Am going to Corfu on Saturday to see the in-laws, so although my mobile phone contract is with O2 I have just bought a Vodafone SIM card for £5 (including £5 top-up so basically free) as they have got rid of roaming charges from 1 June to 31 August (as long as we are connected to Vodafone's local service*).

Therefore I will set my O2 mobile phone to divert all incoming calls to the new Vodafone number, so that if anyone phones me whilst we are away it won’t cost me anything to receive the call on the O2 phone, my free minutes will cover the forwarding on, and the pay as you go Vodafone wont lose any credit because there is no roaming charge. Obviously i will also give the voda PAYG number to anyone i think is likely to want to get hold of me, or if someone seems to be on a long call to me, in order to avoid wasting my minutes from my O2 contract.

If I want to make any calls home I can use the £5 on the SIM card (at UK rates), or use one of those sat cards in a payphone. When i get back i can use up the remaingin credit (if i want to) then bin the vodafone SIM.

Simples

*only works in certain countries by the way - check voda for details.

You'll have to set network selection to manual otherwise it will roam to Voda's prefered partner and bang goes the free stuff.

Often cheaper to get a local SIM via CPW - you'll need an unlocked phone.

also you may well get charged by O2 for the call diverts as most companied do not provide this service for free with included minutes.

Yes, you will get charged by O2 for the call divert and like most companies the call is chargeable at tthe standard rate and not part of your minutes allowance so it could work out more expensive.

Roaming charges have reduced dramatically in recent years and depending on provider can work out cheaper than pay phones.

By far the cheapest option is to buy a PAYG sim in the destination country and load it with credit, your can call the UK sometimes cheaper than any UK mobile provider allows. When in spain we have an Amena sim card, and call the UK for less than 10p a minute.

Saying above, we have just got a vodafone payg sim card and added a £10 freedom pack and registered for passport. Will compare prices whilst in spain from the end of next week to see the difference. Dont forget that to take advantage of the roaming charge drop from vodafone, you MUST register for the passport service, if you dont calls abroad will still include the roaming charges.

Yes, you will get charged by O2 for the call divert and like most companies the call is chargeable at tthe standard rate and not part of your minutes allowance so it could work out more expensive.

Roaming charges have reduced dramatically in recent years and depending on provider can work out cheaper than pay phones.

By far the cheapest option is to buy a PAYG sim in the destination country and load it with credit, your can call the UK sometimes cheaper than any UK mobile provider allows. When in spain we have an Amena sim card, and call the UK for less than 10p a minute.

All the forwarding on was included in my monthly allowance (the forwarding is technically a call the the UK voda number) so no charges there. I used the £5 in calls home in the end, so effectively cost me nothing. In fact most of my mates i had warned to expect dropped calls and then to ring me back on the voda number

As for making sure the netword was voda, they do warn you that this might happen but i just let it connect automatically most of the time (had to connect to voda to check credit, etc) and never lost any money off it.

Overall worked well.