[3GScottishUser]

Picked up a SIM for this the other day out of curiosity when in Poundland and it seems a very decent service for those who need a 'calling card' service to call overseas.

The deal currently is PAYG with free voicemail and 10MB free Internet per day (until 31/07/12, but might be extended). Top-Ups from £5 with 10% extra added for on-line credits.

Calls to many destinations 1p per minute, USA 4p, Turkey Landline 1p, Mobile 9p. UK Calls to landlines 3p and Mobiles 10p. Texts are 10p to most locations.

You can call other LycaMobile customers free even those in other countries (15p connection charge), up to a limit depending on your top-up. (eg £5 top-up = 100 free minutes).

Calls to their London based customer service are free from the mobile.

So if you make regular calls to Turkey, Pakistan, India + Mobile, Poland, China + Mobile or Thailand (all 1p/min) this may be a good solution as your credit does not expire like it does with some calling cards.

[Hands0n]

There are a small number of these MVNOs about, all seeming to aim for the same, or similar, markets. One such is Lebara ( http://www.lebara-mobile.co.uk/ ) who have won the Mobile News 2011 UK's Best Customer Service award.

I noticed another new MVNO on a billboard the other day, cannot recall its name right now. But it is apparent that there are several choices available now. Are they all fighting for a market share that is getting more difficult to attract? Or is their timing impeccable as the financial state of the UK goes into reverse and people move to PAYG or 30-day contracts away from the more traditional deals.

[Ben]

I often look at these propositions with interest, but needing a physical SIM is something of a barrier to adoption IMHO. It's the kind of service people might put on a spare phone used for calling overseas in place of, I suppose, the landline. On-handset services that use, for example, WiFi seem to be far more practical, or at least will be in time. God bless the app revolution, eh?

[3GScottishUser]

I often look at these propositions with interest, but needing a physical SIM is something of a barrier to adoption IMHO. It's the kind of service people might put on a spare phone used for calling overseas in place of, I suppose, the landline. On-handset services that use, for example, WiFi seem to be far more practical, or at least will be in time. God bless the app revolution, eh?

Thats exactly what I have done as Skype etc have termination charges to call landlines and mobiles abroad. The Lyca proposition could be ideal for migrants working in the UK as they would have no worries about calling costs and would also have a UK mobile number for contact.