rld1177

Hi everyone.

I am moving to Oz in a couple of weeks and am trying to pick a mobile phone (blackberry) plan. I see a lot of plans that include free / unlimited Oz to Oz calls but does anyone know of a good plan for international calls? Id like to receive calls from the USA and UK without high per minute fees but it looks like mobile phone are mainly focused on domestic calling only. Any advice? Or is it better to use a landline for international calling?

Thanks!

JCSUPERMOTO

You can buy a $20 international online virgin bundle.
30 days to use it,but call anywhere in the world (mobile to mobile)for something like 15cents!!!

upyerfud

Telstra pre-paid Cap Encore. $50 recharge gives $1000 credit. Overseas calls are 99c/min to US and $2.50 to UK. 35c per overseas SMS and 2GB of data.
1000 mins calls to US or 400 to UK for $50 seems like a bit of a steal, and no contract. 30 day usage limit applies. Their roaming fees when abroad are huge though. Its one of the few good things about Telstra, other than their coverage.

EvannTel

Voda do a similar pack my OH uses at $29 but not as much credit IIRC

irishbloo

Vodaphone now do a $30 credit and you get $450 value.Woolies and a few other places give you 10% off.

rld1177

Thanks this is really useful info. I am also wondering and fees on the other side. For example I remember in the UK if I was on vodaphone and called another vodaphone cell phone I could get free calls (I think) for them to receive and I only had to pay my fees.

In a nutshell I am just trying to figure out the best mobile plan with limited fees on the other end (receiving calls) in the USA or UK mobiles. What I am trying to avoid is something like: 50 cents a minute to the USA, them being charged say 50 cents because it is a call from an Oz mobile, etc. I am wondering if since I mainly want to stay in touch with people in the USA if I might be better off buying a good USA plan with a good roaming data pack, and then calling US friends since at least they will be taking a call from a USA number on their mobile phone that way?

rld1177

Another option I am considering, curious if others do this, is just buying an Oz blackberry and using the blackberry messenging service to friends since most have blackberrys. Seems a lot cheaper net net vs doing 35 cent overseas SMS!!

EvannTel

I think the rioters in the UK did this!

JoeBloggs80

Using BBM or some other kind of instant messaging (whatsapp, gchat, etc) is definitely much better than texting!

My vodafone plan has international minutes included as part of the cap and isnt that expensive. I pay $49 a month, and make at least 3 or 4 hours worth of calls to the UK per month on it and never go over the limit.

Also, remember you dont have to pay for incoming calls whereas I believe in the the US you still do?

bcworld

TPG Heavy plan is $35/month and gives $1000 'value'.

UK Landline is $1.43/min so that would give around 11 hours of calls per month!

And there is no contract.

http://www.tpg.com.au/mobile/plans.php

Raveo

I know this thread is a little old but this may still help.

Try Registering with a company called localphone.com, add credit with them and they give you a local number to call wherever you are, they then re-route your call to the number you have already nominated to the local number. You can do this for all your contacts and they can do it for you. To call the UK is 7.9c a minute to mobiles, 1c a minute to land lines!

Charliewilson

This last MSG is right! I could call my mum in uk from oz for an hour every other day!!! Great cheap way if ur home sick! X

h2oskineil

I have a phone on a $99.00 plan unlimited calls.

I have a Skype out number (Which is a local number here in Perth) $6.99 UK only $8.99 Europe and call the Skype Out number to be connected to Europe. All calls are first class quality and unlimited.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/prices/pay-monthly/

For $13.99 you get unlimited World calls to 41 countries.

Unlimited World

Make unlimited3 calls to landlines in 41 countries worldwide.
$13.99/month

Our home phone has free local calls, so we can use the Skype Out number and get unlimited calls from Mobile and Landline.

There are no fee's to accept incoming calls from abroad.

Cannot recommend Skype out enough, for $8.99 unlimited calls to Europe work fantastic for us and I usually have 1/2 hour to 1 hour most days on the mobile to the UK and my wife has at least 1 hour per day to the UK from the home landline.

DadAgain

Another idea - for those people who dont have landlines and want to call UK on the cheap:

MyNetfone VOIP service (or similar) for $5 a month gives up to 60 untimed calls to UK numbers.

Call your folks using the MyNetFone iPhone/Android app (I know the OP asked about blackberries - but hey....) when your at a WiFi hotspot - and pay nothing.

I used the MyNetFone app when I was in the UK to call people back in Australia and it works well.

GarryP

Reading your query again, I see you are looking to reduce the cost of the overseas caller to you. Obviously you won't pay, but you'd like them not to either.

My suggestion is to focus on VoIP calls, either SIP or Skype, with dial-in numbers in the US and UK for relatives there to use. That way they call what is virtually a local call, and you can receive it here - using either 3G or Wifi. Added advantage is often video calling as well, of course.

PS I'd go Android Smartphone rather than Blackberry, they are dying.