This article looks at some of the cheaper options for calling UK landlines and mobiles from landlines in Ireland. We looked at which landline providers offer the cheapest rates or even FREE UK Calls From Ireland. We also checked call charges to the UK from some of the main mobile phone companies.
Thousands of people living in Ireland will have relatives or friends living in the UK – either temporarily or permanently. Keeping in touch with people in the UK by is easy these days especially with smartphones and software like WhatsApp or Skype. But – for those people who mainly use landlines, calls to the UK can sometimes be costly if they are making several calls a month.
If you regularly make just a couple of calls a week to the UK it could be worth switching your home phone provider to get cheaper rates. Making one hour’s worth of calls to UK landlines a week – which is probably not excessive – would cost €374 over a year on a standard Vodafone landline and even more from a standard Eircom line.
Don’t forget that calls to Northern Ireland are not counted as international calls if you dial 048 . Read More Here
Free Calls to the UK
Some landline providers include some free call minutes to UK phones in their broadband and phone bundles. If you don’t already have a landline and broadband – it probably won’t be worth getting it just for the “free” calls to the UK, but for some people, it could be worth switching your landline provider or your bundle to take advantage of the free UK calls.
In some cases, it could save people a lot of money if they started using their landline to call the UK instead of using a mobile phone. (A 10-minute call to a UK mobile from an Irish mobile will typically cost you about €3.00 ).
Sky
Sky has a broadband + phone package that includes free anytime calls to UK landlines. This bundle works out at €620 in the first 12 months.
As an added bonus the Sky bundle also includes free anytime calls to landlines in the USA and 18 other countries (Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland ). It also includes calls to mobiles in Canada and USA.
This is a great offer which could come in very handy if you have relatives or friends overseas with landlines. This broadband and phone bundle on Sky works out at €620 in the first 12 months. Find Out More at Sky Ireland
Eir
Eir has a broadband/phone bundle that includes 1500 minutes of any time calls to Irish and UK landlines and mobiles. Several international destinations are also included. It costs €529.75 in year one for new customers You can see more here.
Virgin’s home phone and broadband bundles include just 400 anytime minutes a month to 22 countries – including the UK. Their current cheapest bundle works out at €606 in the first year. Probably worth considering if you don’t call the UK more than 400 minutes in a month ( just 13 minutes a day.) See Virgin plans here
Summary of Bundles with some Free UK calls from Irish Landlines (Monthly Figures)
Provider | Total Cost in 1st Year | Normal Monthly Charge | Free UK Landline Mins | Free UK Mobile Mins |
| Sky | €620 | €62.50 | Unlimited | No |
| Eir | €529.75 | €69.98 | 1500 | 1000 |
| Virgin Media | €606 | €63 | 400 | No |
| |
Standard Call Charges from Ireland to the UK
Eir’s normal landline charges for calls to UK landlines are 15.6c per minute. Calls from an Eir landline to a UK mobile normally cost 35c per minute.
Calls from a Vodafone landline to a UK landline will be charged at 12c per minute while calls to UK mobiles will cost 29c per minute.
Examples: – if you were to make just 10 minutes of calls a week from a Vodafone landline to a UK landline it would cost you €62.40 year.
Making one hour’s worth of UK calls a week – which is probably not excessive – would cost €374 over a year on a Vodafone landline and even more from a standard Eircom line .
For comparison – here are the normal charges for calling UK phones from an Irish mobile :
Three – 45c bill pay; 35c prepay
Vodafone PAYG 15c to UK landlines ; 23c per minute to UK mobiles
Tesco mobile– calls to UK landlines are currently just 1c per minute ; UK mobiles 20c per min.
Virgin Mobile 25c /min to Uk landlines ; 30c /min to Uk mobiles.