Internet abroad

DebsandAndy
DebsandAndy Club Member Posts: 3
First Comment
in Motorhomes #1

any advice welcome please.

We have a Bailey Adamo 60-2 with max view which is great with Smarty unlimited in U K.

We want unlimited internet to use on a road trip of Europe later this year, visiting several countries. The system needs a physical SIM card not an eSIM.

Thank you, Debs and Andy.

Best Answer

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 10,035
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    #2 Answer ✓

    Just been looking for deals and apparently the current best sim only deals are with Lebara and ID mobile. I haven't looked too closely at what is involved but both are offering 30Gbs of roaming.

    peedee

Answers

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 10,035
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    #3

    I assume you are talking about watching internet TV? The offers on SIM cards are always changing. To get the best roaming deal you will have to shop around. You could also consider buying a local SIM but that might pose other problems.

    peedee

  • DebsandAndy
    DebsandAndy Club Member Posts: 3
    First Comment
    #4

    Thanks for your reply. We use internet for emails, browsing, maps, watching utube etc. We have 2 iPads and 2 iPhones. Some tv and films, but not a lot. No gaming. Do you think a new SIM card - (what other problems do you envisage with foreign SIM cards?) or bite the bullet and install a new extortionate starlink system?

    We appreciate any guidance not being techies!

    Thank you, Debs and Andy.

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 14,660
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    #5

    Most neworks seem to have a fair use policy so whatever SIM card you go for it's likely the full monthly data allowance won't be available to you. So you need to check that before deciding which one. I think it would be simpler to have UK based SIM card rather than buying abroad? Star Link is used by a lot of UK content providers for their Youtube channels but as a one off it seems a bit OTT unless you are going to use it a lot. If you have two phones why not buy two SIM cards in the UK and spread thr load that way?

    David

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 10,035
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    #6

    When roaming, we are not too bothered about watching internet TV so we find that with our two phones we usually have enough data to get by. TV uses the most data and will quickly eat into your allowance. I have never tried a local SIM card but while it will give you more data, you may find that, because you are not UK based, you cannot receive some channels. This will also be the case when using local WiFi. Perhaps someone with more experience of using internet TV when roaming can give more advice?

    peedee

  • DebsandAndy
    DebsandAndy Club Member Posts: 3
    First Comment
    #7

    Thanks very much for the guidance, we appreciate your comments. Debs and Andy.

  • Roger McNair
    Roger McNair Club Member Posts: 78
    First Comment Photogenic
    #8

    Hi Debs and Andy,

    We have used a https://helloiq.co.uk/ SIM card in our router with excellent results in France. Fairly pricey but good if you are streaming something like Wimbeldon. Benefits is that you can extend the service aty the end of 30 days.

    Roger

  • eribaMotters
    eribaMotters Club Member Posts: 1,486
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    #9

    I believe if you want unlimited you will need to source a SIM card abroad. As others have said it's TV that eats the data and you may not be able to access the apps you normally use as your location will not allow some to be used outside of the UK.

    We have for the last two summers used a 15Gb Smarty [in a TP-Link router, software set for roaming] which is actually only 12Gb because of a data cap. This along with the 5Gb per month on my phone and frequent free campsite internet has been fine.

    My wife is O2 and has I believe 20Gb allowance abroad.

    This year I'm taking our Lebera [Vodaphone] unlimited data SIM card from our home 4G router away to the continent. We have 4G internet at home as internet down the phone line is poor in Devon where we live. The unlimited data drops to 30Gb.

    We browse the internet, do e-mails and listen to internet radio over breakfast. We will have sufficient data for our needs, and possibly a couple of hours of "TV" if we wished per week.

    Colin

  • eurortraveller
    eurortraveller Club Member Posts: 7,233
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    edited January 14 #10

    I am impressed to read what others do and to hear of the expertise they have, but I lived more simply. I always took a basic phone in order to ask busy sites if they had a space for us the next day - they always said yes, whether they had or not , so it was hardly worth asking. So the real purpose of the phone was to book a table at the better restaurants for lunch. After that there was always free wi fi somewhere nearby for e mails in and out to and from the family, and important football matches were universally world wide on a big screen in a bar. That was it for us. Very low tech.

  • eribaMotters
    eribaMotters Club Member Posts: 1,486
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    #11

    Believe me eurotraveller, you are not the only "low tech" person on here. I only got a Smart phone less than a year ago. Prior to that I did have a phone, in the car for emergencies. I used less than £3 of credit over about 8 years on it.

    For me tech is a tool to make life easier and so it has to be very, very simple.

    Colin

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