How to stay in touch with family abroad

Historically, keeping in touch with your fam and friends abroad has been a nightmare. It involved extortionate phone bills or a letter that took two weeks to get there (if it got there at all) before eagerly waiting for your next correspondence.

And if you exhausted those options you had to leave safe, beautiful terra firma and go somewhere miserable like the Bahamas or wherever your grandparents retired to.

Don’t worry, we’ve sorted you right out.  With our new PAYG Direct Dial International Rates, expect lower-than-ever-before costs to call your beloved nan from just 10p a min to places like Poland, Romania and Portugal. Which translates to lower rates to a range of destinations on our PAYG SIMs – the lowest rates in all of the UK.

Even with the advent of all this sexy new tech like WhatsApp, Facetime and Skype, communication is often better through a good, old-fashioned phone call.

Do you remember having to explain to the technologically impaired what a ‘Facetime’ is and how it definitely isn’t a new anti-ageing cream? Or setting up Skype on your grandparent’s new computer only to return home and realise they understand precisely none of the steps you taught them and even if they get that far the Internet connection is so poor you end up staring at a pixelated screen on what you can only assume is a human face? And don’t get us started on WhatsApp and touch screen confusion.

In the even more distant past, having to call an access number at a cheaper rate (or buy a phone plan specifically with international calls) to ring your grandparents was both a painful, surprisingly expensive, and laborious process. That time could’ve been used to keep your Tamagotchi alive. Instead you were stuck on a landline call, the quality of which can only be described as soul-destroying. It would’ve been much easier (and possibly cheaper) to just jump on a 17-hour flight, hold that 40-minute chat and then fly home afterwards.

Do you want to talk to Grandma sweetie? No? She says no.

But wait. Stop. Don’t get on that plane (Disclaimer: actually do get on a plane if you’re at an airport, this is just to exaggerate our point). Three’s PAYG SIMs, coupled with new super-low international rates, will save you from having the pain of multiple phones/SIMs.

These new rates allow you to call mobiles and landlines in countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China – only available in these four countries at the moment – from as little as 10p a minute. We’ll be rolling this out to a number of other destinations because we know how important your family are (despite the fact they clearly decided to move very far way away from you, or you from them).

If you’re looking for even more competitive rates – we’re talking 10p a minute to Canada here – you can dial one of our unique, three-digit short codes before the number you want. You’ll find that you can make that 10p-a-minute-call to your Florida-dwelling Grandpa, whenever you feel like it.

On the flip-side, if you ever decide to leave the UK on holiday, we have the answers. If you have a Three SIM or are on one of our Advanced Plans, you can take advantage of our 70+ Go Roam destinations. You can use the minutes, texts and data included on your plan while you’re abroad for no extra charge. This is for when the 4,000 miles between you and your loved ones is just too much. So you can stay in touch with the people you love back home – just another reason why phones are good 

Main pic: Via Getty