Press Room

Gap year travel; big thrills can lead to big bills.

A gap year or career break is the ideal way to explore the world but unless you are careful you can rack up some huge bills along the way. A new website www.0044.co.uk  now provides an alternative solution to international mobile roaming; meaning that you can avoid the bills and share the thrills with friends and family whilst traveling or working your way around the world.

Staying in touch by using your mobile phone abroad can costs hundreds of pounds. Not only are you charged premium rates to make a call you are also charged to receive calls. Now all of this extra expenditure can be avoided by using a new solution provided by mobile roaming specialists 0044 Ltd. By purchasing foreign pay-as-you-go SIM cards (the small removable chip inside your handset) on the website at www.0044.co.uk  and having your hand set unlocked, roaming charges can be avoided, calls made are at local rates and incoming calls and texts are free.

Mobile users are confused and often unaware of premium call charges of as much as £2.00pmin to make and receive calls whilst abroad, resulting in millions of UK travellers receiving huge bills when they return home to the UK.

Angus MacLeod, director of 0044 Ltd commented, “I needed to take my mobile abroad even though it was costing me a fortune, but my UK network could not present me with a cheap solution so I found one for myself. It kept me in control of my call costs, saved me a considerable amount of money and has now become a thriving business. Like many of the best ideas in life, our service is simple. We aim to offer a solution to gap year and student travelers in particular, who need to work on tight budgets yet stay safe and in touch at the same time”.

For further information contact 0044 Ltd

Notes to editors:

  • 0044 Ltd’s mission is to provide the alternative solution to roaming; saving travellers money and enabling them to stay safe and in touch while abroad.
  • UK residents that roam on their current network are charged to receive calls at approx  £1.20 per min.
  • Just 52% of pre-pay customers are aware that they pay for incoming calls when abroad. (OFTEL April 2002: Mobile International Roaming Report)
  • Only 16% of mobile roamers are happy with the price of making a call whilst abroad. (OFTEL April 2002: Mobile International Roaming Report)
  • UK networks place a lock on mobile phones to ensure that they recoup their initial handset investment and deter customers from switching networks.
  • 1,100,000,000 minutes of mobile airtime is used each year. A standard handset works in over 200 countries.
  • 37% of users who take phone abroad said they were less likely to use it in the future due to the increased international roaming rates (OFTEL April 2002: Mobile International Roaming Report)