What to do before you travel
Before travelling you should consult your operator's website and if necessary its customer care department to find out the following:
- Whether your subscription allows international roaming
- How much will it cost to use your phone in the country you are visiting
- Preferred or recommended network for cheapest use if applicable
- What network/company name will be displayed on your phone for that recommended network
- How to set up other important services (voicemail, call diverts, network selection)
You should also note when roaming that you will have to pay to receive calls and also to listen to your voicemail messages. There is a charge when a call is diverted to voicemail unless an “all calls” divert (see below) is set up before you leave Ireland. To minimise these costs, you should let your friends and family know you are travelling so that you can avoid receiving costly and unnecessary calls.
You should consider “all calls” divert which, as it suggests, will result in all incoming calls being automatically diverted to your voicemail. You may be able to do this from your handset but for some networks you may have to contact customer care.
A further option is to contact your operator before you travel and cancel all diverts so that your voicemail option is cancelled. Any unanswered calls while abroad will not therefore divert to voicemail and will simply display as a missed call. You can choose which calls to answer and will not be charged for unanswered calls.