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スウィフトコールについて |
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Daily Mail, Money Mail : 1st August, 2001
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VINCE and Kathy McLaughlin (pictured left with their sons
Calum, four, and Jake, seven) needed to make several calls
to the UK when they went on a camping holiday to France
last summer.
The McLaughlins, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, wanted
to check on a friend who'd just had an operation. Vince,
a 40-year-old marketing director, made nine calls through
Swiftcall from their mobile phone to friends, family and
work. The calls cost about £20 - which works out
at about 45p per minute.
Kathy, a 35-year-old freelance public relations manager,
says: 'I suppose it would have been a bit cheaper using
a local phone box, but it's not very convenient queuing
up at the single one on the campsite and then having to
wait to be put through. |
Ring home if you can afford it
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A QUICK call back home to check
on things while you are sunning yourself on a foreign beach
can cost you more than you think - especially if you use your
mobile.
Up to ten million Britons are expected to travel overseas this
summer. Many will call the UK to tell relatives they have arrived
safely, check whether they locked the front door or make business
calls.
There are several ways to do this, including using a local telephone,
phoning from your hotel, calling with your mobile phone and
using an international calling card.
Phoning from your hotel, calling with your mobile phone and
using an international calling card.
Phoning from your hotel is probably the most expensive way and
can cost you about 40 pc more than going through a local operator.
It's where hotels make a significant profit.
For example, if you called the UK from a Spanish Holiday Inn,
it will cost about 200 pesetas (74p) a minute.
But be aware that your hotel may also surcharge you for making
the international call and reception may have to dial the number
for you.
It's tempting to take your mobile phone with you, especially
now that the main networks such as BT Cellnet, Orange, Vodafone,
One2One and Virgin have published tariffs for calls to Britain
from abroad(see table below).
To phone home, you need to ask your network provider to activate
the 'international roaming' facility on your phone. This usually
takes a call to customer services and is free.
International roaming means your mobile phone will automatically
log on to a foreign phone network when you are abroad, allowing
you to make that call home.
But be warned - you will pay extra for receiving calls as well
as making them while abroad.
To get a call costs about 30p. You will have to pay about 60p
to pick up voice messages wile away, so leave a voicemail message
to say you are abroad and that callers should leave only urgent
messages.
One consolation is that sending text messages does work out
a lot cheaper (at less than 40p across all networks from Europe)
and is certainly much quicker than sending a postcard.
Bill Moran, chairman of the telecommunications Users' Association,
says: 'You should normally avoid making a call from the hotel
like the plague and leave your mobile phone at home if you don't
want to pay extra for receiving calls while abroad.
'You'd probably be better off getting an international card
before traveling or buying a card when away.'
International phone accounts are available from firms such as
Swiftcall and One.Tel.
Swiftcall allows you to open a prepaid account then phone home
from abroad while paying low-call rates.
You dial a freephone number from a landline or mobile phone,
punch in your PIN number and then dial the UK number you want.
Swiftcall says it works out cheaper because you are bypassing
the local or mobile phone network and going onto its own low-cost
tariff..
So a call via Swiftcall from France or Spain will cost you 44p
per minute compared with 90p per minute when using a BT Chargecard
- a saving of 50 pc. |
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