Christmas and New Year are when more people in the UK call family abroad than at any other time, and when the biggest surprise phone bills arrive in January. Dialled straight from a UK mobile or landline, calls overseas are charged at your network’s international rates, which often run to pounds a minute. A long Christmas Day catch-up with grandparents in Jamaica or cousins in Kerala can cost more than the presents.
It does not need to. Here is how to call for pennies, or for nothing, and how to make sure the call goes through on the day.
Call free if your plan allows it
If your landline or mobile plan includes calls to 0845 numbers, dial 0845 222 6666, wait for the tone, then the international number starting 00. The call to us comes out of your inclusive minutes, so it costs nothing extra. More than 100 countries are covered, many including mobiles; check the free calls list. There is nothing to register, which makes it easy to pass on to relatives in the UK who want to call too.
If your plan does not include 0845 calls, the call costs 5p a minute plus your provider’s access charge, so check before settling in for a long chat. See how free international calls work.
Or call from a few pence a minute
If the country you call is not on the free list, or your plan does not include 0845 calls, a prepaid account is the cheapest way. Set up an account, register the phone you call from and top up by PayPal from £5. Then dial 0161 328 7777 and the international number. Calls cost from 1p a minute from your credit, nothing goes on your phone bill, and there is no contract. Check the rate for your country on the A to Z rates list.
Five tips for the Christmas call
- Set up and top up in advance. Do it a week or two before Christmas rather than on the day. Credit never expires, so anything left over is there for New Year and beyond.
- Register every phone you will call from. If you are spending Christmas at someone else’s house, add their landline or your partner’s mobile to your account so you can call from either.
- Check the time difference. Australia and New Zealand are well into Christmas evening by the time the UK wakes up, and the Caribbean and the Americas are hours behind. Agree a time with family beforehand.
- Expect busy lines at peak times. Networks abroad can be congested around midday on Christmas Day and at midnight on New Year’s Eve. If a call fails, wait a few minutes and try again.
- Save the number properly. Store the full international number, starting 00 and the country code, in your contacts so nobody has to find it under pressure.
What about video apps?
WhatsApp and FaceTime are free when everyone has the app and a good connection, and seeing faces at Christmas is hard to beat. But not every relative has a smartphone, and rural or holiday-season connections can be poor. A phone call to an ordinary landline or mobile works every time. Our guide to prepaid calls versus free apps compares the two.
If anything goes wrong over the holidays, send us the number you dialled and the time of the call through the support form and we will look into it as soon as we are back.