How to Find Cheap Calls to South Africa from UK

This is a comparison site for cheap calls to South Africa and over 300 other destinations. It presents the cheapest way to call South Africa mobile or landline number, or indeed any number in any world destination (including some satellite phone numbers), by showing access numbers and the price of a call per minute. There are several ways to find the appropriate access number for South Africa:

1. All the destinations are listed in alphabetical order in a clearly presented table, where South Africa can be found by simply scrolling down the page.
2. There is a search icon in the header of the main page (right hand side) and the text field which is revealed by clickinh on the icon. By typing any part of South Africa in the text field, you can filter-in all destinations that match the typed text.
3. You can simply go directly to the page that shows all cheap calls to South Africa.

Please view the video below that shows how to find cheapest calls to South Africa. When you find South Africa in the table on the Call Rates Scanner main page, you will see the cheapest reliable access number and the rate charged per minute. Note, this is not necessarily the cheapest access number to South Africa, but this is the cheapest access number which is from a reliable low cost calls provider, i.e. the call has a good audio quality and fresh and reliable information (see help section Cheap calls table on South Africa Page, below the video, for detailed explanation of various aspects of provider's reliability). If you wish to see alternative access numbers to South Africa, then click on expand button, expand_more, in the left hand side of the row. The row will expand with 5 alternative access numbers to South Africa plus a link to see all 74 access numbers to South Africa, which looks like this, more_horiz. By clicking on the latter you will be taken to the page with all cheap calls to South Africa, including information about the call quality for each provider that offers service to South Africa. Please see a short how-to video tutorial for a demonstration.

The call rates in the tables on South Africa page are listed in the order of cheapest provider first. All access numbers, and their respective call rates, on the page are for cheap calls to South Africa. You can switch between landline rates and mobile rates in the page header. You don't need to browse through numerous providers' web sites to get up to date call rates and access numbers to South Africa, they are all listed on this page. A brief help text in the header of the table explains the meaning of each column. Below is the detailed explanation about the information in each column of the table:

1. Access Number - the number to dial before calling South Africa. There is no subscription or pin code to enter, when you dial the access number. Just dial access number, wait for the prompt and then dial the phone number in South Africa. For instructions on how to make a cheap international call to South Africa please refer to the section below, on this page. The information about how to dial a number in South Africa using access numbers is available in help section, How to make a cheap call to South Africa.
2. Price p/min - price of the call (pence per minute) for an access number to call South Africa. Each access number has a different call rate. Note that this is only a service charge of the price. Your phone line is charged this amount per minute, when you make a call to this access number, plus an access charge or, as it is sometimes called, connection charge. You begin to be charged the moment you make a call to the access number and not when someone picks up the phone on the other end. The connection charge is what your line provider charges you in addition to the price stated in the table. The connection charge varies with phone provider. For more information on call charges please refer to help section, Call charges for access number to call South Africa.
3. Call Quality % - the quality of the sound for the given access number (and thus given provider of cheap calls). 100% represents perfect quality, whereas 0% means nothing can be heard. Please note that this information is not updated daily, unlike access numbers and prices for calls to South Africa. We only used a random subset of access numbers and destinations for each provider, in order to establish the sound quality of the call, due to the limited resources that Call Rates Scanner has at its disposal. If you found that the sound quality for a specific provider is different from that stated here, please let us know, stating which destination you called and which provider and access number you used. Our contact details can be found in Contact section.
4. Call OHD sec - the time overhead of the call in seconds. This is a average combined time that the caller has to wait before actually speaking to someone on the other end. This is the time for which you pay whilst not actually talking to anyone. This is the time you waste before dialing the actual number in South Africa plus the time you wait for the phone to ring on the other end. For more information on call charges please refer to Call charges for access number to call South Africa. Please note that this information is not updated daily, and only a handful of access numbers and destinations were checked for each provider. This is due to the limited resources that Call Rates Scanner has at its disposal. If you found that the wait times (overheads) for a specific provider is vastly different from what is stated here, please let us know, stating which destination (i.e. South Africa) you dialed and which provider and access number you used. Our contact details can be found in Contact section.
5. Data Verity % - the accuracy of information about access numbers and pricing on the provider's website or other provider's sources. For example, if the data about access numbers is out of date or inaccurate, then you may end up paying for the calls that are doomed to fail. This usually happens when the information on the website is updated much later than access numbers themselves. Normally, when you call outdated access number, you will hear an automated message with new a valid access number for South Africa, but only after you have made the call to the number in South Africa via the old access number, which means that you have already been charged for a minute or two plus the connection charge. The smaller the value in this column, the more likely you are to waste time and money due to invalid access numbers being advertised. Please note that data verity is not updated daily and is based on historical occurrences of provider's stale or incorrect data - it indicates provider's past performance of keeping the data fresh. It is also possible that some providers are caught more than others, due to the limited resources that are available to us. If you found that the freshness of information that a specific provider offers is different from what is indicated here, please tell us, stating which destination you called and which provider and access number you used. Please refer to Contact on how to contact Call Rates Scanner.
6. Provider - the name of the cheap calls provider. The provider owns the access numbers and draws the revenue from service charge part of the price (the price, stated in the comparison tables on Call Rates Scanner pages). We do not list url links to the websites of providers compared. If you are one of the listed providers and wish for the link to your website to appear on Call Rates Scanner pages, please contact us. Please refer to Contact page on how to contact Call Rates Scanner.

