Europe Data roaming experiences, new products, 'Euroaming'

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Hi All,

Long time, no post.

I am heading to Europe and the UK for 4 weeks in September which prompted me to look again at data roaming options. The local carries are frankly going to rip you off if you roam with your existing service. In the past, when in destinations for 7 days or more, I would procure a local pre-paid SIM card with data access, which was perfect when teamed up with a mobile WiFi hotspot to connect all my devices. Perfect if you have significant time in one country.

On this upcoming trip in September, however, I am visiting 5 different countries over 3.5 weeks, and getting a SIM card for just 4 days of access in some places is a ridiculous waste of time I should be spending sipping coughtails or absorbing the local culture.

It appears the most cost effective options for data roaming throughout Europe (for those of us who actually use a fair bit of data) are actually the rental devices provided by Droam and Tep. I was initially looking at the SIM options, but all are fairly highly priced.

Droam offers 1GB for 100EUR + delivery for a month, and Tep varies but 1.5GB for about $110USD, both offer roaming to most major European countries.

I've booked Tep for a few reasons, first being the convenience of being able to collect it in LHR T3 upon my arrival on QF1, and secondly I was able to add another 1GB for about $40. When you compare this to what you might pay for roaming from the local carriers, it seems a good value proposition, especially when teamed with Skype or VoIP to make your phone calls while o/s.

I will report back to this thread on my Tep experience, but was interested to hear the experience of others in the data roaming space?

Working in ICT and owning my own business I can't really afford to be disconnected, and I'm sure many of your are in the same boat.

By the way, I sourced some discount codes (not sure when they expire):
TEP: promo code SNAPSHOT_tep for 10% off, or teplaunch for 15% off

 

[A330]

You're right that even with the recent change in EU laws regarding roaming, data roaming within the EU is still expensive. Buying a UK sim will mean that you are limited to 25MB per day of Euroaming for £2.

I recently returned from a month travelling around the EU on a UK sim, but did not need any of the data. Are you not staying in hotels with wifi access?

There also seems to be more common free wifi around EU cities than you would find in Sydney. Note than in Germany wifi is referred to as WLAN, which is pronounced" vey-lan". And in Italy, all internet access is required to be registered to you personally (meaning when using a wifi hotspot it will ask for personal information).

 

[drewbles]

You're right that even with the recent change in EU laws regarding roaming, data roaming within the EU is still expensive. Buying a UK sim will mean that you are limited to 25MB per day of Euroaming for £2.

I recently returned from a month travelling around the EU on a UK sim, but did not need any of the data. Are you not staying in hotels with wifi access?

There also seems to be more common free wifi around EU cities than you would find in Sydney. Note than in Germany wifi is referred to as WLAN, which is pronounced" vey-lan". And in Italy, all internet access is required to be registered to you personally (meaning when using a wifi hotspot it will ask for personal information).

Many countries are starting to require photo ID for pre-paid SIM cards (hence the Italy problem). There are still ways around this quite easily. Roaming as you say is getting much cheaper.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

You're right that even with the recent change in EU laws regarding roaming, data roaming within the EU is still expensive. Buying a UK sim will mean that you are limited to 25MB per day of Euroaming for £2.

I recently returned from a month travelling around the EU on a UK sim, but did not need any of the data. Are you not staying in hotels with wifi access?

There also seems to be more common free wifi around EU cities than you would find in Sydney. Note than in Germany wifi is referred to as WLAN, which is pronounced" vey-lan". And in Italy, all internet access is required to be registered to you personally (meaning when using a wifi hotspot it will ask for personal information).

Yes, I have wifi access at hotels, but that doesn't help me when I'm halfway across town, or on a train, or in a taxi, etc.

Tep require you to advise when you will be in Italy separately, and appear to look after the additional requirements. Having purchased a pre-paid SIM previously in Italy, I had to show my passport.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

I realised I never reported back on this, but the service was actually very good, with reasonable 3G speeds across the UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Greece. It wasn't great on the Greek Island of Santorini, but to be honest, I was far too busy to be using it much.

Price-wise, I thought it good value for a month worth of access.

I'm off to HKG in a week and have done some research in which I've found the One2Free (on the CSL network) seems to be cheap with good coverage at HKD$78/7 Days. BYO device however.

Anyways, happy global surfing...

 

[YQY]

Tep wireless, currently have a promotion (50% off wireless rates). Booking need to be made by 1st Feb 2012. The promo code is Jan50.

I rented a modem with 3GB limit for 31 days for £45.00. The modem can be used anywhere in Europe.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

I'm currently in Paris after travelling the UK, Italy, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and France.

I can quite honestly say I will never be renting from Tep again.

Upon picking up the device, it was not holding charge, so was completely useless. After countless attempts to get in touch with their support area, they finally replaced it 2 days later.

I have had no end of issues with the device this time around not bring able to connect for days on end.

After previously being very happy with it, I now would not recommend anyone use this service. It is atrocious, and their customer service will leave you wanting.