Cheapest way to phone Ireland

growler

Hi, about to renew my phone contract and realised that the biggest cost on my phone bill each month is calls home. I have a work phone for all my UK calls / texts and so I really only need a phone for calling home. Thinking of changing to a pre-pay set up, do the pre-pay services for international calls work out as good value ?

any suggestions?

Marsden

Is skype out of the question?

actuallylike

I have a vodafone phone from Ireland. Changed my plan to passport before I moved to London. Works out the same I think.
http://www.vodafone.ie/planscosts/roaming/callstexts/

harney

If you are with o2 you could look at something like the International Favourites option.

http://www.o2.co.uk/internationalfavourites

For £10 a month, you get 3000 minutes of landline calls and 100 minutes of mobile calls to three international numbers*.
Or for £20 a month, you can get 3000 minutes of landline calls and another 200 minutes of mobile calls to five international numbers*

I think you can change the number once per month. My girlfriend has been using this for a few years to call Spain, and along with a rolling contract costs £35 per month. It is a lot more convenient than the VoIP setup we had been using for the first few years, and the convenience of it being connected to your mobile is even handier.

You also get a call me number in 1 country, so in your case you give everybody you call me Irish number (e.g. a Dublin land line number), and when they call that it diverts to you UK mobile. There is no limit to the number of people that can call your call me number, just a limit of 3000 minutes inbound on it (naturally enough this 3000 minutes is separate to your outbound 3000 minutes).

I hope that helps.

*Edit* - a link to the sim only options. As my girlfriend had a phone she opted for this to go with the International Friends option.

http://www.o2.co.uk/tariffs/simplicity

nager

I'm pretty much in the same position. I have a work mobile, but have a pre-pay with vodafone for calling Ireland. If you go pre-pay and add-on the international bundle (its free).

Every time you top-up you get free international minutes added on.
I'm pretty sure that this is the best option (if not do let me know)

shanered

I use the "Viber" app, free calls and text, use it stay in contact with my friends in different countries, I really recommend it, skype is good too as mentioned before.

tartanarmy

Foocall gets my vote for international calls. You top up in advance & it uses your local minute allowance.
Can be used from a smartphone or PC

Lump

Skype, Viber, Whatsapp..... all useful. Skype can be topped up to call landlines and mobiles, I also use http://www.just-dial.com/pages/home.aspx from work, dial an access number then call an Irish number, it's cheaper than BT as it goes via an internet centre, also work from phones on which international calls are blocked.

LadyMayBelle

I use Skype to call home form my phone, cheap as chips to the landline, and I also use it for texts; think texts are Euro0.089!

Woolly_Jumper

I have a separate sim for calling home - 02 international sim, it's 1p a min to landlines and 10 a min to mobiles. Really cheap!

Zippy1991

Smoke signals on a clear day can work out as little as 30p an hour.

:-)







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