The cost of international calls from the UK
Making calls on a mobile to loved ones and friends overseas can cost an arm and a leg.
Need to call China? That could cost you as much as £3 per minute. Maybe you’ve got friends in India? Depending on your network, ringing them for a chat may set you back £1.50 per minute.
In this guide, we’ll share money-saving tips and examine how to avoid high prices and let you know how you can call overseas without blowing a hole in your budget.
We’ll also take a look at a few SIM plans and add-ons from networks that specialise in cheap international calls, and then we’ll discuss the pros and cons of Wi-Fi calling services that allow you to make calls using your 4G or 5G allowance, like Zoom and WhatsApp.
Looking for advice about using your phone abroad instead? Take a look at our guide to roaming charges.
Comparing international SIMs and calling add-ons
If you’re signed up to a major UK network and you don’t want to pay sky-high rates for international calls, you can sign up for an international calling add-on, such as Vodafone’s International Saver Extra or O2’s International Bolt On.
For an extra monthly fee, an international calling add-on will either cut the cost of calling overseas to a few pennies per minute or provide you with a certain amount of minutes to overseas numbers.
Generally, an international calling add-on will add between £3-£15 per month to your bill, which isn’t considered to be bad value. However, they may not be your best option either, since some networks, such as Lebara and LycaMobile, include generous amounts of overseas calls as part of their monthly allowance of minutes.
What’s more, these networks’ monthly contract prices are in line with major networks. This means that an international SIM might work out significantly cheaper than the combined cost of a mobile contract with a major network and an overseas calls add-on.
The benefits of international SIM cards
The range of international SIMs from Lebara and LycaMobile is enormous.
Almost all their international calling SIMs operate on a rolling contract basis, so you’re free to cancel with 30 days’ notice. Most will also include calls to UK mobiles and landlines, plus data and text allowances.
What’s not included are calls to premium rate numbers, including calls to customer support, utility companies and similar services.
You also won’t get the kind of customer incentives that you get when you’re with a better-known major network, such as O2 Rewards or EE tickets. But you may decide that’s a small price to pay for low-cost international calls.
Among the international calling SIMs you can pick from are:
- SIMs that get you inclusive or cheap international calls to a single country of your choosing.
- Regional SIMs that enable you to make calls to a range of countries in a particular part of the world, e.g Asia or Eastern Europe.
- SIMs that include a set amount of minutes that you can use to call hundreds of locations worldwide.
- Keenly priced, student-friendly SIMs aimed at young people from overseas studying in the UK.
What’s right for you depends on your usage habits and how many calls you make to overseas locations. And, of course, which country you want to call.
Options for international calling add-ons
All major networks offer international calling add-ons, which you can sign up for whenever you like and opt out just as easily, with 30 days’ notice. As noted above, these typically add between £3-£15 to your monthly bill.
It’s worth noting that while these typically include international calls to mobiles and landlines, you’ll still be charged for calls to premium rate numbers and other non-geographic numbers, such as customer service helplines, government bodies, utility companies and banks.
You should also be aware that there’s usually a maximum call duration of two hours, after which point out-of-bundle call rates apply. If you want to carry on speaking, it’s easy enough to end the call and then redial the number.
Some of the best add-ons we noticed include:
- O2 International Bolt On. Priced from £3 per month, allowing you to call international mobiles and landlines in over 200 countries, as well as sending texts.
- EE The International Pack. Gets you 500 international minutes to 50 countries, including the US, Poland and India, all for just £14.05 a month, or 2.8p a minute.
- Three Call Abroad. For £5 a month, gets you 100 international minutes to 55 countries, or you can get unlimited minutes for just £15 a month.
- Vodafone International Saver. Also for £6.50 a month and gives you 100 minutes to 100 countries, with options to upgrade to more minutes and more countries with larger, more costly plans.
Some major networks don’t offer international calling add-ons but compensate with cheap pay as you go call rates for overseas destinations. iD Mobile, for instance, allows you to call landlines and mobiles in the USA for 6p per minute or landlines and mobiles in India for just 2p per minute, which are significantly less than the major networks’ out of plan prices.
Pros and cons of international calls using VOIP
VOIP services such as Zoom, Viber and WhatsApp allow you to make international calls over the internet, using your home Wi-Fi or 4G or 5G mobile internet connection.
The advantages of these services are:
- 1) You won’t be paying extortionate out-of-bundle international call rates.
- 2) You don’t need an international minutes allowance to make ‘free’ overseas calls.
- 3) As long as you’ve got a Wi-Fi or mobile internet connection, you can make the calls.
But there are downsides. For one thing, if you’re relying on Skype or WhatsApp to make international calls, you have to be in the range of a 4G or 5G signal or be connected to Wi-Fi. The person you’re calling must also be connected to the internet.
Also, if you are using 4G or 5G, this will use up your data allowance. Since data can be tightly rationed on some networks, it may be smarter and more cost-effective to hang on to your allowance and save it for data-reliant services, such as web browsing and streaming video.
Choosing between landline and mobile for overseas calls
Though it depends on where you’re calling and which landline provider and mobile network you’re signed up with, using your landline is usually cheaper. This is especially true if you’re calling at standard rates and don’t have international calls included on your landline or mobile phone plan.
For instance, if you’re a BT customer and call a landline or mobile in the USA at its standard rate, you’ll pay 46p per minute. But if you were signed up to Vodafone and made a landline or mobile call to the same location, it’d cost a hefty £1.50 per minute. That’s some difference.
We’d recommend you look at your providers’ call rates first, and keep a close eye on how much you make overseas calls.
If you’re underestimating your usage, it may be worth considering getting an international calling add-on from your network to save money. You could even switch to a network that includes international calling minutes as part of monthly allowances.
Compare our pick of the best SIM only deals.
