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Staying in touch when you're in France...
Whilst many of us are familiar with the short cuts and savings that can be achieved on-line for travel arrangements, property searches and other French services, the vast majority of us still fall victim to the horrendous cost of staying in touch whilst in France.
Whether you visit France on regular but short stays or perhaps plan to spend an increasing amount of time there in the future, you’ll no doubt want to communicate locally or internationally for a variety of reasons. It could just be that quick call back to check the children and grand children are fit and well, perhaps arranging drinks or a social gathering locally, or even dealing with the purchase, sale or refurbishment of a property. Whatever the reason, being able to do this without footing a large bill at the end of it is where many experienced travellers come unstuck.
It seems that communications is an area which sadly lags behind the rest of the travel industry in terms of the on-line alternatives. In an age where flights can be picked up months in advance at staggeringly low prices, why then does it still cost an arm and a leg for your family to call you from the UK, for you to take their call in France on your mobile or for you to call them to let them know all is well? Costs can be confusing when you try to dig deeper on the subject, but a quick call to BT customer services will confirm that it will cost you 30 pence per minute to call a French land line and 51 pence per minute to call a French mobile number from the UK. Obviously that cost is reduced to around 10 pence per minute if the person you are calling is using their UK mobile in France, but instead they then get hit with the higher cost because they pay to receive the call – between 30 and 90 pence per minute on the main UK mobile networks.
Take a look at the situation from the French perspective and it’s much the same. If you have managed to set up a land line at your property with France Telecom then you’ll certainly be saving when you call the UK compared with using a UK mobile. You’ll be paying around 23 pence per minute by using a French land line to call home compared to the roaming charges that apply when using your UK mobile – these vary between 60 and 85 pence per minute on standard rates for the main UK networks. Finding your way through all of this can be a real chore, but there are several sources of useful information, including the provider you currently use – don’t be afraid to call your customer services number for BT or your mobile network and ask them to explain the most economical options. Many larger networks often have money saving offers available, but they are not always proactive in telling you about them.
Recently savvy travellers have managed to find on-line alternatives with simple searches conducted through the main internet search engines, like Google and Yahoo. Many have adopted a local mobile solution in France by buying an Orange French contract or pay-as-you-go SIM through UK companies like 0044 Ltd. Using a French SIM in your mobile will mean that you avoid the roaming charges and can therefore call home at rates of around 30 pence per minute and receive any calls for free.
Similar on-line solutions exist for land lines – both in the UK and in France. Using a dial through service, such as 0044’s, can mean calls to a French land line through your own BT phone cost only 2 pence per minute, whilst the call from France to the UK on a France Telecom land line reduces to 3 pence per minute. Calls to a French mobile can also be re-routed through these services achieving similar savings. Dedicated technophiles can even set up dedicated VOIP (making calls via the internet) services in France for accessing free calls to fellow users anywhere in the world.
There are many other useful on-line resources such as the trade association of the world’s 700 GSM mobile networks – they’ll offer immediate on-line advice on the cost of roaming with your current plan, at least giving you a start point for further investigation. Ofcom also closely monitor all UK service providers and can be used to gather facts and figures as well as to receive complaints if you feel you have been unfairly charged for services provided whilst abroad. Using the same internet searches that you use for flights, ferries and car hire can uncover some great savings when communicating while you’re away, so don’t accept what you pay now – an alternative solution is only a few clicks away.
www.0044.co.uk (or call 0870 950 0044)