Three UK -- use your inclusive minutes on 3 networks abroad

I wrote in a previous entry that I wasn’t sure if Three UK were also supporting this ‘Three at Home’ service, where you can use your inclusive minutes abroad.

Well, John Burton just posted a note to say that it’s advertised right there on the Three UK homepage! I’m blind!

Here’s the text from the international roaming page….

You can now use your inclusive minutes abroad when you call the UK.

You can use your inclusive allowance – voice, video, and messages – to make calls or send texts to a UK number (both mobile and landline) when you’re roaming on a 3 network abroad.

And it’s also free to receive calls when you’re on a 3 network abroad – so you can always take that call and talk for as long as you like.

If you’ve used your allowance or if you are a Pay As You Go customer, then there’s a simple standard charge for all calls and messages back to the UK.

Plus when you call or text international numbers then you’ll pay the same international rates like you do when you’re in the UK.

Well, in compatible countries, this knocks-for-six the other offers available in the marketplace. It doesn’t quite compete with Vodafone Passport — which, I believe, is applicable to a heck of a lot more countries, but for the countries where Three operates, wow, what a deal.

The participating networks are: 3 Italy, 3 Sweden, 3 Denmark, 3 Austria, 3 Hong Kong, 3 Australia and 3 Ireland.

So, when I’m in Italy, I can sit at a gorgeous little cafe shooting the breeze with my friend in London? Or, interestingly, I wonder how it works if I want to shoot the breeze from that Italian cafe with a friend in Denmark, eh? Let’s read:

All calls and messages to non-UK numbers will be charged at our standard international rates for making a call or sending a text to a non-UK telephone number.

Ah well, that’s fine – fair enough.

Using data services such as browsing Planet 3 on participating networks will also be at the UK rate. Your usage when on a participating network will still count toward any fair use limits, just like when you are in the UK.

You are having a laugh. Wow. Gosh. Have I read this correctly? Does this mean I can take a 1mb picture with my N93 and have it uploading by ShoZu in the background whilst I sip on my perfectly chilled coca cola in that Italian cafe? What’s more, can I sit and download a song from the 3MusicStore whilst at the cafe? And it all be charged the same as the UK? (i.e. ‘inclusive with X-Series’)

Gosh. That is good.

There are quite a lot of terms and conditions that it’s worth familiarising yourself with — however, broadly speaking, making calls to and from the UK via any of those countries is essentially ‘as normal’. No quid a minute bills any more when you’re in those countries.