Brit tourists abroad still overpaying for phones

BRIT TOURISTS are still being charged heavily for calls while on their annual hols, a report in the Mail on Sunday revealed. One way around it is to sign up with a Telecoms provider, Noodle.

By 1st October all the UK network operators will be forced to offer lower costs calls to their mobile subscribers when they are 'roaming' abroad. Roaming is making or receiving calls overseas.

The catch is that most families are on their holidays now. Before the new 'Eurotariff' kicks in.

However, two of the operators - Orange and O2 - have already introduced the new lower tariffs. So you can switch now. By contrast, Vodafone, Virgin and T-Mobile, are waiting to the last minute to introduce the tariffs.

The catch is that you won't automatically be transferred to the new Eurotariff unless you positively request it. That applies until 1st October.

It's still expensive to receive calls while roaming abroad. So what Noodle offers is a way to route calls via its service. Callers dial your Noodle number which appears as a regular UK mobile phone call to them.

The sensible traveller then acquires a local SIM card when abroad and sets up his or her account so that all calls to the UK Noodle number are diverted to the foreign SIM card.

One big advantage to doing this is that Noodle offers 'cash back' on the calls you receive via this method. It's possible to 'earn' up to two pence per minute in this manner.

Noodle actually offers a confusing array of options. But the easiest way to get started is to text the word Noodle to 81025. You then get a Noodle mobile telephone number.

To save on calls to overseas number, you simply call your own Noodle mobile telephone number and then follow that with the overseas number.

Of course, the cheapest way to send and receive calls while abroad is to find a hotel with a free hotspot. Get yourself a Wi-Fi enabled mobile phone like the Nokia E61 and sign up to a VoIP supplier like Truphone. µ