Using Mobile Phones internationally

Your phone will work normally as a phone in whatever country you are in IF your monthly payments cover the costs.  You may have to let your provider know in advance that you are travelling but this isn’t the case with all providers.

Bear in mind when in another country the normal usage costs are much higher and so you may run out of tariff even though you haven’t used up your normal monthly allowances.  In this situation you will not incur extra costs, what happens is that the text will not send and the phone call you are making will not connect.  So frustrating.

You can change your contract and increase your monthly tariff to cover roaming when abroad but this is an expensive option if the extra is only required for a few weeks in the year.

You can purchase extra roaming for a few days or a month but this offer may not cover the country you are in. For example BT offer an add-on for international roaming and a choice between EU countries and the US; if you are travelling outside of those countries then BT do not have an add-on to help.

As long as you have not used up all your data allowance, you will always be able to use wi-fi.   You can make calls on whatsapp, not just texts, for example.  But naturally you need a wifi signal.

If you need to be able to use all aspects of your phone normally then the best option is to buy a prepaid SIM card for the country you are in.  Prepaid SIMS cost from £10 depending on how long you want them for.

Last year when I had problems with my phone abroad – BT after appearing to exhaust all avenues said I needed a new phone. I thought to myself possibly, this phone is fairly old.

This time around armed with new phone – the problems are the same. I went to my provider’s chat room and after they said they had checked everything the fault lay with my phone.

Not once in either conversation did they suggest that my tariff was the cause.

So in case your provider is as equally unhelpful, I thought I would pass on this information.