Don't get stung with high charges to call abroad this Christmas

Michael Phillips, of Homephonechoices.co.uk, which conducted the innovation, said: “It’s baffling to see so many consumers overpaying needlessly by making ­international calls using the most expensive means available.

“The majority of UK households will have trimmed back on their monthly outgoings to pay for Christmas now, if they are not ­careful, they could undo all their good work by incurring a costly one-off phone bill.”

Talk Talk’s Talk UK Anytime package, for instance, offers a Global Saver option for £1.01 a month. This gives you calls to Canada and Australia for just 2p a minute.

If you only make calls overseas on very rare occasions just as Christmas and birthdays, at the time one option is to use a prefix code, a number you enter earlier making a call, effectively over-riding your existing home phone provider.

Discount Dial and Planet Talk, for instance, both allow you to make calls to the US for 0.5p a minute. In comparison, BT would charge 17.5p a minute.

The Voice over ­Internet Protocol

Another way to cut costs is to make your calls via your computer – just as with the Voice over ­Internet Protocol, or VoIP system.

If you are calling someone on the same system, calls are completely free. However even if you’re calling a normal landline, costs are significantly reduced.

And if you’re jetting off for Christmas, don’t forget to check you are on your mobile provider’s roaming service as this can cut the cost of calls back home.

Her mum lives in Spain and her best friend moved to New Zealand this year so cheap ­international calls are very important – ­especially since she bought her first home this year and has lots of other outgoings to consider.

“I’m not spending Christmas with my mum this year so I’ll be calling her a lot,” says the 28-year-old account manager. “I have a bundled deal with Sky which I use for broadband, home phone and television.

“It’s £28 a month and for £5 a month extra I have the Sky Talk Unlimited option which means I can make unlimited UK landline calls and ­unlimited calls to 20 international destinations, including New Zealand and Spain.”

Jayne, from Tulse Hill, south-east London, adds: “I used Skype earlier, nevertheless my mother lives in a very isolated spot and didn’t have a very good internet connection, so I actually needed to be able to call her on the phone.