Global roaming (data) sim ideas for India, UAE and Sweden trip

[shan1983]

Hi

I've searched high and low for a solution for my upcoming trip, but cannot seem to find what I am after.

I'll be travelling to southern India, the UAE and northern Europe in a few months time. The total trip length will be about 40 days.

I'm after a service that offers:

1) Data that is accessible in all countries
2) The data does not expire in 30 days time
3) At least 1 gig of data
4) Roaming voice and text
5) A local Australia number that automatically connects to me while roaming.

Previously I have used 'Roaming Sim.' However, their data expires after 30 days and data plans do not include usage in the UAE, which I will be in for seven days.

So, does anyone have any experience with a truly global roaming service that isn't restrictive with 30 days expiry for data?

Cheers

 

[moa999]

Flexiroam data doesn't expire.

12-mth subscription and postage US$15, 1GB data $30 and works in India, UAE and Europe.

But no Voice. You would need to use a SIP solution.

--

I cant think of any solution that would meet all your needs. Voda $5 days covers India and most of Europe but not UAE.
And the other prepaid cards would get very expensive if you chew threw 1GB

 

[lathiat]

FlexiroamX is working great for me, cannot recommend it enough. Have been using it through Singapore, UAE, UK, USA, etc.
Yearly data expiry, $30/GB and works in almost any country... 3G & 4G speeds in most places.

It also sticks onto your existing sim and you software switch between it and yours, so it's easy to switch back to receive a 2FA SMS or something on your normal service. And no fumbling with sim tools, etc.


No voice/SMS though, which is the only downside.. for this I suggest that you get a VOIP service of some kind.. personally I just use Skype for outbound calling on occasion. I think Skype also does inbound?

The one slight pain I have had, being an iPhone user, is that it unregisters my phone number from iMessage when you switch sim so I don't continue to receive iMessage to my phone number... this would work if I could keep the sim in another phone to keep the iMessage activated. But because of the software switch you sortof lose that, you get one or the other.


We both get 100MB extra free data if you use my referral code [FONT=&amp]YXBBCJ - though I think there was also a special AFF deal going on that got you 500MB free instead.. don't remember where I saw that but might be a better deal.
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[shan1983]

Thanks moa999 and lathiat.

I'll definitely check out Flexiroam. Worst case scenario is that I have another sim for voice calls when needed.

If I can't find the 500mg referral, I'll use your code lathiat.

Cheers

 

[RooFlyer]

Brilliant; thanks lathiat (and moa999).

<snip>
The one slight pain I have had, being an iPhone user, is that it unregisters my phone number from iMessage when you switch sim so I don't continue to receive iMessage to my phone number... this would work if I could keep the sim in another phone to keep the iMessage activated. But because of the software switch you sortof lose that, you get one or the other.
<snip>

Is it that iMessage only de-activates when you have Flexiroam selected via the software? If you switch back to 'normal' iPhone SIM use (say, to make a voice call), you get iMessage back? Is that the only software screen? Just switch between SIMS?

Very likely you'll get a referral bonus before too long

 

[moa999]

Brilliant; thanks lathiat (and moa999).
Is it that iMessage only de-activates when you have Flexiroam selected via the software? If you switch back to 'normal' iPhone SIM use (say, to make a voice call), you get iMessage back? Is that the only software screen? Just switch between SIMS?
Very likely you'll get a referral bonus before too long

That is the only software screen.
Under Android (4.4) it is found under SIM Toolkit.

My prior thread with some videos and potential bonus codes is here:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/referral-offers/flexiroam-x-77437.html

Jakplus's special AFF code expired Aug-19.
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....net/bonus-sign-up-offer-flexiroamx-77575.html

 

[moa999]

Also saw a similar company Interfone had recently launched -- but there rates are craaazy. From S$10/day for 100mb and S$25/day unlimited

 

[shan1983]

I did some snooping around on Flexiroam and managed to find a current promo code that nets 500meg of data. The code is SAVEONROAMING. Not too sure if it will only work for new sign-ups, but might be worth a shot!

 

[Viridianne]

If you have someone in the US, get the Google project fi. But needs American model Nexus 5x or 6/6p

 

[moa999]

I did some snooping around on Flexiroam and managed to find a current promo code that nets 500meg of data. The code is SAVEONROAMING. Not too sure if it will only work for new sign-ups, but might be worth a shot!

Only a new user code :-(
To use I believe you need to sign up without a referral code, and then immediately apply the code under the Unlock Free Data/ Apply Promo Code section in the App

 

[lathiat]

Brilliant; thanks lathiat (and moa999).



Is it that iMessage only de-activates when you have Flexiroam selected via the software? If you switch back to 'normal' iPhone SIM use (say, to make a voice call), you get iMessage back? Is that the only software screen? Just switch between SIMS?

Very likely you'll get a referral bonus before too long

It's not specific to Flexiroam at all.. when you soft-switch the sim, it appears to the phone as if you unplugged and re-plugged a new SIM card. When you switch SIM, iPhone automatically unregisters iMessage for the old number, and tries re-register for the new number. This is the fix to the relatively famous problem people used to have, where you would switch sim to another (non-apple) phone and people would message you and it disappeared into an iMessage black-hole.

The only difference with Flexiroam is, if I had a separate physical SIM card, I could "cheat" by popping my normal SIM into another phone which would keep iMessage registered.. and then iMessage for my normal number would still come through on all of my devices like it usually does (including the FlexiroamX phone).. however because it's not a separate SIM you can't do that "cheat".

Of course, you could just pick up a blank SIM of any kind, paste the FlexiroamX onto that instead and then you would be no different to any other roaming sim just now you have to physically swap sim cards (this would also work for those wanting to use Flexiroam in a dual sim phone).


It's just a minor complaint, and not really Flexiroams fault at all.. and to be honest I much prefer the software switch. Makes it super easy to switch back to my normal sim briefly to receive my SMS backlog, and 2FA SMS to sign into something
You can also still iMessage using your appleid e-mail address (in most cases, your @icloud.com - but you can register any and multiple email addresses onto your AppleID) - just people that mindlessly message your normal number or reply to an existing conversation will end up sending an SMS that you don't receive. Any new conversations you start will iMessage from your e-mail address and you're good to go when they reply to that.

 

[moa999]

Being a long-time dual-sim Android user I actually put the flexiroam sticker on an old sim (and somewhat lucky too as my first sticker failed after two days, although the underlying sim was still fine when removed).

But yes it's a great solution for casual roaming with moderate data usage. Probably better options if going to Europe only.