Mobile phones at sea

[NickH]

This has probably been asked before but im looking at getting a new phone and was wondering what is the best option to go with considering that for phase 2 i'll be at sea in january and don't see much point in forking out for a 18 or 24 month contract.

Any suggestions on what phone and plan is best?

Cheers

[CharlieDelta]

Heyya,

All been covered here.

Would definitely recommend, if you have the money up-front to buy the phone, to go PAYG for now.

[Faust]

I think '3' have the best pay and go contracts available, they are essentially one month mini contracts that don't automatically renew.

[Dosedmonkey]

Wow something major has been missed in both of these phone threads I just realised.

If you have a phone contract, you should be able to freeze your contract for the period you are over seas, so you do not pay or use it whilst out the country. Bad thing is a 12 month contract could end up lasting you 3 years if your at sea a lot, and it means you can't use it over seas much.

The other major thing not mentioned is, Skype is the cheapest way of making phone calls, using Skype on a computer allows you to phone abroad very cheap, even Skype to mobile phone calls only get charged at local rates. Also for with in the UK, get a skype monthly payment contract and you get a lot of EU & UK calls free. Even buisinesses are encouraged to use Skype now.

Because it is often charged at local rate Skype, I can call my girlfriend in Chile (That's South America for you spanner monkeys) on her mobile for less money then my sister in Italy.