Use of mobile phone for calls & data when overseas

[atomcrusher]

I will soon be flying from SA to Ireland, and then to England, to visit my two sons in Ireland and their respective wives & kids (I have four beautiful grand-daughters ),as well as my aged Mom & Dad in England who are in their mid-90s

My PC will remain at my SA home, and so I will be relying on my 2 x Android devices (i.e. my phone, plus a 10" tablet) to keep in communication with contacts here in SA, as well as to those I will be visiting overseas.

It's been several years since I was overseas, and back then I was still working, and I used my company-supplied mobile phone to make calls to overseas numbers, as well as make calls to family back in SA.

What tips can MyBB folk give me to enable me to make calls to overseas numbers, as well as calls back to SA while I am out of SA?

Is it better to just load voice & data bundles before I leave SA, or should I buy an overseas SIM when I land in UK, and load airtime & data on the overseas SIM. Being on pension, I guess I am looking for the best cost-effective solution ..

 

[dunkyd]

The latter.

 

[deweyzeph]

I have a cheapish dual sim Android smartphone that use especially for when I go overseas. That way I can use my SA sim card and buy a local sim card in whatever country I'm in and have them both running on my phone. I just load a 3G data bundle onto the foreign sim card and I'm good to go for internet. I don't even bother topping up my prepaid balance on my SA sim card because I can just do it from my FNB online banking account when I need to from overseas.

 

[cr@zydude]

Do you and the people you talk to use Whatsapp? It's probably cheaper than an international call. When you land in Ireland buy a new sim and load a data bundle. You can then message and call them through the app.

 

[atomcrusher]

I have a cheapish dual sim Android smartphone that use especially for when I go overseas. That way I can use my SA sim card and buy a local sim card in whatever country I'm in and have them both running on my phone. I just load a 3G data bundle onto the foreign sim card and I'm good to go for internet. I don't even bother topping up my prepaid balance on my SA sim card because I can just do it from my FNB online banking account when I need to from overseas.

I only use pre-paid. My Android smart phone is also dual SIM. I currently have MTN SIM in one slot, and a Vodacom SIM in the other slot. So I guess I am good to go? I use MTN only for voice, and only the Vodacom SIM for data. So I can just top the MTN SIM for calls, and the VODA SIM as an when I need it via my SA Internet banking site? Thanks for the heads-up. I just thought it may be cheaper to buy both voice & data bundles overseas, i.e. cheaper than SA airtime is.

 

[atomcrusher]

Do you and the people you talk to use Whatsapp? It's probably cheaper than an international call. When you land in Ireland buy a new sim and load a data bundle. You can then message and call them through the app.

Thanks for that .. I had forgotten re: whatsapp. I'll check to see if my family overseas use whatsapp. They tend to be Apple fans over there, so don't have Android phones

 

[deweyzeph]

I only use pre-paid. My Android smart phone is also dual SIM. I currently have MTN SIM in one slot, and a Vodacom SIM in the other slot. So I guess I am good to go? I use MTN only for voice, and only the Vodacom SIM for data. So I can just top the MTN SIM for calls, and the VODA SIM as an when I need it via my SA Internet banking site? Thanks for the heads-up. I just thought it may be cheaper to buy both voice & data bundles overseas, i.e. cheaper than SA airtime is.

No you misunderstand. When you go overseas you need to put your main SA sim card in one slot and buy a foreign sim card to put in the other slot. This way you can carry on receiving calls on your SA sim card, and then use the foreign sim card for data. You do not want to use your SA sim card for data because it will cost a fortune, and besides, most SA networks do not support data roaming on prepaid anyway.

 

[Jola]

No you misunderstand. When you go overseas you need to put your main SA sim card in one slot and buy a foreign sim card to put in the other slot. This way you can carry on receiving calls on your SA sim card, and then use the foreign sim card for data. You do not want to use your SA sim card for data because it will cost a fortune, and besides, most SA networks do not support data roaming on prepaid anyway.

Yes, and preferably set the main SA sim card to sms roaming. With Vodacom you receive sms's when someone calls and then you just call them back using SkypeOut.

 

[atomcrusher]

No you misunderstand. When you go overseas you need to put your main SA sim card in one slot and buy a foreign sim card to put in the other slot. This way you can carry on receiving calls on your SA sim card, and then use the foreign sim card for data. You do not want to use your SA sim card for data because it will cost a fortune, and besides, most SA networks do not support data roaming on prepaid anyway.

Aah. OK. I understand now .. thanks

 

[cr@zydude]

Thanks for that .. I had forgotten re: whatsapp. I'll check to see if my family overseas use whatsapp. They tend to be Apple fans over there, so don't have Android phones

crApple phones can run whatsapp too.

 

[atomcrusher]

Yes, and preferably set the main SA sim card to sms roaming. With Vodacom you receive sms's when someone calls and then you just call them back using SkypeOut.

Is SkypeOut an android app? Can't find it in the Google play store

 

[Jola]

Is SkypeOut an android app? Can't find it in the Google play store

Part of Skype.

I use it all the time for foreign calls.

Works much better than WhatsApp Calls.