Data roaming in Europe
As I'm sure you all know, since mid-June phone networks have not been allowed to charge extra for using your connection in Europe so we have received "Feel at home" type hype. What I have found though is that even though you can access the internet through your phone, you can't tether it to your laptop or tablet as you can at home in the UK. How the network knows you are tethering is one of the many millions of things that I don't know.
As we now live just 30 minutes from the Tunnel rather than 7 hours or so from far flung Devon, we took advantage of the £10 each way Tunnel offer today to collect our family's Xmas celebration lubricants in Calais. I took the opportunity to chat with a lovely Orange lady to ask about their data-only SIM to use in a MiFi. Well, apparently you have to jump through hoops to get one and it will only work in France even if they do allow you to have one.
Having done some other research, the GiffGaff offering looks promising, but I can't find any reports of what their European coverage is like, only that they are linked in some way to O2 in the UK. Does anyone have any recent experience of them please? Any other recent information on data only SIM cards would also be very much appreciated.
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We use a 3 PAYG 4G Trio Data SIM Pack with 12GB Data in a mifi. They cost about £25. They work well and you have 12 months to use the data once activated, we always have a spare for when one runs out as it is cheaper to just buy a new one rather than topping up.
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Thanks peedee but I am interested in data roaming when in European countries. When in the UK I tether to my phone which works a treat and I get good coverage from EE. I have no idea how the phone company knows that you have tethered your phone, but they do so you can do emails and connect to the internet with the phone itself, but not use your tablet/laptop for the same thing. It makes no sense to me but there you are.
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When in France you can get a free.fr SIM from a larger Tabac. I have one in a phone which I can still use in the UK. It costs 19.99 euros a month for up to 30gb data. Not sure the amount of free calls. texts are 19 cents each. I have been able to tether from that.
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We do the same as birderbilly......a 3 PAYG 12 month data SIM purchased on e bay or amazon. Excellent coverage. Shorter periods/fewer GBs are also available.
Be aware however that it might get blocked if you use it for over 2 months continuously abroad, it will work again back in UK however. Then I believe you can start a new 2 month period. Have not tried as ours is generally used up in less than 2 months!
We also have 3 PAYG SIMs in our phones as we are not big phone users.
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We do the same as birderbilly and KjellNN, a Three PAYG 12 month data SIM. Used it for just over 3 weeks abroad, and didn't quite use it up.
Agree with birderbilly that it's cheaper just to buy a new one than topping up. The one we've got now was bought from MyMemory, and cost about £21, as they had a percentage off at the time we needed it.
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I use a Three mifi unit and get 15GB of data a month for £15.00, although this is limited to 12GB per month when abroad under their "fair usage" policy.
I find this an excellent way to get internet when abroad - we are usually away for 5 months of the year - and it also means we have wifi in the UK when on CMC and CCC sites without having to subscribe to their overpriced wifi offerings.
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Dunclair, here is the post i made in the thread PD linked....
my Vodafone sim only contract gives me 5gb a month and this is more than enough to run our two tethered iPads when in the van....and more robustly (usually) than the clubs' (either one) wifi....
as i dont use much data when at home (not away in the van) i effectively have a full pot for our uk breaks...
Vodafone are also very generous when travalling abroad in that they add a further 2 gb of 'roaming data' so we get 7gb a month when overseas with no charges...and you can thether, just like at home
why would i need another device and sim with associated charges?
drawbacks?....my pnone is 'old' by modern standards (cast off family 4s) and has no 4g capability but 3g seems to do the job very nicely.
apart from that, £15 a month for all the mins and data we both need seems pretty good deal to me these days.
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There are some good sim only deals if you shop around. Three Mobile are offering 12Gbs and unlimited calls and text on a 12 month contract for £14p.m. and "Feel at Home" roaming but you still cannot tether while abroad. Tescos is another one to look at but I don't know what their terms are.
I don't mind just using my phone and my MiFi and landline phone are starting to look redundant
peedee
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Thank you to all who have contributed. This is a fast changing technology with even faster changing deals. birderbilly's solution is the best I have discovered so far, so a big Thank You to him.
As an aside, I get my broadband at home from Plusnet. It runs on the BT network, gets exactly the same results as my neighbour who is their customer but is a lot cheaper. Plusnet has Mate's Rates, so give an extremely good mobile connection over the EE network at a much cheaper rate than you would get from EE if you are a Plusnet broadband customer.
I would ditch our home phone if I could but we have to have it as part of our broadband package. Paying the line rental fee is, as far as I am concerned, a rip-off, but I do live in Britain after all. It is the duty of we British serfs to over-fill the pockets of those who already have so much money that they have to hide it in tax havens so what should I expect?
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PD, i was nosing around shops for the latest broadband deals and suggested to one or two that we ditch the land line completely but, i guess, if you have internet tv (iplayer, box sets etc) im not sure how well this would perform.
as we only have one mobile (OH likes to be incognito), if i was out, all internet tv functionality would be lost....as would normal browsing/email capability....
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My land line is cable supplied by Virgin, not BT, and we only use it for Broadband (70Gbs) and phone but I still could not manage without it because the broadband is used for internet access and catch up TV. Landline charges are by far the biggest cost and as much as I would like to ditch them I don't think it is quite feasible yet. We just try not to use the landline phone for outgoing calls any more.
peedee
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agree, most 'all inclusive calls' deals on landlines are around £8 a month!
well, they have to get their money back somehow....
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We live in a different universe - called Cornwall.
No mobile signal at all in or around the house so the mobile lives in the car and a home landline is essential. Lady of the house can easily spend an hour on the landline mid morning talking to her sister so an "all inclusive" BT charge saves me money. I carry this little I pad when we go abroad and the sort of cheap campsites we go to always have free wi fi. Should I spend more ?
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We have looked at/tried various options but would not ditch our BT landline.
We do however try to minmise call charges by calling over wifi. using our mobiles free minutes.
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reading your post made me think (good post, then
) back to my comms days many years ago.....but as i understand it (understood it?
) .....yes, you will keep your costs down by calling over the internet but you are not using the phone's free minutes...VOIP (voice over internet protocol) calls can be made from any internet connected device (with suitable interface....facetime, skype, whatsapp etc) many of which have no 3/4g capability (most ipads and tablets) and therefore have no 'minutes' free or otherwise....
the VOIP call is paid for by the line rental and broadband fees you pay...
you use your 'free 3/4g minutes' only over the mobile phone networks.
any suitable phone (even one with a PAYG contract) will incur no charge when making a VOIP call over a landline based internet connection.
hope i havent confused anyone even more, lol....
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Hi BB, no need to apologise, to me at least, as I don’t even try to understand it-I think electricity is magic so the Internet is way beyond me!!
I am on the 3 network and can,should I wish to, allow my phone to make calls over Wi-fi where the mobile signal is weak. You used to download an app but now, if you phone is compatible, it connects automatically and you see a message saying “3 Wi-fi call”. These calls come out of your mobile plan minutes but how I have no idea!
My signal used to be quite poor, as is seems it is for eurortraveller, so this facility was useful.
My daughter was visiting today and we checked her provider, O2, and she can also call over Wi-fi.
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There is a good deal on Amazon for "Internet with Legs" Data only sim 24GB for £39.99. Not as good as last December when they had the 24GB Mobile Broadband data sim for £28.50; so it might be worth waiting a few weeks in case the same deal is on the December. It lasts for 2 years (or until used if earlier). Works abroad and you can use it on more than one device. I use it in a Huawei MiFi .
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