Using mobile phone in Europe

[gayemep]

Having a month in Europe July/August this year and wondering does anyone have any advice re mobile phones, travel sims etc? Which is the best way to go?

 

[drewbles]

Suggest you go hunting around in here: Communication & Internet for more information on roaming SIM's and data etc.

 

[Timtammi]

Just back from 3 weeks on Italy so can comment on that country only. I purchased a prepaid Italian SIM from Vodafone there which included a small amount of phone/text and unlimited data for a month for 20 Euros (I'm pretty sure it was 20). I could have topped up the phone/text if I needed to but as I was skyping home and mainly got it for email and maps, internet etc it all worked just fine and I didnt need to top it up. Got it up and running on my Galaxy S3 within 5 mins of purchasing. Had to wait an hour or so for the text advising the unlimited data add-on pack was activated and I was then good to go.

Cheers

Timmi

 

[Angela Muir]

My daughter and I spent 5 1/2 weeks in England and France last year and we used Travelsim prepaid sim cards for both our mobiles and I also purchased one for my 3g Motorola tablet. All worked fantastic and we were able to get a couple of good deals on the data and call rates. Was really easy to use and as it was prepaid we could monitor our spending. Top up was online or via our mobiles. Also family could send free texts from the travelsim website and also had a toll free number to use to phone us. Will use it again when i next go over.

 

[wombatpatties]

Having a month in Europe July/August this year and wondering does anyone have any advice re mobile phones, travel sims etc? Which is the best way to go?

When in England I head straight for O2 store, top up 20GBP's worth, & get a great deal of free time calling home (aust) calls. They have been helpful, happy & excellent to deal with,
never let me down in my 7 visits over the past five years. I bought my phone from them for a mere 14GBP, and instant communication every visit.

 

[drewbles]

When in England I head straight for O2 store, top up 20GBP's worth, & get a great deal of free time calling home (aust) calls. They have been helpful, happy & excellent to deal with,
never let me down in my 7 visits over the past five years. I bought my phone from them for a mere 14GBP, and instant communication every visit.

Giff gaff which runs on O2 gives 1GB for £12. Very good deal. Worthwhile looking into. Free sim too. Just have it shipped to your hotel a week before check in

 

[thecat]

What countries were you visiting? If its a bit of a whirlwind tour I'd recommend going with a Maxroam SIM. I'm over in Europe at the moment and have picked one up for myself (ordered it online before leaving). It has pretty decent rates, and is even better if you're going through the UK. There's even a feature to set up an Aussie number on it (about ~$12/mth) so people from home can still call you for very little or even free! Best of all you won't need to change SIMs between countries, so can comfortably leave a phone number for hotel bookings etc. knowing that they'll be able to get in touch with you wherever you are.

 

[dalereardon]

Does MaxRoam have data plans? It seems easy to get phone call sims but sims with decent affordable data are more difficult.

I want a sim with good data capability for France as will be in France for about 5 weeks.

Dale.

 

[thecat]

Does MaxRoam have data plans? It seems easy to get phone call sims but sims with decent affordable data are more difficult.

Mightn't be the one for you then Dale, its more of an all-rounder SIM. I've found it useful for having a manageable data cost given I've been hopping between countries (where I've had wi-fi in the evenings, but still knowing I could use a little bit of data without paying Telstra's outrageous $20/MB), and haven't been relying on it as a primary source of internet connection.

If you're staying mostly in the one country, a local SIM will most definitely be the way to go. Don't know much about SIMs in France though, but I'm sure there's someone else around here that does!

 

[phred505]

My daughter and I spent 5 1/2 weeks in England and France last year and we used Travelsim prepaid sim cards for both our mobiles and I also purchased one for my 3g Motorola tablet. All worked fantastic and we were able to get a couple of good deals on the data and call rates. Was really easy to use and as it was prepaid we could monitor our spending. Top up was online or via our mobiles. Also family could send free texts from the travelsim website and also had a toll free number to use to phone us. Will use it again when i next go over.

I find this very surprising as TravelSim was a total waste of money for me, in London. Ended up buying a Tasco Sim card which worked very well.



con...

 

[DeKa]

I find this very surprising as TravelSim was a total waste of money for me, in London. Ended up buying a Tasco Sim card which worked very well.



con...

Completely agree. The biggest rip off of Travelsim is that their numbers are +372 Estonia - so inbound calls cost the caller around $2/min!!!

Data is a complete rip off compared to other providers too.

 

[Magpie10]

For me the easiest was just using wisely my current phone first time Telstra phone bill around $700 for 6'weeks travel in Europe, second time I was with vodaphone and 4'weeks bill around $300. For me to keep in touch with family at home worth paying the money to save all the hassles.

 

[thedrivesman]

I would not recommend TravelSIM after a bad experience trialling one for my company in China - abysmal quality, delays and dropped connections; however colleagues have had good experience in Tanzania, Japan and Scandinavia with them. TravelSim is at best as good as Skype, as they use similar underlying technology. My experience in the UK last year was great when buying a Pre-pay O2 SIM from a vending machine at Manchester Airport on arrival, as most calls were to friends and family we were visiting there. I'll be back in the UK next year, so will be interested to know how you get on!

 

[drewbles]

For me the easiest was just using wisely my current phone first time Telstra phone bill around $700 for 6'weeks travel in Europe, second time I was with vodaphone and 4'weeks bill around $300. For me to keep in touch with family at home worth paying the money to save all the hassles.

With the right SIM though, you can probably make it $50. If you travel semi-regularly, most local SIM cards have 6-12 month expiry, and keeping them active may be as simple as putting $/£10-15 on them or sending/receiving an SMS.

Couple that with 1800 numbers that let family call you for free (and you pay a few cents to receive the call), the $300 is still a very expensive option!

 

[Magpie10]

Thanks Drewbles that is a big difference I know but I am just basically non techno head and just having same number is ease of travelling. Just back from USA and 4 weeks travel bill was around $270 so am getting better at using phone wisely. I really need someone to take me by the hand and show me exactly what I need to do

 

[john_l]

Having a month in Europe July/August this year and wondering does anyone have any advice re mobile phones, travel sims etc? Which is the best way to go?

I've used Woolworths Global Roaming Sim in Europe and was quite happy with it. They have excellent voice and data rates there.