Post Office offers free calls to US and Canadian mobiles

Tomorrow (16 August) marks 150 years to the day since the first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid, bridging North America and Europe and heralding the beginning of easy transatlantic communication.

And according to a new study from Post Office Telecoms out today, 150 years later a staggering 67 per cent (over two thirds) of UK residents now have family or friends living abroad, and 38 per cent of them speak to them on the phone once a month or more. As a nation last year alone we used a total of 6109 million minutes - worth a whopping £562 million - making international calls.

In light of these figures, Post Office Telecoms is introducing free weekend calls to the USA and Canada, including mobiles, for all Post Office HomePhone customers for the life of their contract, as well as free weekend calls to landlines in 18 other popular overseas destinations.

The study also showed that one in five (20 per cent) UK residents with friends and family living overseas admit to never calling them. Scots were the chattiest, with only 14 per cent saying that they never pick up the phone to call friends and family living abroad. Respondents in Northern Ireland were the worst at keeping in touch with 30 per cent admitting to never calling their overseas loved ones.

American national Ashley Pearson, GMTV’s resident showbiz reporter, said: “As a New Yorker living and working in London, keeping in regular touch with friends and family back home can be costly.

“This new deal from the Post Office means people can chat to loved ones living overseas for free every weekend, which is especially welcome at a time when other household bills are spiralling and we’re all having to count the pennies.”

The first official telegram to pass between the UK and America was a letter of congratulation from Queen Victoria to the President of the United States James Buchanan on August 16, 1858, in which she expressed a hope that it would prove "an additional link between the nations whose friendship is founded on their common interest and reciprocal esteem."

International relations have blossomed since - the Post Office report, which surveyed over 2,000 UK residents, revealed that 22 per cent of us have had a romantic relationship with someone living abroad. Londoners proved the most internationally amorous with almost a third (31 per cent) admitting to having had a long distance romance.

Hugh Stacey, head of HomePhone and Broadband at the Post Office, said: “More and more of us have friends and family living or working abroad - three million international calls were made by Post Office HomePhone customers last year alone.

“Our customers tell us that, despite the explosion of other methods of communication such as email and text message, there’s still nothing quite like hearing the voice of a loved one.

“We’re confident that our free weekend calls to landlines in 20 overseas destinations, as well as US and Canadian mobiles, will encourage our customers who have perhaps lost touch with friends and family, to pick up the phone and, to misquote Elvis, enjoy a little more conversation.”

For more information visit postoffice.co.uk