Related help topics:
About information in the table on main page.
Problems with connection when calling South Africa using access numbers
Call charges for access number to call South Africa

You may be able to call South Africa absolutely free of charge. No service charges to pay, no connection charges to pay - zero cost in total. Some of the access numbers start with 0845 or 0870 and can cost anything between local rate to 15 pence per minute. However, if you have inclusive minutes package to 0845 and 0870 numbers then your calls to South Africa are very likely to be free (please read about cost of inclusive calls and caveats in help section How free are inclusive minutes to 0845, 0870 access numbers to call South Africa). If you have a valid package with inclusive calls, then you would want to see those inclusive access numbers to South Africa at the top of the search, priced as 0.0p/min, because that's what they cost to you. You can do this by clicking on Optimise search for inclusive calls to 01, 02, 03 numbers or 01, 02, 03, 0845, 0870 numbers. located in the top left corner menu and in the text above the rates table on South Africa page.

1. Select inclusive calls mode, as explained in the paragraph above. The selected mode will be shown at the footer of the page next to all_inclusive icon.
2. From All Destinations page find South Africa, by scrolling the page or using the search, as explained in How to Find Cheap Calls to South Africa help section above.
3. Pick most reliable free access number (priced as 0.0p). If you don't find any free access numbers on All Destinations page, then there are no access numbers available for calls to South Africa that match your inclusive calls package. There will not be any free calls available on South Africa page either.

When you select one of the inclusive calls mode adjustment options in the menu, the search will be optimised for that call package, either inclusive minutes to 01, 02, 03 numbers or inclusive minutes to 01, 02, 03, 0845, 0870 numbers respectively. This action will reprice all access numbers to South Africa, which are included in your package, to be 0.0p/min. This means that calls to those numbers are completely free, subject to fair usage as defined by your landline provider (please also see a general help section Inclusive calls explained. for more detail). Usually, you will not be paying either access charge or service charge. So, by optimising the search according to your calling plan (or call package) on this website you will be presented with prices for calls to South Africa that are true to your circumstances. Note that this optimisation setting works on both, All Destinations page and South Africa page. To navigate from All Destinations page to South Africa page, please expand South Africa row on the main page then, click on more_horiz at the bottom of the expanded South Africa row).

Related help topics:
How to Find Cheap Calls to South Africa
How to make a free call to South Africa with inclusive minutes to 0845, 0870 numbers
How free are inclusive minutes to 0845, 0870 access numbers to call South Africa