Pre-paid SIM card for Europe

[OldShooter]

You miss my point. We use so little data that optimizing its cost is uninteresting.

Out of curiosity, what do you use all those gigs for? Do you not use WiFi when it's available? Do you watch movies instead of being out and about?

 

[Helen]

I would not recommend the Simcorner card. It was a bit quirky and did not work right out of the gate (for the first several days) and that was true with both 30 day cards. My spouse bought a card over there and it worked very well.

We ran into the same problem were we had about five days at the end without coverage. We had to rely on WiFi those last few days.

 

[Winemaker]

I was told by the Verizon clerk at our local store to call customer service about a month before our river cruise next year. They said that for a small fee I would have coverage.
Their idea of a small fee and mine might be different, and our cruise/side trip is 14 days.

 

[explanade]

You miss my point. We use so little data that optimizing its cost is uninteresting.

Out of curiosity, what do you use all those gigs for? Do you not use WiFi when it's available? Do you watch movies instead of being out and about?

Wifi at hotel sucks. It's usually too slow, if it even works. It often goes offline at these family hotels and in the big international chains, it's managed to put out slow speeds.

You stream, you download media, data gets eaten up fast.

It's not 2009, when mobile data prices were high and speeds were slow. Mobile data has improved, often much faster and more reliable than hotel wifi.

 

[candrew]

Wifi at hotel sucks. It's usually too slow, if it even works. It often goes offline at these family hotels and in the big international chains, it's managed to put out slow speeds.

+1

We stayed in the ancient medina in Fes, Morocco for several weeks. The WiFi was painstakingly slow. The same in Asilah. During 6 weeks of traveling around Morocco, we chewed up what would have normally been several months worth of gigabytes.

 

[candrew]

No surprise really. Dealing with 200 countries and many more cell carriers I think it's unrealistic to expect perfection. Even in the US we run into areas where coverage is weak or nonexistent. Life's a tradeoff. I would rather travel with a high probability of having no-hassle cell service than travel knowing that I have to chase down and buy a SIM card in every country we visit. In May we did Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria with transit at Schiphol. Six cards ?!!? No thanks. Sorry to hear about your hassle, though.

We aren't expecting perfection. We do, however, expect Google Fi to live up to their advertised claim of providing service in Guatemala. It appears that Fi's inability to provide their customers service in Guatemala is a known issue for them that has existed for some time now. At a minimum, Fi has an obligation to inform their customers of this and not send messages to their phones upon entering the country that states, "Welcome to Guatemala, we've got you covered".

 

[sengsational]

I would not recommend the Simcorner card. It was a bit quirky and did not work right out of the gate (for the first several days) and that was true with both 30 day cards. My spouse bought a card over there and it worked very well.

We ran into the same problem were we had about five days at the end without coverage. We had to rely on WiFi those last few days.

Thanks for the follow-up. I hope to have a better experience with the "dataroam" card I got off Amazon. I'll report back around Thanksgiving.

So glad I don’t have to mess with SIMs in Europe anymore.

These are things that I don't mind doing while traveling. I could spend another 30 minutes in (yet another) church listening to a guide, or I could be immersed in the culture, down a city side street talking to a tech savvy local about if hotspot works on this or that SIM. Different strokes.

 

[sengsational]

Thanks for the follow-up. I hope to have a better experience with the "dataroam" card I got off Amazon. I'll report back around Thanksgiving.

These are things that I don't mind doing while traveling. I could spend another 30 minutes in (yet another) church listening to a guide, or I could be immersed in the culture, down a city side street talking to a tech savvy local about if hotspot works on this or that SIM. Different strokes.

This "dataroam" card worked pretty good for me. There were a few localized regions where it didn't work, or was so slow as to be unusable, but never more than some specific place where, I suppose, there was weak cell coverage. So the bottom line was that there were a few times where I had the European radio phone with this card in it, and the portable hotspot active when my daily phone, connected to the hotspot, gave me trouble, but mostly, everything just worked.


The European radio phone is old, though, so I wasn't getting the full benefit out of the card; I only got 3G instead of the 4G that the SIM could provide. I was impressed by the customer support on Amazon: I posted that I was getting only 3G, and they came back and reported the model of phone I had (hardware) didn't support 4G. So for $27 I got 4GB of data spread over 60 days. I used it in Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain seamlessly. I'd do it again, but this is probably the last time I'll use that old Moto XT1021.

 

[explanade]

Ah yes, I had a 3G hotspot. Still do somewhere.

Also had a 3G USB stick.

Definitely one reason I've stuck with iPhones and iPads, because they produce models with support for more LTE bands than other brands.

Now they're starting to deploy 5G. Probably not for at least a couple years before we have a good picture of what kind of 5G device you'd want for using overseas.

