Menu
My Cart My Cart 0
Welcome back!
You left some items in your basket.
Go to Basket
Menu
Account
Close

Help menu

Using your phone abroad

Your Tesco Mobile Device is already set up for you to use your phone abroad.  Just switch it on when you arrive and it will automatically connect to a local network, who'll send you a welcome text.

If you’re outside the UK, you can call the emergency services by dialling the national emergency number for the country you’re in. If you’re in a country that’s in the EU, you can also call the emergency services by dialling 112.

If your phone doesn't pick up a local network, you can do it manually. Find your destination on our international calling page and you'll see the networks you can use in that country. If there's no roaming agreement, you might not be able to use all the normal services on your phone, like calling Customer Care and the automated payment line. 

Our device guides are full of useful information on how to use your phone. Find your phone and follow the steps on how to connect to a network manually.

Calling and texting when you're in a Home From Home destination comes out of your monthly allowance or free credit. Calling and texting out of our Home From Home destinations is not included. When you’re calling or texting the UK, you don’t need to add the UK country code, just dial or text the number like you would at home. And don’t forget that you'll be charged for incoming calls while you're abroad if you're visiting a country outside of our Home From Home destinations. 

When you’re in a Home From Home destination

  • It’s free to receive voicemail messages
  • If you’re a pay monthly customer, when you listen to voicemail messages, this comes out of your minutes allowance or bundle. If you’ve used up your allowance or bundle, listening to voicemail messages costs 55p per minute
  • If you’re a pay as you go customer, when you listen to voicemail messages, this costs 55p per minute

 

When you’re abroad, but not in a Home From Home destination

 

You can listen to voicemail messages by calling 905 from your Tesco Mobile phone. Before you go abroad, you can turn your voicemail off by calling 2915 for free, and you can turn it on by calling 2905 for free. You can’t turn it off or on while you’re abroad.

You can use data abroad just as you do at home and it will come out of your monthly allowance if you are in a Home From Home destination. In other locations, roaming charges will apply. The best way to avoid paying for data abroad is to turn off data roaming on your phone or tablet before you leave and then use free Wi-Fi wherever it’s available. To find out how to do this on your device check out our device guides.

Make sure you check the call, text and data charges from abroad to the UK before you go away. You can also check roaming costs in our free Tesco Mobile app on Android or iPhone.

Simply use your device as normal while you’re abroad and top-up on 4444 from a Tesco Mobile phone if you need to. It’s free to call 4444 from your Tesco Mobile phone when you’re abroad. Triple Credit and bundles you've bought will be used when you're in a Home From Home destination but make sure you know the other call charges from abroad to the UK. 

To check your balance while you're abroad, text the word BALANCE to 2112 for free. 

Simply use your phone or tablet as normal while you’re abroad. If you use up your safety buffer while you’re away you can: 

If you know you’re going to be using your device while you’re away, you can increase your safety buffer before you go. You can also remove your safety buffer if you like. But remember that if you don’t have a safety buffer you could run up a big bill because you won’t get any warnings until you reach your account limit. 

Need more help?

If you have problems using your device abroad, please call Customer Care on 00 44345 301 4455 from another phone and we'll be happy to help. It'll cost you the same as a call back to the UK. 

If you're a business customer, please call us on 00 44345 601 2448.