Travel Tips Tips

Using giffgaff abroad

Alex Beaney

18.11.24

Read time 2 minutes

Jetting off abroad from the UK? Wherever in the world you’re going, and whether it’s for work or pleasure, you’ll need to know how to use your phone during your trip.

In this guide, we’ll be taking a close look at using giffgaff abroad. So, if this is your network or you’re thinking of signing up, read on. We’ll run through how international roaming works with giffgaff, and whether there are any charges you need to know about.

And while you’re making your holiday preparations, make sure you check out the Wise card from the money services provider Wise. It could save you money on holiday spending, letting you pay and withdraw cash like a local in 150+ countries - and all for low fees* and great mid-market exchange rates.

Save on spending abroad with Wise card

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

Can I use giffgaff abroad?

Yes, giffgaff does permit international roaming. This means you’ll be able to use your phone when you go on holiday, without changing SIM cards or anything like that.

But whether there are any roaming charges depends on the destination.

You don’t need to tell giffgaff that you’ll be going abroad. But you will need to check your data settings to make sure your phone can access the internet while abroad - giffgaff has a guide here on how to do this, and how to prevent accidental roaming.

Using giffgaff in Europe

The good news is that giffgaff offers free roaming in Europe. This means you’ll be able to use the allowances on your UK plan in included countries.¹

Most EU and EEA countries are covered, including popular holiday destinations like France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.¹

If you’re on an unlimited data plan with giffgaff, it’s useful to know that there’s a ‘fair use’ cap of 5GB while roaming.¹

Using giffgaff abroad - worldwide destinations

If you’re travelling outside the EU/EEA, roaming charges will apply.

The cost of calls, texts and data use varies depending on where you’re going - we’ll look at these next.

If you’re a PAYG user, you’ll need to make sure you add credit to your account before you travel.

giffgaff international roaming charges

If you’re a PAYG customer with giffgaff and are roaming in the EU, you’ll be charged UK pay as you go rates. If you exceed the 5GB fair usage limit on data, you’ll pay 10p/MB to get online with your phone (unless you use Wi-Fi).¹

Charges for roaming outside the EU vary by destination. To give you an idea of what to expect, here are the giffgaff roaming charges for a few popular holiday destinations:¹

Destination	Making calls (local or to the UK)	Receiving calls	Sending texts	Data
USA	£1/min	£1/min	£0.30/text	£0.20/MB
Turkey	£1/min	£1/min	£0.30/text	£0.20/MB
Australia	£1/min	£1/min	£0.30/text	£0.20/MB
Thailand	£1/min	£1/min	£0.30/text	£0.20/MB
Tunisia	£1/min	£1/min	£0.30/text	£5/MB
Morocco	£1/min	£1/min	£0.30/text	£5/MB

Ready to travel? Don’t forget your Wise card

Now that you’re all clued up on roaming with giffgaff, it’s time to think about how you’ll spend on everything else during your trip.

The Wise card is the ideal travel companion, as it lets you spend and withdraw in the local currency in 150+ countries.

Your pounds are automatically converted at the mid-market exchange rate whenever you spend, without any margins or mark-ups. You’ll just pay a small conversion fee, or no fee* if you already have the currency in your Wise account.

Open a Wise account online and you can order your own Wise card for a one-time cost of just £7.

Please see the Terms of Use for your region or visit Wise fees & pricing for the most up-to-date information on pricing and fees.

And there you have it - our handy guide to using giffgaff abroad, including info on where you can roam for free and the network’s roaming charges for everywhere else.

If you’re travelling outside of the free roaming zone and are worried about expensive roaming charges, you might want to turn data roaming off before you travel.

Sources used for this article:

Giffgaff - Roaming charges

Sources checked on 22-Oct-2024.

*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.

This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.

We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.