hello, I am going to Sydney again in a few weeks for a month. Last time I was there I blithely used my mobile to ring people and send texts (to UK), and received texts and calls and voicemail (from UK) :O When my bill came I had to have a lie down. So this time I would like some advice!

My current contract is with T-Mobile - it is 20p to send a picture msg from my UK phone to the UK from Australia but 40p to send a text. And I know already that unless that phone is off (which is can't be) people will ring me and I will be the one getting charged 70p per minute.

Should I pick up a basic handset when I get there, just a pay as you go, and use that? I need to contact people who are in NSW but also people who are back in the UK. My current phone is locked so I would have to pay just to unlock it for an australian sim so I am wondering if I might as well get a little crappy phone for the month. Would an Australian phone actually be better for both local & international calls while there?

Thank you!

I was there with a few friends a couple of years ago. Voda had no problem selling SIMs to go in two existing phones (both Voda UK; one unlocked, one I'm not sure).

I think that SIMs were about the equivalent of £10 including £10 worth of calls - handsets seemed fairly expensive to me. I'd have thought that the best options were "unlock your current phone if you can do it cheaply" or "pick up a cheap phone second-hand before you leave the UK".

For incoming international calls you'd need to tell people to dial X instead of Y, or pick up voicemails occasionally - someone's always going to get stung for the international part of the call.

turn voicemail off and dont answer your phone. Tell folk before you leave only to text you if they need you.