SOAS Accommodation for Post Graduate Students 2012
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International Student and Welfare Advisor Student Advice and Wellbeing [email protected] International call guide for SOAS students Researched together with Cable.co.uk - Ofcom-accredited TV, broadband and phone comparison site You are studying in one of the most exciting and diverse cities in the world. Life here can be exciting, busy and fast paced, but you’ll still want to stay in touch with family and friends back home. So here’s our guide to international calls and how to choose the best way to call home for less. It doesn’t have to be expensive Whether your family is in Africa or Asia, the Middle East or India, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to call home. From finding the right phone deals to free internet calls and pre-paid International Calling Cards, here’s some useful information: Skype, Facebook and Twitter – staying in touch online It’s easier than ever before to stay in touch with loved ones and friends, no matter where in the world you are. If you have a Facebook or Twitter account you can send updated status reports or tweet them, or even chat with them online using the instant messaging function on Facebook. If you have an unlimited usage broadband deal or good data allowance package on your mobile phone then this can be a great way to talk to your family whenever you want to. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) But sometimes you don’t just want to instant message family members – you want to actually talk to them - face to (virtual) face. If you have broadband then you should be able to use a Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP service to do exactly that. The best known of these is Skype, although there are now several VoIP services to choose from, including Vonage who specialise in putting together packages that include calls to certain countries. So if you have family in several countries across Asia, including China, South Korea, Thailand and Japan, or have relatives in different parts of the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain, then you can choose which ones you want included in your Vonage bundle and get cut-price calls to your designated countries. This can cut the cost quite dramatically, making it even cheaper to talk to friends and family around the world. Page 1 of 3 Updated September 2014 www.soas.ac.uk/studentadviceandwellbeing VoIP is easy to install on a computer, but with the Vonage deal you don’t even need that. You can sign up for Vonage as long as you have a broadband connection and a smartphone. However, if you want to see who you are talking to then Skype is the best known of all the VoIP packages. Simply install the Skype software onto your computer and, as long as the person you are talking to also has Skype installed, you can make a voice or video call to them whenever you want to. There are currently over 170 destinations that can be reached using Skype, including India, Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of Congo and China. You can also talk to people in Europe, the United States and most countries across Asia. Pay for international calls using VoIP Vonage has made it very easy for you to budget for your international calls, and charge a flat rate per month for their country ‘bundles’. If you choose to go with Skype then you can either pay as you go, monthly or by purchasing Skype credit. Pay as you go calls are charged at a low rate, while monthly deals give you a set amount of call time per month for a fixed rate. Skype credit means that you pay for your calls in advance. You will need a broadband connection, so check an Ofcom-accredited site like Cable.co.uk to compare broadband and find out what’s available in your area. Low-cost international calls from a mobile phone You may have brought a mobile phone with you when you came to the UK. However, using your home carrier service, whether that’s from Saudi Arabia or Nigeria, India or Thailand, is going to be expensive. It may be better to get a short-term SIM-only contract with a UK network provider to cut the cost of your international calls. These deals give you a SIM card that slots into your phone and instantly connects you to a UK network provider such as O2 or Orange. If you choose a short, 30-day rolling contract, then these often include cheap calls to international numbers. You can also choose no-contract Pay as You Go services, although these don’t always include calls to overseas numbers as part of the deal and you could end up paying a premium price. If you are going to use your mobile phone to make international calls then it is important to check with the provider (either in your country of origin or here in the UK) and find out exactly how much your calls will cost. They will usually be more expensive than using VoIP, so shop around before making a final choice. Landline calls to overseas numbers Page 2 of 3 Updated September 2014 www.soas.ac.uk/studentadviceandwellbeing If you have an ordinary telephone (landline phone) in your house then it is possible to make low-cost international calls. You can talk to the provider (such as BT or TalkTalk) to find out if international call packages are available. You can also use an International Calling Card, which are available from supermarkets and phone stores. These pre-paid cards let you budget how much you spend on international calls. You can also use a ‘simply dial’ access number. With this, you dial an access number first before dialing the international code and number you want to call. This can cut the cost of your calls, but there are a lot of different providers offering ‘simply dial’ numbers, so it is best to ask your friends or the Student Union representative for advice on the best ones to use. International Calling Cards If you don’t have a broadband connection you can still make cheap international calls from mobile and landline phones by using a pre-paid International Calling Card. You can either buy these cards online or from mobile phone shops, supermarkets and Post Offices. They are easy to use and let you keep a close watch on how much you are spending on international calls. When you sign up you are given an access number and PIN number. You simply dial these two numbers before the number you wish to call. This can really cut the cost of calling countries including India, South Korea, Taiwan, Nigeria and Bahrain, although the number of countries you can call using International Calling Cards is almost unlimited. Page 3 of 3 Updated September 2014 www.soas.ac.uk/studentadviceandwellbeing .