SunSim - Pre-paid Holiday Talk & Text

SunSim have launched a pre-paid offer to German residents, providing cheap(er) text and calls when abroad. In-country (Germany) calls are priced at €0.25/min while calls from abroad back to German fixed lines are priced at €0.35/min with a one-time €0.19 connection fee, and €0.45 for calls to German mobile networks. SMS are priced at €0.25 for most of Europe. The service doesnt require a monthly contract and top-ups start from €5.

WorldSIM - cheap(er) calling when roaming?

More evidence of operator disintermediation...... WorldSIM have recently launched a SIM that is available to UK mobile users, to reduce the cost of making and receiving calls when abroad. Using callback technology, users can place a call when abroad and the the service will intercept the call, detect the destination number, then call the caller back while at the same time calling the B-party locally in the UK. Sounds quite complex, but it is currently quite a fashionable use of old technology to address a growing customer need for cheap international calling (the much PR'd Jajah works in a similar way). WorldSIM also makes it cheaper (and in many European countries FREE) to receive a call when abroad, something that all mobile operators currently charge for. In most cases, these propositions are possible by intercepting the customers call and routing the main leg of the call over IP. It then hooks in to local networks to initiate the connection at either end to the callers and recipients numbers, and connects the two calls together.
There are some significant usage and behaviour barriers to overcome with this product but provided you dont mind swapping SIMs and getting used to the caller experience, this is a great solution for saving a few quid. Also take a look at jajah, rebtel, and dialabroad.

Cheap international mobile phone calls

Dialabroad, a UK start-up has launched a smart service to enable mobile phone users to make cheap international mobile phone calls. It works like this:

1) You send a text to their short-code - this is premium text that costs you either €5 or €7 (3 or 5 uk pounds). This credits your account with the same amount of calling credit.
2) When you want to dial an international number, you dial the dialabroad number first, then dial your destination. Thats it - simple!

Many of the dialing destinations are free to dial.

My only issue with the website is that some users may misinterpret it to mean cheap/free international phone calls from abroad, instead of to abroad. If you're abroad (say Spain) and use this service to dial back home (UK) , you will incurr the roaming cost from where you are (Spain) back to the UK, which is unlikely to be cheap.

While were on this subject, you should also know that EU commisioner Viviane Reding launched a new EU information website last month to provide greater transparency of international roaming charges to help the consumer get a better deal.

Another good solution for UK mobile users roaming frequently abroad is UK2abroad who provide mail order local SIMs- its very simple, the only slight hassle being that you have to occasionally drop in to a foreign mobile shop to get a top-up.