Three charges for calls from the UK to numbers abroad on top of your plan, and what you pay depends almost entirely on whether you are on Pay Monthly or Pay As You Go. A Pay Monthly customer pays £3.00 a minute to call the USA, India or Pakistan. A New Pay As You Go customer pays 3p to the same countries.
The figures below come from Three's own price guides, checked 3 October 2026: the Three Your Way price guide (published 27 August 2026) and the New Pay As You Go price guide (published 19 April 2026). Three publishes a separate guide for each plan start date at three.co.uk/priceguide; the older Pay Monthly guides we checked use the same international rates.
Three Pay Monthly: two bands, and a steep second one
On Pay Monthly plans, calls to international numbers never come out of your UK minutes. Three splits the world into two bands:
| Band | Destinations include | Per minute | Per text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | Most of Europe: France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland | 19.5p | 6.2p |
| Band 2 | Everywhere else, including the USA, Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, the Philippines, China and Turkey | £3.00 | 65p |
Calls carry a one-minute minimum charge and are then billed by the second. A 15-minute call to India costs £45. A weekly half-hour call to a parent in Pakistan costs £90 each time.
Call Abroad add-ons
Three's answer is a monthly voice add-on that covers 55 destinations, listed in the same price guide:
- Call Abroad 100 Minutes: £7 a month for 100 minutes.
- Call Abroad Unlimited: £12 a month for unlimited minutes.
Both recur monthly until you cancel and work only while you are in the UK. The 55 destinations include the USA, Canada, Australia, India, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand and most of the EU. Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Ghana and Sri Lanka are not on the list, so calls there stay at £3.00 a minute whatever add-on you hold.
For a destination on the list, the maths is simple. Two 15-minute calls to India a month cost £90 without an add-on and £7 with one.
Three Pay As You Go: much cheaper international rates
Three's New Pay As You Go price guide uses three bands, and its cheapest band covers many of the countries UK families call most:
| Band | Destinations include | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Band 1 | USA, Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, South Africa, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain | 3p |
| Band 2 | Several European countries, including the Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Greece, Sweden and Switzerland | 19.5p |
| Band 3 | Most other countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, the Philippines, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the UAE and Japan | £1.50 |
Pay As You Go calls are rounded up to the nearest whole minute and paid from your credit, not from any pack allowance. Three also sells a Call Abroad 200 add-on on Pay As You Go: £5 for 200 minutes over one month to 39 destinations, which needs an active data pack.
If most of your international calls go to a Band 1 country, Three Pay As You Go at 3p a minute is one of the cheapest options available, including against calling apps.
Go Roam is not international calling
The two get mixed up, and the mix-up shows up on bills. International calling is dialling a foreign number while you are in the UK. Go Roam is using your UK allowance while you are abroad.
Go Roam covers over 160 destinations in three groups: Go Roam in Europe, Go Roam Around the World (including the USA, Australia and Brazil) and Go Roam Around the World Extra (including Canada, India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey). On Pay Monthly, your allowance works there in one of three ways: roaming built into some Value and Complete plans, a Go Roam pass, or a daily charge.
| Go Roam group | Daily charge (joined or upgraded from 18 December 2025) | Daily charge (joined 1 October 2021 to 17 December 2025) | Passes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | £2.75 | £2 | 3 days £5, 7 days £12, 14 days £24 |
| Around the World | £8 | £7 | 3 days £12.50, 7 days £30, 14 days £60 |
| Around the World Extra | £8 | £7 | 3 days £17.50, 5 days £29.75, 7 days £42, 14 days £84 |
Customers who joined from 1 June 2025 on a SIM Only 24-month Lite plan with 25GB or 120GB pay £2 a day in Europe, £5 in Around the World and £7 in Around the World Extra. The allowance you unlock covers calls to UK numbers, plus numbers in other Europe destinations while you are in Europe, and up to 12GB of data a month. It never covers a call to an international number. Phone India from Spain on Pay Monthly and Three charges £1.40 a minute.
On Pay As You Go, Go Roam works in more than 70 destinations with no daily charge: you pay 35p a minute, 15p a text and 10p per MB from credit, or use a pack. Around the World Extra is not available on Pay As You Go.
Where a calling app fits
A calling app that dials ordinary phone numbers over Wi-Fi or mobile data saves the most for Pay Monthly customers, and for anyone calling a country in Three's Pay As You Go Band 3. CallSky is our product, so weigh the comparison with that in mind. CallSky charges in US dollars; its rates below are as of .
| Destination | Three Pay Monthly | Three Pay As You Go | CallSky (per min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | £3.00 | 3p | $0.03/min |
| India | £3.00 | 3p | $0.09/min |
| Pakistan | £3.00 | 3p | $0.29/min |
| Bangladesh | £3.00 | 3p | $0.11/min |
| Nigeria | £3.00 | £1.50 | $0.44/min |
| Philippines | £3.00 | £1.50 | $0.39/min |
| Poland | 19.5p | 3p | $0.06/min |
The table cuts both ways. On Pay As You Go, Three's 3p rate to India, Pakistan or Bangladesh beats CallSky, and you should use it. On Pay Monthly, a 15-minute call to Pakistan costs £45 through Three and $4.35 through CallSky. A 15-minute call to a mobile in Lagos costs £22.50 on Three Pay As You Go and $6.60 through CallSky.
The app also helps abroad: a call over hotel Wi-Fi is not a roaming call, so it needs no Go Roam pass or daily charge. For other routes, see our guide to apps for cheap international calls.
Frequently asked questions about Three international calls
Does Three include international calls?
No. Calls from the UK to international numbers are charged on top of your plan on both Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go. Pay Monthly customers can add Call Abroad 100 Minutes (£7 a month) or Call Abroad Unlimited (£12 a month) for 55 destinations; Pay As You Go customers can buy Call Abroad 200 (£5 for 200 minutes to 39 destinations).
How much does Three charge to call India?
On Pay Monthly, £3.00 a minute, so a 15-minute call costs £45 unless you hold a Call Abroad add-on, which covers India. On New Pay As You Go, India is in Band 1 at 3p a minute. Rates checked against Three's price guides on 3 October 2026.
What's the cheapest way to call abroad on Three?
It depends on your plan and the country. On Pay As You Go, Band 1 countries cost 3p a minute, which is hard to beat. On Pay Monthly, a Call Abroad add-on is good value if your destination is among its 55 countries. For countries outside the add-on, or Pay As You Go Band 3 countries such as Nigeria and the Philippines, a calling app such as CallSky (our product) costs a fraction of Three's rate.
Is Go Roam the same as international calling?
No. Go Roam lets you use your UK allowance while you are abroad, in over 160 destinations on Pay Monthly. International calling is dialling a foreign number from the UK. Go Roam never covers calls to international numbers, and neither does your UK allowance.
Related guides
- O2 international calls
- EE international calls
- Vodafone international calls
- Tesco Mobile international calling
- How to make international calls
CallSky is our product. It calls 180+ countries on pay-as-you-go credit that never expires, with no subscription.