If you plan to travel abroad with teenage kids you could be in for a surprise when it comes to adding up the cost of your family break in the sun or on the slopes. Home-sick kids who text and even call friends back in the UK can rack up huge mobile phone bills as a result of the networks charging premium roaming rates while abroad. But now an alternative solution is available from 0044 Ltd which means kids keeping in touch no longer needs to cost a fortune. The Global SIM card or International SIM card has arrived.

By purchasing a foreign pay-as-you-go SIM or Global SIM card (the small removable chip inside your handset) on the website at www.0044.co.uk and having your hand set unlocked, all roaming charges can be avoided, calls and texts made are at local rates and incoming calls and texts are free. Kids in particular are often unaware of premium call charges of as much as £1.80 p/min to make calls and 50 p to send text messages whilst abroad, resulting in millions of UK holidaymakers receiving huge mobile bills when they return. That’s where a local SIM or Global SIM can make some huge savings with calls from 30 p/min and texts at 16 p each.

Angus MacLeod, director of 0044 Ltd commented, “I needed to take my mobile abroad even though it was costing me a fortune and the kids also insisted on using theirs. Our UK network didn’t have a solution so we discovered the Global SIM card alternative. Like many of the best ideas in life, our Global SIM or International SIM service is simple. We aim to offer a solution for parents whose kids use their mobiles while on family breaks abroad. Inevitably it’s the parents who foot the bill for the text messages and calls and we hope our Global SIM service can help control the costs as well as keeping families in touch while they are away”.