Roaming And International Tariffs ? Comparing Uk Mobile Operators
Introduction
I’ve been trying to compare mobile roaming and international tariffs in the UK, but the more I got into it, the more confused I became. I could not find any good websites which compared international tariffs, and this information is often hidden on the websites of most UK mobile operators. No surprise there; they can charge you a lot if you are not careful.
I decided to do some data mining (again, you need to extract this information country by country from most websites) to come up with some comparable figures. In this article I wanted to summarise my findings on international and roaming call costs charged by UK mobile operators; I hope they will be as useful to others as they were for me.
Summary
My analysis of seven UK mobile operators identified Globalcell (www.globalcell.eu) as the best all round company, winning hands down on international calls and also offering the cheapest roaming package. Globalcell was up to 18 times (!) less expensive than the other operators regarding international calls, and was consistently among the top two when looking at roaming rates. As an overall package, Globalcell offers the best value for money.
Analysis
I looked seven UK mobile operators; the five major ones and two low-cost ones. The data collection took place between January and February 2009. I used the standard rates for all as published on the respective websites, and where it existed, I also looked at international savings tariffs.
Here is the list of the UK operators that I looked at:
Vodafone (www.vodafone.co.uk), O2 (www.o2.co.uk), Orange (www.orange.co.uk), T-Mobile (www.t-mobile.co.uk), 3 (www.three.co.uk), Tesco Mobile (www.tesco.co.uk), Globalcell (www.globalcell.eu)
I looked at the pay monthly options on all competitors, except Globalcell which currently offers only pay-as-you-go. This is because you can normally get better call deals with pay-monthly contracts than with pre-pay deals.
I want to put a disclaimer that in the jungle of the options that the various operators offer, there might be some better ones, but I looked hard and these were the ones that I found.
International calls
International calls are the calls you make from the UK to other countries. I analysed specific countries, because to make things more difficult, each company defines their zones differently. I compared the following countries for international calls from the UK (in alphabetical order):
Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, USA
Table 1 below shows some typical examples of how these operators compare. The figures show the pence per-minute cost of international calls from the UK by the different operators to selected countries, using their standard costs:
Table 1 – Cost of International Calls from the UK using Operator’s STANDARD Rates (pence)
——–Vodafone—-O2—–Orange—T-Mobile—-Three—Tesco—- GlobalCell(F)—GlobalCell(M)
AUS ——–129 ———-97 ———-50 ———-70 ———-50 ——–149 ———–7 ——————14
CAN ——–129 ———-97 ———-90 ———-70 ———-30 ——–149 ———–8 ——————-8
CZE ———-94 ———-92 ———-45 ———-70 ———-50 ———-20 ———–4 ——————14
FRA ———-94 ———-89 ———-45 ———-70 ———-30 ———-20 ———–7 ——————15
GER ———-94 ———-89 ———-45 ———-70 ———-30 ———-20 ———–7 ——————16
HKG ——–165 ———-97 ———-90 ——–130 ———-50 ——–149 ———–7 ——————-7
ITA ———-94 ———-89 ———-45 ———-70 ———-30 ———-20 ———–7 ——————18
POL ———-94 ———-92 ———-45 ———-70 ———-50 ———-20 ———–3 ——————-9
RUS ——–165 ——–147 ——–100 ——–130 ———-90 ——–149 ————-5 ——————-7
SRB ——–165 ———-92 ———-50 ——–130 ———-50 ——–149 ———–6 ——————18
ESP ———-94 ———-89 ———-45 ———-70 ———-30 ———-20 ———–7 ——————17
TWN ——–165 ———-97 ———-90 ——–130 ———-90 ——–149 ———-8 ——————12
THA ——–165 ———-97 ———-90 ——–130 ———-90 ——–149 ———–7 ——————-7
TUR ——–165 ——–147 ———-90 ——–130 ———-50 ———-40 ———–8 ——————15
UKR ——–165 ———-92 ———-50 ——–130 ———-50 ——–149 ———–8 ——————10
USA ——–129 ———-97 ———-30 ———-70 ———-30 ——–149 ———–8 ——————-8
What jumps out of the chart is that Globalcell (last two columns) is much cheaper than any of the other operators. GlobalCell(F) indicates international calls to fixed line phones, and GlobalCell(M) indicates international calls to mobiles. Not only are they cheaper, but in most cases significantly cheaper. However, you can get a better deal with most other operators by paying a monthly fee. Here are the options that I found by browsing the websites:
Table 2 – UK Mobile Operator International SAVER Tariffs Analysed
Vodafone (ICS): £2.50 per month
O2 (ITS): £2.99 per month
Orange (ITS): £2.50 per month
T-Mobile with International Option: £2.50 per month
Table 3 compares international calls assuming you subscribe to the above international call packages. Please note that the monthly price of these packages will add to your overall international call costs which, for example, you will not need to pay with Globalcell.
Table 3 – Cost of International Calls from the UK using Operator’s SAVER Rates (pence)
———Vodafone——O2—-Orange—T-Mobile—-Three—–Tesco—- GlobalCell(F)—GlobalCell(M)
AUS———–40———–30———–28———–30———–50———149————–7———————-14
CAN———–25———–17———–75———–10———–30———149————–8———————–8
CZE———–25———–40———–20———–20———–50———–20————–4———————-14
FRA———–25———–17———–20———–20———–30———–20————–7———————-15
GER———–25———–17———–20———–20———–30———–20————–7———————-16
HKG———–90———–30———–75———–80———–50———149————–7———————–7
ITA———–25———–17———–20———–20———–30———–20————–7———————-18
POL———–25———–40———–20———–20———–50———–20————–3———————–9
RUS———–90———–89———–80———–80———–90———149————-5———————–7
SRB———–90———–40———–25———–80———–50———149————–6———————-18
ESP———–25———–17———–20———–20———–30———–20————–7———————-17
TWN———-90———–30———–75———–80———–90———149————–8———————-12
THA———–90———–30———–75———–80———–90———149————–7———————–7
TUR———–90———–89———–75———–80———–50———–40————–8———————-15
UKR———–90———–40———–25———–80———–50———149————–8———————-10
USA———–25———–17———–12———–10———–30———149————–8———————–8
Again Globalcell is the cheapest and wins hands down (last two columns). Tesco in many cases looks ridiculously expensive now, but Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and 3 are also much more expensive. At this point I gave Globalcell a call to see if there is any catch, but no; they said their value proposition is based on providing a fair price to consumers.
To give you an example of the differences, if you called Ukraine, you would pay only 8p with Globalcell (fixed line), but would pay 18 times more with Tesco, 11 times more with Vodafone and 3 times more with Orange. Huge differences!
In summary, it seems that Globalcell offers a much better value on international calls than other operators; essentially every country I compared is cheaper with them than with
