UK call charges when overseas (Indonesia + USA case study)

TL;DR Unless you're on Three, you're probably best getting a local SIM card when travelling to Indonesia

I've got an upcoming trip to Indonesia, and while all UK phone networks currently allow you to use your phone in the EU at no extra charge (and sometimes in the US) for other locations it's far less clear. This is my initial attempt to cover the main networks from best to worst (plus comparisons with the same trip to the USA) and I've included GiffGaff at the end just because I have one of their SIM cards too so was interested. When you're near buildings you might have WiFI accessible but if not you probably want to be aware of the charges particularly if you've not travelled to the area before.

DISCLAIMER: I cannot be held responsible for the information in this post. I believe it is all correct at the time of writing. I have given the links to the networks' web sites so you can check the current situation yourself. Don't blame me if you get charged more than you were expecting!

Three: Part of their Go Roam around the world which covers 71 countries include USA and Indonesia, so charges are as per the UK (included in any allowance) in both of those locations even on PAYG (3p/min, 2p SMS, 1p/MB data)

Vodafone: 104 countriesincluding USA and Indonesia for £6 a day on their Roam Further offering lets you use your allowance abroad.  On PAYG it's 12p/MB, 60p/min, 36p/min to receive calls, 8p/SMS. (There are also "Global Roaming Plus" plans which including 29 extra countries on top of the 28 European ones including the USA but not Indonesia)

O2: EU included (Pay monthly, PAYG) The O2 travel bolt-on (£4.99 a day) includes Indonesia use (check the O2 travel section of the FAQ for the country list) and gives you 120 minutes and 120 texts plus unlimited data each day  - you need to enable it by texting O2TRAVEL to 23336 if you're on Pay Monthly (or TRAVELON to 21300 on PAYG - web site is false on this - it's not available on PAYG) and includes 120 texts, 120 minutes, and unrestricted data per day. PAYG standard rates in the USA or Indonesia are £2/min calls, 50p SMS and a ridiculous £7.20/MB data. (There's also an "O2 Travel inclusive zone"  bolt on for "O2 refresh" or SIM only 20GB+ tariffs that lets you use your phone in 27 other countries (Includes USA, not Indonesia) Whoever thought "O2 travel inclusive" and "O2 travel" were good names for separate offerings should probably be fired for causing confusion ...)

EE: For a post-May 2017 "Max", calls and SMS from your plan are included when in the USA, Canada, Mexica, Australia and New Zealand. Otherwise (including PAYG) it's £1.20/min calls, 60/SMS, No data without add-on. For Indonesia nothing is included on pay monthly or PAYG and it's £1.80/min, 60p/SMS ... Travel data passes if you're on pay monthly are £4.80/day for 500MB (USA) or £6/day for 150MB (Indonesia). Text "TRAVEL" to 150 to enable it. On PAYG it's £5 for 20MB/day, £10 for 45Mb/day, £20 for 90MB/week

GiffGaff: Only European countries are included in any bundles, so use in USA and Indonesia are 20p/MB, £1/minute, 30p/SMS

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

macOS - first experiences from a Linux user perspective

Image
(Link to this article on twitter:  https://twitter.com/sxaTech/status/1628064140576059392 ) A while back I took delivery of a Mac Mini M1 system ("2020" model with 16Gb RAM running MacOS 11.6 "Big Sur" (It's now on 12.3). It came with no keyboard, mouse or screen (but I had plenty of them around, including a Unicomp Model M buckling spring keyboard with mac keycaps which I'd acquired a few months previously!) First problem was that the HDMI output didn't seem to want to talk to the 1600x1200 screen I had on my desk, so I switched it over to my 27" 1080p display ... So what's it like to use? I've used macOS systems as servers before but other than a small amount of GUI remote access I hadn't seriously used a desktop system before so I wanted to share "first timer" experience for some common use cases as a developer. Oh, and it's quick. Really quick. Whatever Apple have done in designing the M1 ("Apple Silicon") CP
Read more

Antisocial Networking: List of Top Tips

[Short link to this article if you need it:http://goo.gl/sWOd] Everyone's using social networks these days. Well ok not everyone, the people that don't usually give one of two reasons. Either they don't have time or they think it's all about posting what you had for breakfast. If it replaces other information sources in your life (e.g. using social networking instead of reading news feeds) then it doesn't have to take any extra time. The second reason, well, possibly valid, so here are my tips on how to make your social networking activities worthwhile I often see updates that are of no interest to me whatsoever, or I see things that just don't make sense. So here are my top tips to avoid for 'status updates' on social networking services to avoid me disconnecting from you. Don't be an antisocial networker: Status updates that don't stand alone - If I need a whole bunch of background information that only exists in your head instead of o
Read more

Customer service: contacting banks via the internet - how hard can it be?

I've recently spent quite a bit of time contacting banks via the internet to ask a question to them. Bearing in mind that it is the 21st Century and that email and the internet are no longer 'shiny and new' you would hope that communicating with a company online would be easy, wouldn't you? I was initially trying to contact banks as though I wasn't a customer, just to make an enquiry about a security issue. For some reason, this wasn't as straightforward as expected. I hope this information is useful to anyone who wants to decide on a bank to deal with based on more than just headline interest rates. Also, have you noticed how many banks don't let you have special characters on their web sites, including passwords in some cases? Seems a bit backwards these days to not allow better password choices for protecting your finances. I'll share my experiences: Barclays Contact was via this online form . You get a confirmation email that your message has been r
Read more