sarah_m

Hi everyone,

I've just moved back to the UK after 2 years of living in Canada. My boyfriend in Canada has unlimited international texts (to send and receive) and I was wondering if there are any phone companies in the UK that offer anything similar to this, or are at least cheaper than 30p/text which is what 02 are currently charging me!

thanks in advance,
Sarah

wolstie

5 years or so ago, you could make a one off payment to O2 of GBP#5 (on pay as you go) and all international calls were 10p per minute, and texts I think were 5p.

May be worth looking into that to see if they still do it?

conjonway

Isn't texting, but for the price it may be worth it:

What I used when I returned to the UK was http://www.18185.co.uk. Basically you call a number in London and that redirects it to whoever you're trying to call in Canada. The rate when I used it was just 0.5p a minute!

The only issue is that it uses up your 'local' minutes as you call the London number, but if you have one of those fancy unlimited calls to a certain number thing, then that'd be a sweet option.

Saved me a fortune in phone calls, and meant we didn't have to just rely on Skype to chat. She also had one of those cheap international text things, so she'd text me and I'd call her back.

Is real easy to set up too!

alexxtdot

I'm in the same situation with my boyfriend living in Toronto. T-mobile charge me 17p to send a text and free to receive, however when im out there it costs me 50p to send and receive texts and £1.20 min calls. They dont seem to have any USA/Canada boosters. We mostly use Skype and MSN while im in the UK as its free each way for both of us and can be used on our phones too.
Hope that helps
Alex

Animal

I use 'ping' with my wife who is currently in the UK. It is similar to SMS and uses a very small amount of data (uses no data if you are on Wifi).

I have free international texts here so I text her and she 'pings' me back.

Not sure what phone you have but it's free and I've got it on my iphone and she has it on her blackberry

just thought on - It changed it's name recently to 'touch'

Londonuck

Not sure but look up giff gaff. Free sim no contract. We had them and they were v cheap. 10 quid gets you 250 mins free calls to other giff gaff users and also free net unlimited browsing. God i miss them, the prices here make me quite angry!

Miss Clinique

If you have iphones install whats app it a messaging serviceservice that wont cost you a penny/dime. Or use PM on face book with you can pick up FB on your phone.

castra

That rate of £1.20 changed from 55p overnight a couple of years ago. The reason? The Mobile phone companies were forced to lower their European roaming charges by the European Commission. The well rewarded Eurocrats had spent many hours pondering & decided that the consumer using their UK mobile in mainland Europe was being ripped off.

How did the Mobile Phone companies respond? Yep, you've guessed it - At the same time they lowered their European rates, they hiked up their roaming charges for the rest of the World. Alas, the Boys from Brussels have no jurisdiction over Canada & the rest of The World.

marietuluse

Or you could both buy a Blackberry, then BBM each other, rather than text, which is totally free in all countries I have a T Mobile 12 month contract here in UK, for £15 a month you get unlimited UK texts, unlimited Internet, 100 minutes and you can choose from a selection of handsets including Blackberry, some are free, mine was just £35 for a Blackberry Curve.
You can upgrade your phone after 12 months or cancel contract
I don't think your boyfriend will find such a good deal in Canada though

sarah_m

My boyfriend already has a blackberry in canada and has free international texts as part of his plan. Maybe I'll look into getting a blackberry..hmm.

Because I don't know how permanently I'll be over here, I don't want to buy an iphone. I have a really crappy old UK phone that I know I'll need to change, but just don't want to be locked into a 12 -12 month contract when I'm not sure how long I'll be here for..

britsnake

When I was in the UK last year I just used email to text.

I know it is slightly technical but I sent the message as an email to her phone and she received it as a text message.

Below is some details of SMS email gateways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SMS_gateways

I got a pay as you go phone which had unlimited internet included so it was cheap.

CanadaJimmy

You can send SMS Messages from Skype at very reasonable rates (usually 2-3c). There are Skype apps for pretty much every smartphone platform. You can also make it look like it came from your phone number.

yzf.shaun

What phone do you have? Ping chat is available for blackberry and so is Kik messenger. They work much the same way as BBM. THey are also both available on android / iphone. If you dont have a smart phone then I would recommend something like the samsung galaxy ace as it will save you money in the long run by using this type of messenger service.

If you are with O2 then for calls if you dont have it already use the international favourites for £10 a month. This will give you an in canada number so you can be called from Canada for free and you can call you other halfs mobile for 3000 minutes per month. This is regardless of the allowance you have on your mobile.

cheeky_monkey

dump you Canadian boyfriend and get a UK one...problem solved

Animal

Not helpful in the slightest but this did make me laugh