Calling all Travellers

Does your mum berate you for not texting her thrice daily? Is grandma in a grump because you didn’t call and make her Tuesday? Well, worry not my little ruck-de-sack, for I have the solution: Double-zero, double-four. Like sloppy pints, and chunky chips, that number resounds like the call to arms for British travellers; it’s Britain’s indisputable International Dialling Code. Please hold ma’am. Beeeeep.

While I openly admit that the outfit behind 0044.co.uk are friends of a friend, I also believe they’re the brains behind a truly worthy service. As travellers we are unjustly punished each time we switch our mobiles on (cell phones to the non-BBC amongst us).

What the 0044 Ltd team provide, is pure common sense. They sell foreign SIM cards to foreign people, so that said foreign people can make cheaper phone calls in local countries, to locals and foreigners alike. Thus avoiding the notoriously high roaming charges set by the slimy naysayers of the upper floors, and thus claiming a rare victory for the little people (yes, even malting Ewoks, and ageing Oompa-Loompas may apply).

It can currently cost as much as £1.50 per minute to receive a call to your mobile abroad, whereas a smudge of forward planning can bring that cost down to £0.00.

Naturally, the fact that you’ll have a local SIM means that local calls will become significantly cheaper, and if – for instance – you’re the type to etch your number beneath a painfully honest statement in a hostel toilet cubicle, then any would-be respondents will be able to make cheaper calls to you too. Everyone’s a winner. Unless you do that, in which case you’re most definitely a loser.

The world of mobile phones and their devious plans is a labyrinth for lost pennies; if you make one decision before you leave for the long haul, make it a smart one by considering your options with 0044.co.uk, and thus insure your grandma’s gummy-smile.

(Other service providers are available. Apparently.)