Could you imagine arriving on holiday only to find out that you cannot make phone calls or send a text message?

Or worst still, taking a business trip abroad and finding out you cannot check your emails.

This is a situation that many British travelers face each year and yet a few simple steps before you travel will see you set for being just as social as you like.

So, let’s take a look from start to finish how you should prepare for you next trip abroad with your mobile phone.

International bar

To the utter surprise of many most phones are sold with an international bar in place. This is designed to protect you in case your mobile is stolen.

It is however easy to have lifted, just call your customer services and make the request. If you wish you can always have the international calling bar put back onto your phone account when you return.

If you are an Everything Everywhere customer then you can skip this step as the network has chosen not to use international bars.

Voicemail

Your virtual answering machine service will work outside of the United Kingdom but you must set up a security code before you leave and you will need to enter this every time you playback your messages.

You may also need to call a different telephone number to hear your messages when you are working or on holiday overseas.

Calling the UK

It is easy to call back home and on a mobile phone you need to use +44 as the international dialing code.

The + symbol can usually be found on the 0 or hash key and you select it by either holiday the key down or by pressing it twice, quickly in succession.

Accessing the internet

If you have a 2G or 3G mobile phone then you will be able to use the internet overseas. If however you own a 4G smartphone then you will need to change one of the settings first.

4G roaming isn’t yet available so you will need to tell your phone to connect to the internet using 2G or 3G.

On most phones this option can be found under settings, mobile networks and then network mode.

It may be located elsewhere on your smartphone so check that you can find this option before you leave.

Reducing costs

Even though calling costs from overseas have been reduced recently there are ways to save even more money.

Firstly, you should be aware that you pay for incoming calls as well as outgoing calls.

Frequent callers can add an international bolt-on to their phone account to receive cheaper calling rates.

If you are going to receive a lot of calls or plan to make lots of local calls then you could consider purchasing a local SIM card on pay as you go.