Roaming and your bank balance

There are additional charges to pay when you are roaming. Remember that your phone number stays at home, but your phone roams. As a result, outgoing calls go direct to their destination, but incoming calls go via your home network.

What is the cost?

Incoming calls to your mobile number are forwarded to your mobile: the caller pays for the call to the UK mobile number, and you pay for the international diversion as if you had dialled the international leg from your mobile (or far more). This means that you should look carefully at roaming charges when choosing a mobile network if you plan to use your phone frequently in other countries.

So which calls are international?

Calling a number in the same country is a domestic call. Calling a number from your home call is an international call, even if that number is of a mobile roaming in the same country. To simplify things for users, most of the mobile networks charge you for at least an international call back to the UK for every call. How generous of them!

Calling your friend or colleague's mobile phone in the same town would still involve two international diversions: one home at your expense, and another to the roamed-to country at the recipient's expense.

Because of the potential for huge bills, you will have to pass an additional credit check (and possibly pay a deposit) before your Service Provider will allow roaming on your account.

Can I reduce the cost?

Your best plan is to choose a mobile network with low roaming call charges.

If you will be in one country for an extended period, you could get a mobile phone account there. With no established credit history and no settled address, you may only be able to have a PAYG account, but this would avoid the cost of incoming calls. Even this can be tricky, because of local registration rules, but the cost savings can be significant.

You would also have a "local" mobile number. As long as your callers know your new number, it may be cheaper for them to call an overseas number than to call a domestic mobile number, and you'd not pay to receive the call.

Roaming in America

America is a special case for roaming charges. See the USA page for details.

Roaming and PAYG

Most PAYG phones can be used for roaming, but the charges are rather high. Check the charges before making a lot of calls, or you may find that your credit runs out fast.

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