 

[walkinwood]

... So for $27 I got 4GB of data spread over 60 days....

That's a good deal + the time/hassle saved looking for a SIM card once you land.

We now have t-mobile & they have a 4G international pass for $50 that lasts 30 days. Unlimited text & calling and 15G of data. I plan to use that on my next trip.

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

 

[jcfradio]

That's a good deal + the time/hassle saved looking for a SIM card once you land.

We now have t-mobile & they have a 4G international pass for $50 that lasts 30 days. Unlimited text & calling and 15G of data. I plan to use that on my next trip.

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

Wow! Gotta love the plans that you have in the US! Canadian plans, unfortunately, are among the worst in the world. For example, with my major national carrier, I can pay $180/month (plus my monthly $65 charge) for the privilege of using my Canadian 5GB data plan plus phone to Canada, while I am overseas,

I will be checking out local SIM cards for my next trip to South America in 2020!

 

[explanade]

That's a good deal + the time/hassle saved looking for a SIM card once you land.

We now have t-mobile & they have a 4G international pass for $50 that lasts 30 days. Unlimited text & calling and 15G of data. I plan to use that on my next trip.

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

You have to have a certain type of plan to be able to add those.

Some here may have the 55 plan and that doesn't qualify.

Edit: I checked the T-Mobile app. and it looks like I might be able to add it. Previously I'd only heard of regular plan which costs $50 a month. Not something you can add as-needed.

It's not too bad.

I'm going to NZ in a couple of weeks and I was looking at getting a SIM there for either 46 NZD for 12 GB or 66 NZD for 30 GB. I would activate it on my phone and then put it in my iPad to use as hotspot.

Those are better deals because 66 NZD is about $42.

But it's good to have a backup.

BTW, the fine print is that only 5 GB of the 15 GB would be for hotspot use. So only worth it if you expect to consume all that data just on your phone.

 

[audreyh1]

That's a good deal + the time/hassle saved looking for a SIM card once you land.

We now have t-mobile & they have a 4G international pass for $50 that lasts 30 days. Unlimited text & calling and 15G of data. I plan to use that on my next trip.

https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/roaming

I considered that for my last trip, but I never got around to it mainly because I was getting what I needed most of the time even traveling cross country.

BTW you should already have unlimited international texting.

 

[walkinwood]

I considered that for my last trip, but I never got around to it mainly because I was getting what I needed most of the time even traveling cross country.

BTW you should already have unlimited international texting.

Agree! The last time, I used the day pass a few times because the 3G wasn't cutting it. Also, my hotel in Paris had blocked wi-fi calling.



For my upcoming trip, I decided I can splurge (all of $50!!) and not worry about speeds or having to call DW using wi-fi or whatsapp.

 

[audreyh1]

Hotel blocked WiFi calling? Well that sucks!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

For multi-country trip in Europe we found the best mix to be Google FI plus maybe a prepaid sim for cheaper local calls, bought in country so you can test in store and make sure it works before paying for it. We don't have iphones so maybe that would have worked better, but Google FI works with Android so we could just buy the sim cards and not whole new phones for traveling.

 

[Scrapr]

I dropped my LG Stylo 3 phone and cracked the screen badly a couple days ago. Since I'm going to London/Paris in April I decided on a Google Fi phone. $249 ....but $150 rebate after activation. So only $100. And the International stuff is seamless. Same rate as if you are in the US. Just charge for the data you use

Will be here Saturday.

 

[sengsational]

Data-only (no local calling) comments

That's a good deal + the time/hassle saved looking for a SIM card once you land.
...

On thing I'll add, though, that I forgot to mention about buying the data-only SIM before leaving: it didn't allow for local SMS or local calling. I knew that before I left, and decided I'd take the risk of not being able to call or text locally. So I spent only $27 for 60 days and 4GB, it wasn't a "deluxe" solution.


WhatsApp saved me, though, most times, from the problem of having no local calling and local SMS. In one case, I did a really long hike and wanted to call a taxi to pick me up. The google machine gave me some taxi phone numbers, but I didn't have the capability to call with the data-only SIM. But the first taxi outfit I found, I put their number into WhatsApp and was able to get them to pick me up. But there was another time when I wanted to call a tourist info office and they weren't subscribed to WhatsApp. Finally, several times I contacted the folks managing the lodgings with a WhatsApp text message. It's nice to use texting in a non-English speaking country...you can type the English message into Google Translate, then paste the translated text. And the reverse with the response.

 

[mageedge]

Europe SIM card

One data point on this topic - just returned from a month in Portugal and Spain. Used the UK Three simcard from Amazon - $21.67, included 12gb, 3000 minutes and 3000 texts.
Worked well - mostly 4g, sometimes slower in rural areas. Usually on the Vodaphone network. Coverage was widespread.
You are assigned a UK number for the phone and should provide activation date in advance (explained in package).

