Mobile Phones calls in England and Europe-

Hi Everyone,
In 3 weeks we are travelling from Australia to England, Spain and the Czech Republic and will be away for a total of 3 weeks. Can anyone advise how best to use our mobile phones so that we can contact friends in the UK whilst there but also keep in contact with family in Australia whilst away? Do we buy a Travel SIM card before we leave Sydney? or buy one once we land in London? Any alternative suggestions? Looking for most cost effective but still convenient solution. All advice greatly appreciated!
Many Thanks

I am not sure about it but i advise you to get the information from the online websites which are dealing in Australia and England and get informed yourself about the mobile phones.

As long as you phone is unlocked buy a sim card in the UK this will be the cheapest way to make and receive calls. Just use email to keep in touch with your family, or skype where you have wifi.

in Czech and Spain if you do not really need to make calls then just have you OZ sim in case of emergency. you might want to talk to your network provider with regard to packages this could be your best option.

don't use your phone for data, you will need to sell the house on your return.

I have my phone on international roaming and use it only for texts which are kept to a minimum.

My sister when travelling buys a sim in the country she is visiting then lets everyone know her new number.

You could take two phones, one with your usual sim and one with a UK sim.

I like having my phone with my usual number, in case of an emergency then it is easy to get me, rather than trying to remember what phone number I am using.

Leave the phone at home and use Skype, available on all good iPods, iPads (or any other tablet), or at the myriad of internet cafe's that can be found all over Europe.

Thanks to everyone who replied - all helpful advice. Think I've got it straight Put SIM card purchased in London on our arrival in one phone, keep Oz SIm card in other phone in case of emergencies, Skype via iPad whenever possible. Try to stick to texting and don't download data from home. Does that sound right and reasonable?

Yes,

or go to a vodafoneshop, get a free sim card for pay-as-you-go and have a text and web freebee activated. As soon as you top up 10GBP you get 500MB internet and 300 text messages for free and have 10 GBP for calls. (Free text and web for 30days).

I've just been through this in Manchester, I found the best way was to get a Vodaphone sim with say 20pounds credit and then buy a phone card from a post office specific for calling Australia (rates are far cheaper) my iPhone was also locked to Telstra but Vodaphone helped me through the process, hope this helps.

i was just looking for this info and this thread has answered my questions, thanks. Im actually english but am returning for the first time in 9 years end of this year so dont have a clue about this anymore!

Something I wanted to add though is that you can also use services like whatsapp and viber instead of texting when you have wifi access. I use whatsapp for alot of daily communication and when travelling my wife will call me on viber. Skype of course is the most common option.