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Using your mobile phone in the 'Rest of the world'

Here's everything you need to know about using your mobile phone in the 'Rest of the world'. Including; How to reduce roaming costs abroad and what is a ‘non-terrestrial network’

Written by Andy

When you head abroad, your phone can connect to local networks, so you can keep using your giffgaff SIM for calls, texts and data. This is known as roaming.

If you're travelling outside of the EU and selected destinations to the 'Rest of the world', your UK plan won't work. Instead, you’ll need to add some credit to make calls, send texts and receive data. Have a look at our roaming page for roaming costs in each country.

List of 'Rest of the world' countries


Argentina

Armenia

Aruba

Ascension Island

Australia

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belize

Benin

Bermuda

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

British Virgin Islands

Brunei

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Cape Verde

Cayman Islands

Chad

Chile

China

Colombia

Congo

Congo Dm Rep

Costa Rica

Cuba

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Ethiopia

Faeroe Islands

Falkland Islands

Fiji

French Polynesia

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Ghana

Greenland

Grenada

Guam

Guatemala

Guernsey

Guinea

Guinee Bissau

Guyana

Hawaii

Honduras

Hong Kong

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Isle of Man

Israel

Ivory Coast

Jamaica

Japan

Jersey

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Korea South

Kosovo

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Lebanon

Liberia

Libya

Macau

Macedonia

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Mauritius

Mexico

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Montserrat

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nepal

Netherland Antilles

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Nigeria

Oman

Pakistan

Palestine

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Qatar

Russia

Rwanda

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

South Africa

Sri Lanka

St Helena

St Kitts & Nevis

St Lucia

St Vincent & The Grenadines

Sudan

Switzerland

Taiwan

Tanzania

Thailand

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turks and Caicos

Türkiye (Turkey)

US Virgin Islands

USA (excl. Alaska and Hawaii)

Uganda

United Arab Emirates

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Venezuela

Vietnam

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Roaming notifications

Roaming notifications are texts you receive when you travel abroad and your phone connects to a foreign network.

These notifications inform you about roaming charges and the terms of use for calls, texts, and data while abroad.

You can choose to turn these notifications on or off in your giffgaff account settings:

giffgaff app

  • Just head over to ‘account’

  • Go to ‘service settings’

  • Then, hit ‘roaming’

  • You can turn notifications on/off at any time here.

giffgaff website

  • Head over to the service settings page

  • Scroll down to 'Roaming'

  • You’ll find the toggle to turn notifications on/off at any time here.

How to stop roaming in the 'Rest of the world'

Roaming in the rest of the world can get expensive quickly, especially if you didn't want to using roaming in the first place. The main way to save money is not to use data while outside the EU and selected destinations - Here's 5 tips when roaming abroad:

  1. Turn off roaming data in your phone settings

  2. Turn off roaming in your giffgaff account

  3. Be careful using data-hungry apps full of images or videos

  4. Look for WiFi hotspots (always be careful using public WiFi networks though)

  5. Turn off automatic app updates

Expand to read our 10 top notch tips for travelling and roaming abroad

  1. When you arrive in a new country, you'll get a text about the roaming charges

  2. You can still roam like at home (RLAH) when visiting in the EU

  3. Some countries require you to have credit in your account to use roaming services

  4. You can switch on your credit spend cap to stay in control of your spending when roaming

  5. Check your balance on your dashboard, giffgaff app, or by calling 43430 and selecting option 2. Your usage statement will show your mobile charges from roaming

  6. Keep in mind if checking your voicemail abroad, foreign calls may incur roaming charges.

  7. To call a UK number while abroad, add the international dialling code: Strip off the 0 at the start and add +44 instead (or 00 44)

  8. There's also travel data add-ons available to help you stay online without the hassle of finding WiFi. You can buy travel data for a range of destinations, so you’re covered when you need it.

  9. If you've lost or had your mobile or SIM stolen abroad, read our guide on how to report this to us.

  10. If you are travelling out of the EU, consider using a local SIM instead of your giffgaff SIM.

Also, you can always ask our friendly community helpers for tips. They’re always happy to help out.

What are 'non-terrestrial' networks?

These are networks that operate in places such as aeroplanes, cruise ships and ferries.

How are non-terrestrial networks charged?

When they are available, the charges are;

  • £1/min to make and receive calls

  • 30p/text

  • £5/MB of data

Travel data add-ons

Travel data add-ons keep you connected so you don’t have to worry about internet access while you’re away. This means that you’ll now be able to purchase travel data in a number of destinations.

You can buy travel data add-ons for all EU countries and selected destinations. Read more about 'travel data add-ons' here.

EU and selected destinations

You can use an allowance of your plan as your EU roaming data, this also includes your calls and texts along with any credit, in the EU and selected destinations just like you do at home.

List of EU and selected destinations

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

France

French Guiana

Germany

Gibraltar

Greece

Guadeloupe

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Latvia

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Malta

Martinique

Mayotte

Netherlands

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Reunion

Romania

San Marino

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Can I use a 5G network when roaming?

You can definitely use the 5G network in the UK. However when roaming internationally, access to 5G depends on several factors, including:

  • The country you're visiting

  • The region within that country

  • The availability of 5G from local network providers


solve your problem? If not, pop over to our friendly community or chat with our giffgaff HelpBot for a quick answer. Alternatively, ask one of our helpful agents for an answer within 24 hours.

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