call.
You pay again
The international network now tries to locate you, and if your phone is busy or you don’t take the call, the call will be diverted to your voicemail box at home. You will be charged at international rates again!
And again.
You will now be alerted that you have received a voicemail message and, if you’d like to hear it, you’ll have to phone into the voicemail platform in your home countries network. So this is your third payment at international rates.

Further Roaming Information

ChillSIM research (Based upon averages compiled from numerous countries outside the EU).

Roaming charge averages
Calling your home country	£1.66pm
Making a call to a UK number	£0.88
Receiving a call	£0.78
Sending an SMS	£0.32
1mb of data usage	£11.19 (estimated lowest cost, billed in KB increments, could be higher)

 

The “£0.04pm” figure quoted after the roaming rate charge is the call rate available back to many countries using Lebara SIM cards, which ChillSIM.com currently supplies.

Other tariffs using Lebara SIM cards:

Using a Lebara SIM card
International calls	From £0.04pm
Receiving calls	Free
UK landlines	£0.05pm
UK mobiles	£0.10pm
UK and international texts/SMS	£0.10 per message
10MB worth of data a day	£0.50

For more information and to obtain a roaming SIM for your trip to the UK – visit ChillSim’s website: http://www.chillsim.com/

 

EU Regulation

The European Union’s Web page which explains current EU roaming regulation.