HERE are some quick tips to avoid racking up hundreds of pounds on your mobile phone while you are on holiday.

KNOW WHEN YOU’RE ABROAD

It’s about the signal. It’s not making a call but the moment your mobile receives a foreign network’s signal that you’re abroad. From then you pay to receive calls and are charged the overseas rate to make them.

Being in the UK doesn’t mean you’re home. Until the phone receives your UK network’s signal again, you’re abroad. So return home with a switched-off mobile and if someone leaves a voicemail, it’s irrelevant that you’re back – you’re still charged the overseas rate.

WHAT TO DO

● Text – get friends to text you as they’re always free to receive.

You pay more to text back from abroad, but it’s still reasonable.

● Ask – for cheap calls. Many networks offer cheap (sometimes free) roaming packages.

● Get – a free Vodafone sim. This summer only, Vodafone customers (who ask) for its free passport option can call home from many European countries, plus down under, at UK rates. If you’re not on Vodafone, grab a free sim to use. Visit money savingexpert.com/deals/voda fone-mobile-roaming-europe.

● Get – a local/international sim.

If you make lots of calls either get a pay-as-you-go sim while abroad or get an international sim. Visit moneysavingexpert.

com/phones/cheap-roaming-calls.

● Use – your phone’s WiFi. Find a (free) WiFi connection, then websurf for free, or download Skyp – moneysavingexpert.com/ redir/389bc7c4 – or Sipgate – sipgate.co.uk/user/index.php – to it and call home or web surf on it.

The same’s true of your laptop.

WHAT NOT DO TO

● Don’t use voicemail. If someone calls your voicemail when you’re abroad, you pay as if you’d received the call (up to £1/min), and then pay to listen back too. So ask your network to temporarily switch it off while you’re away or, if you need it, record a short message saying: “Please text me instead.”

● Don’t turn ‘emergency’ mobiles on. Turn your mobile off in the UK and take it abroad without turning it on (unless an emergency happens) – that way your phone’s still ‘at home’.

● Don’t surf the web. Use the internet or download e-mails (on a mobile or 3G dongle) when abroad and the cost is prohibitive.

If you really want e-mails, set it to ‘download headings only’, which lets you see each subject line before downloading; this way you won’t pay £100s to download spam photos.