 

[FIYes]

Mage edge, were you able to set up this sim before you left the USA? We are traveling to Portugal in 2020 and I want us to have cell phones. I will be setting up two cell phones, one for me and one for DH. My primary goal is to be able to call DH when he wanders off, therefore I need two phones.

 

[mageedge]

Mage edge, were you able to set up this sim before you left the USA? We are traveling to Portugal in 2020 and I want us to have cell phones. I will be setting up two cell phones, one for me and one for DH. My primary goal is to be able to call DH when he wonders off, therefore I need two phones.

I didn't activate the sim prior to leaving the States however I did email the vendor and specified an activation date (as directed in paperwork that accompanies SIM). The date I specified was 1 day before I intended to begin using the SIM. I received an email on that date telling me the SIM was "now active" I flew into Madrid the next day, switched on my phone and connected through the SIM to the vodaphone Spain system in about 2 minutes. Used it in Madrid airport while waiting for a flight to Lisbon. Switched back on at Lisbon airport and connected very quickly to the local Portuguese provider.

 

[AbbA]

For multi-country trip in Europe we found the best mix to be Google FI plus maybe a prepaid sim for cheaper local calls, bought in country so you can test in store and make sure it works before paying for it. We don't have iphones so maybe that would have worked better, but Google FI works with Android so we could just buy the sim cards and not whole new phones for traveling.

Could you please expand on this? Do you have to have Google FI plan in the US in order to use it in Europe?

We only have a Tracfone (?) plan here on some kind of Samsung phone and have not a clue what we'll need while in Europe next summer. I hope Chopin airport in Warsaw has a wi-fi. That's the only place where I might need to make a call from. We actually were always able to get around without phones there so maybe we can do just fine this time as well.

 

[explanade]

On thing I'll add, though, that I forgot to mention about buying the data-only SIM before leaving: it didn't allow for local SMS or local calling. I knew that before I left, and decided I'd take the risk of not being able to call or text locally. So I spent only $27 for 60 days and 4GB, it wasn't a "deluxe" solution.


WhatsApp saved me, though, most times, from the problem of having no local calling and local SMS. In one case, I did a really long hike and wanted to call a taxi to pick me up. The google machine gave me some taxi phone numbers, but I didn't have the capability to call with the data-only SIM. But the first taxi outfit I found, I put their number into WhatsApp and was able to get them to pick me up. But there was another time when I wanted to call a tourist info office and they weren't subscribed to WhatsApp. Finally, several times I contacted the folks managing the lodgings with a WhatsApp text message. It's nice to use texting in a non-English speaking country...you can type the English message into Google Translate, then paste the translated text. And the reverse with the response.

I've been using WhatsApp more and more. Often stay at these small places and they want to know when you are arriving. I then ask if they have WhatsApp and the answer is usually yes in Europe.

My backup is Viber, for which you can buy credits for calling real phone numbers. I called NZ the other day, 1.9 cents a minute.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Could you please expand on this? Do you have to have Google FI plan in the US in order to use it in Europe?

We only have a Tracfone (?) plan here on some kind of Samsung phone and have not a clue what we'll need while in Europe next summer. I hope Chopin airport in Warsaw has a wi-fi. That's the only place where I might need to make a call from. We actually were always able to get around without phones there so maybe we can do just fine this time as well.

We bought an unlocked Moto G 6 from Amazon (dual SIM, international model) and signed up for a Google FI plan here in the U.S. They sent a sim card we put it in the phone here in the U.S. There is a list of Google FI compatible phones on their web site:
https://fi.google.com/about/phones/

Poland is on their list for international coverage: https://fi.google.com/about/international-rates/

We bought a prepaid sim card for Europe on Amazon last trip ahead of time and it didn't work upon arrival. Not so much luck with international roaming with T-Mobile either. We did buy a new phone but it is because we needed ones with more storage anyway and we can use it with our existing Consumer Cellular plan (by swapping out the sim cards) and not just Google FI.

 

[sengsational]

I've been using WhatsApp more and more. Often stay at these small places and they want to know when you are arriving. I then ask if they have WhatsApp and the answer is usually yes in Europe.

My backup is Viber, for which you can buy credits for calling real phone numbers. I called NZ the other day, 1.9 cents a minute.

Yeah, one small place I stayed was gated and they had a sign to call a number to get them to come unlock the gate. So the ability to call local numbers seems universally expected. At the time, I had a SIM that supported local calling (not data-only), so didn't check to see if they were on WhatsApp.


Thanks for mentioning Viber. I've not heard of it, but it sounds like a good thing to know about if all you have is a data-only SIM.