FEEL AT HOME - with Three

I have got not so fond memories of one particular vacation in the early days of mobile phones. I’m talking REALLY early days here, phones the size of building bricks. You didn’t need an IT degree to use them so what is there to know when you take them abroad. Just don’t use them for outgoing calls, but it’s fine for people to call you. After all you don’t pay for incoming calls – right? Wrong! Being naive and clueless about roaming charges, I got back after 2 weeks holiday and the daily phone calls from my then boyfriend back in the UK had manifested themselves in over £400 on my mobile bill. I had no choice but to call my parents pleading for a loan until next payday to cover that unexpected cost and it still stings to this day.

I learned my lesson from that episode and realised that using my mobile phone abroad can get very expensive, so from that point forward it was used for emergencies only to keep the costs at bay. Until the next hurdle came along, the invention of smartphones! A constant stream of news feed and weather updates and so much happening in the background I’m not even aware of. My paranoia of another astronomical phone bill left me at a stage where I would turn my phone off the minute I got on the plane and only turned it back on once I landed back in the UK. Finally, after several years, my husband convinced me that it is safe to leave it in flight mode and use Wifi when available. But I’m still not 100% convinced that I managed to choose all the correct options in my settings and those sneaky app updates won’t find a little backdoor to hook onto my data plan and leave me with charges I didn’t bargain for.

My relief was immense when I found out about a gem offered by my network provider, Three. “Feel at Home” allows you to use your mobile abroad at no extra cost in currently 16 destinations including the US and Australia. No roaming charges at last and no more panic about automatic downloads. A quick call to Three customer service revealed which providers I can use and as long as I stay on that network I will be able to receive calls and make phone calls to UK landlines and mobiles within my free monthly minute allowance. I can text UK mobiles and it comes out of my text message allowance and I can use the internet without Wifi, taking advantage of my unlimited data. The latter is limited to 25GB but that is plenty enough for facebook check-ins, navigation and looking up local attractions and restaurants. And of course, those vital holiday snapshot posts! So my friends ...

... Sorry for all the hot dog legs!

PS: I am pleased to report that I have now returned from my fortnight in the US and my phone was on CONSTANTLY and served as a Sat-Nav for a 800+ miles road trip as well. Everything was within my allowances and didn’t cost me a penny extra. Well done Three!


Image source: Three

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