Phone home

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Does anybody have any good ideas about phoning home on a mobile?  At home I am a slave to Vodafone pay as you talk, but my phone is unlocked, so would I be best buying a French pay as you go sim card when I am there?

Having been stung (even by incoming calls) for so many years, any advice would be welcome.

Only 2 weeks and 2 days to departure

[dukla]

My 6p: for negligible/minimal use it is handy to keep your number and avoid the hassle of swapping SIMs. If, on the other hand, there are loads of people who will be calling you (and/or you want to make lots of calls) then it is better to get a local card.

One big gotcha: make sure your phone does NOT divert calls to voicemail on busy or unavailable!! If it does, then if someone calls you and you don't answer you not only pay for a call from UK to France, but you also pay for another call from France back to your voicemail number in Uk! For this reason I very rarely set any diverts on my phone.

Only 3.5 days till departure 

[nopanic - neil]

Vodafone a have just announced removal of roaming fees, well at least to Sept (but check on that) and as far as I know then you should only pay same as UK.

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=templateBlank&pageID=OS_0099

Some might know if this is a good or bad deal, or a better one

As for the states, take unlocked triband phone and buy a pay as you go card, got one 2 years ago $100, got $12 extra in the first 2 days and it last a year, just top it up when you go over there. Or if your not going very often get a cheaper card.

[6 Euros - JD]

Vodafone a have just announced removal of roaming fees, well at least to Sept (but check on that) and as far as I know then you should only pay same as UK.

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=templateBlank&pageID=OS_0099

Some might know if this is a good or bad deal, or a better one

This Vodafone deal is valid for the whole of Europe and is definitely a good deal especially if you have a 'minutes' package. You do have to ensure that you set your preferred network to the local Vodafone one. They aren't going to waive roaming fees if you use someone elses network.

It doesn't start until 1st June so if go over before then, beware.

[Shortcut]

Thanks for the Vodafone tip off.  Had a look at it, and it does seem a fair deal.  Now where am I going to spend the money that I have saved.....