If you have a contract to work out if this is better try using the following rule of thumb:
- divide the number of "free" cross network minutes but the price of your monthly calls.
Now ask yourself, do you actually use exactly that amount of minutes each month?
Now add in the ability to resell the phone they give you and whether you can if it's locked.
You should find that this deal is cheaper for everyone. Try me!
The suggested bundle is:
- simcard. For cheaper UK mobile calls
- calling card with access number. For cheaper international calls. But since the calls to the calling card are free you can also use this for cheaper domestic UK calls.
- unlocked phone. I've found a nice cheap unlocked blackberry style phone. More durable, less to worry about at a festival or dropping it in an engine bay
Prices all decided at point of 6 transactions by Mt.Gox £ rate:
- £7 for a £5 calling card for you to test
- simcard & £15 credit = £20
- £25 for the phone
- £5 postage
So in BTC that would be:
(thanks btcticker)
Using the access number, sample international rates:
UK-Aus 2p/10p
UK-Bangladesh 2p/3p
China 1p/1.5p
India 1p/1p
Nigeria 4p/6p
Direct mobile calls are cheaper than contracts too:
UK-UK via access number 2p/8p
UK-UK mobile without awkward access number 10p
UK texts 6p
Voicemail 8p/call
Internet = <20mb = 20p/day but you can buy "unlimited internet" for 1 month for £10 with minutes free with that(whatever the heck that is... assuming at least 1-2gb I would hope)
0800 - free; pretty damn useful
While on holiday in Europe is cheap too:
- receive call 7p/min
- send txt - 8p to UK
- receive text - free as usual thank god
- roaming data in EU - 69p/mb (sorry. it's actually pretty good for easy access)
Need spare unlocked phone to go with it?
£25 = Cheap unlocked,
Chinese blackberry keyboard style phone,
Very basic but has a version of Opera for Facebook and email. Battery lasts longer than the typical Android.
No recognised O/S but
standard micro usb charging and standard headphone socket and I've used it in Norway no problem.
Much more useful to carry around than worrying about your Samsung note getting mugged & scratched at work.
Only drawback is GSM 900/1800 only, can you see a gap in coverage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands#GSM-900.2C_GSM-1800_and_EGSM.2FEGSM-900
I've been travelling on work for years now and this is the setup I'm using. It's taken many years to get to this point and I'm quite chuffed with it.