Avoid getting any nasty shocks when receiving a phone bill after your Florida holiday of a lifetime!

With mobile phones being such a part of our daily life, it can be easy to forget that you are not at home when making a call or checking your emails, and that prices may be different when you are in the US. Fortunately there are options to help keep your costs down, so that you can stay in contact with friends and family back home without having to worry about your bank balance.

Make use of free Wi-Fi

It might be a bit obvious, but take advantage of free Wi-Fi wherever you can, and turn off your data roaming! Wi-Fi is available free of charge in all of our villas, and all of the major theme parks offer complimentary Wi-Fi to their guests. Considering the number of people likely to be logged on at any one time, it is surprisingly fast!

If you are at Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Disney’s Boardwalk or Disney Springs, just select the Walt Disney World Resort network to browse online and check your email. You might even want to download the My Disney Experience app to help plan your time in the park!

Over at Universal, you also have access to Wi-Fi, courtesy of the Xfinity hotspots located all around the site. Coverage includes both theme parks – Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, as well as the retail and dining area of Universal CityWalk. Nearby, SeaWorld also offers free Wi-Fi to all guests, just select SeaWorldGuest to connect!

If you are out and about at the shops, bars and restaurants, as in the UK, you can also find free Wi-Fi. Most supermarkets also provide this service, and the Florida Mall provides all shoppers with a good connection – why not take advantage and check the prices online before making any purchases!

USA roaming charges (Aug 2019)

There are times however, when you will need to make a phone call home or send a text message, and if you are not using a messaging app on your phone such as Skype or WhatsApp that can make use of the free Wi-Fi, this will probably incur a charge.

Below is a chart showing a summary of the current costs for a range of major UK phone networks. This is subject to change – check your individual network provider for a full breakdown of costs and charges.

Giff Gaff

• Data: 20p per MB†
• Making Calls: £1.00 per minute
• Receiving Calls: £1.00 per minute
• Sending Texts: 30p per text
• Receiving Texts: Free
• Sending picture messages: 16 - 24p each

EE Max Plan (post 10th May 2017)

• Data: Included in plan
• Making Calls: Free to EE Europe zone, £1.20 per minute outside of this zone
• Receiving Calls: Free
• Sending Texts: Free to EE Europe zone, 60p per text outside of this zone
• Receiving Texts: Free
• Sending picture messages: 65p each

EE Pay Monthly/PAYG standard rates

• Data: Add-on necessary (Bundles start from £4.00 per day)
• Making Calls: £1.20 per minute
• Receiving Calls: £1.20 per minute
• Sending Texts: 60p per text
• Receiving Texts: Free
• Sending picture messages: 65p each (pay monthly), 55p each (PAYG)

O2 Pay Monthly/PAYG standard rates

• Data: Add-on necessary (The O2 Travel Inclusive Zone Bolt On is available to pay monthly customers and costs £4.99 per day. It includes uncapped data, 120 minutes and 120 texts for that day)
• Making Calls: £2.00 per minute
• Receiving Calls: £2.00 per minute
• Sending Texts: 50p per text
• Receiving Texts: Free
• Sending picture messages: 55p each

Virgin pay monthly/PAYG standard rates

• Data: £5.00 per MB†
• Making Calls: £2.00 per minute
• Receiving Calls: £1.50 per minute
• Sending Texts: 50p per text
• Receiving Texts: Free
• Sending picture messages: 50p each (pay monthly), 30p each (PAYG)

Three Advanced ‘Go Roam’ Pay Monthly/PAYG

Included in regular plan as in UK. After call/data allowance has run out, prices are as follows:

• Data: 1p per MB† outside your allowance
• Making Calls: 3p per minute outside your allowance
• Calls to a US number: £1.40 per minute
• Receiving Calls: Free
• Sending Texts: 2p per text
• Receiving Texts: Free
• Sending picture messages: 55p each

Three Essential Plans

• Data: £3 per MB†
• Making Calls: £1.40 per minute
• Receiving Calls: 99p per minute
• Sending Texts: 35p per text
• Receiving Texts: Free
• Sending picture messages: 40p each

As you can see, there is a vast difference in call and text charges depending on your network! Some networks offer add-ons or will allow you (for an additional fee) to take your existing call and data plan abroad. The best thing to do is ring the customer services department and make further enquiries.

As Three offer the 'Go Roam' service, which is applicable to both PAYG and Pay Monthly customers, and incurs no extra charges at 71 global destinations, it may be worth considering getting one of these as a secondary SIM for your holiday!

† Please bear in mind that there are 1024MB in 1GB, but some companies do round this down to 1000MB!

Also worthy of note, be advised that some carriers consider messages containing emojis to be picture messages.

SmartSIM USA card

Alternatively, if you purchase over £1000 worth of attraction tickets with Debbie’s Villas and book accommodation with us, we supply a range of holiday savings cards, which include the SmartSIM USA card. You can learn all about the attraction ticket extras we offer in a recent blog, but essentially for a modest fee you are given unlimited data access and text messaging. You can even use this to turn your phone into a personal hot spot to share data with all the family! This service can work out as little as $3 per day, but it’s worth noting that it doesn’t include phone calls. However, if you have a dual SIM phone this could be the ideal solution for you as you can continue to make phone calls using your regular SIM.