Best SIM card for Europe

[AllesP]

She will send it to your home, takes usually 14 days then you email her when you are ready to activate it,

This sound great, especially if it can be used in Spain and France which are the countries we will be visiting this year. How do you pay for the sim card, please? Does Camino refer you to an online card payment system? Thanks.

 

[MalvernWanderer]

No mention so far of Broadband Go Data SIMs? https://broadbandgo.com/#/ I have bought a MaxView Combo Antenna/router set and it comes with a Broadband Go Data SIM with 5GB loaded onto it. It seems clever because it supposedly attaches to whatever network is providing the best signal, even in the UK (MaxView said it was "all networks", but the BG website says only Vodafone, Three and O2, so not EE, which is a bit of a "gap"). So helps to address worries about best coverage where we're going next (wilds of Scotland). Also roams right across Europe on the same basis (just some of the old Yugoslav states, Belorus and Georgia with no coverage, and limited to only one local network in Finland, Denmark and Croatia, for some reason). Pricing options seem a bit fiddly - three levels of annual sub which buy you 2, 4 or 10GB per month at £59, 89 and £199 per year (the two larger ones including a 30 day "rollover" of unused data) - then you can add additional bundles, the most useful looking being £35 for a 20GB bundle valid for 30 days. Has anyone had any experience of them? The multiple UK network feature seems to be the main advantage, but the pricing is clearly not as good as some of the other options people have mentioned.

 

[Toskana75]

I am the OP. I am happy with Smarty for our phones when we are in UK. Not that much data used when we are out and about and I get 40Gb for £9. But we need more than 12Gb each when in Europe. So I just want a SIM that I can use in MiFi to give more. I have never said I wanted 100Gb, just seeing whats on the market

Why not have multiple smarty sims on 12Gb if that there max fair usage abroad

 

[peterc10]

Why not have multiple smarty sims on 12Gb if that there max fair usage abroad

Because that would be more expensive.

 

[starquake]

No mention so far of Broadband Go Data SIMs? https://broadbandgo.com/#/ I have bought a MaxView Combo Antenna/router set and it comes with a Broadband Go Data SIM with 5GB loaded onto it. It seems clever because it supposedly attaches to whatever network is providing the best signal, even in the UK (MaxView said it was "all networks", but the BG website says only Vodafone, Three and O2, so not EE, which is a bit of a "gap"). So helps to address worries about best coverage where we're going next (wilds of Scotland). Also roams right across Europe on the same basis (just some of the old Yugoslav states, Belorus and Georgia with no coverage, and limited to only one local network in Finland, Denmark and Croatia, for some reason). Pricing options seem a bit fiddly - three levels of annual sub which buy you 2, 4 or 10GB per month at £59, 89 and £199 per year (the two larger ones including a 30 day "rollover" of unused data) - then you can add additional bundles, the most useful looking being £35 for a 20GB bundle valid for 30 days. Has anyone had any experience of them? The multiple UK network feature seems to be the main advantage, but the pricing is clearly not as good as some of the other options people have mentioned.

Because 10Gb a month or 20Gb is as good as a chocolate teapot given a SINGLE match in good quality on Now TV these days can be 5Gb.

If I'm watching my football team play just their own matches via their own website or NowTV when on Sky... we need around 50Gb a month for minimal TV.
Putting it in context we went out in the van yesterday 9-5pm and used 10Gb in the short period we were not out walking before we left site! I have no idea how but we both were only on the ipads for 30 mins, but I suspect the reason was that when we recomissioned the van there were a few Gb of software updates for the firestick and other devices (including the ipads).

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[Toby2518]

Data Sim 400gb EU only - Tiekom, Spain

In 2022/3 I used Tiekom company sims based in Spain. Were excellent with 300gb data only use across Spain and all Eu Zone 1 but sadly they had to pull the product in March last year.
However I have now bought a monthly 400gb in Spain data only sim which also allows 200 gb of that total to be used across Zone 1 EU. It cost €43.90 which is around £37 a month without a contract, and parked when not needed. Now activated from France and using it whilst travelling down to Spain, following set up as an E Sim on my iPhone. Therefore no need to wait for physical sims to arrive at home. Don’t ask me how it works from the QR code that they send you, but it works!
Anyway all of this has been sorted and set up by contact with Camino Arias at Tiekom who, if you search this and other sites, is quoted as being excellent with customer service as a point of contact. I fully support that view as on a number of times has provided excellent customer service.
By the way I have no contact or other interest with Tiekom, they just do what they advertise and it works! I am currently on the e sim close to Lyon… cheers all

 

[Carpmart]

Data Sim 400gb EU only - Tiekom, Spain

In 2022/3 I used Tiekom company sims based in Spain. Were excellent with 300gb data only use across Spain and all Eu Zone 1 but sadly they had to pull the product in March last year.
However I have now bought a monthly 400gb in Spain data only sim which also allows 200 gb of that total to be used across Zone 1 EU. It cost €43.90 which is around £37 a month without a contract, and parked when not needed. Now activated from France and using it whilst travelling down to Spain, following set up as an E Sim on my iPhone. Therefore no need to wait for physical sims to arrive at home. Don’t ask me how it works from the QR code that they send you, but it works!
Anyway all of this has been sorted and set up by contact with Camino Arias at Tiekom who, if you search this and other sites, is quoted as being excellent with customer service as a point of contact. I fully support that view as on a number of times has provided excellent customer service.
By the way I have no contact or other interest with Tiekom, they just do what they advertise and it works! I am currently on the e sim close to Lyon… cheers all

Yes it’s a great service (I was delighted when I ‘discovered’ it a couple of years ago) and Camino is a gem!

The trouble for the average MHF subscriber, is it’s not £7.99 per month with six months free service, so they aren’t interested!

 

[Toby2518]

Yes it’s a great service (I was delighted when I ‘discovered’ it a couple of years ago) and Camino is a gem!

The trouble for the average MHF subscriber, is it’s not £7.99 per month with six months free service, so they aren’t interested!

CarpMart, I will thank you as I only got onto Tiekom back in the day as a result of one of your posts, but Camino is absolutely amazing with her level of customer service, not something often seen. This latest product looks good for me but did you not go to Skylink? Or similar

 

[Barryh]

I hope my IQ Go is better in Europe than it is at Abbey Wood C&MC in London. Can’t get a signal which is a bit disappointing. Lycamobile on my phone is much better and both services use EE.

 

[starquake]

I hope my IQ Go is better in Europe than it is at Abbey Wood C&MC in London. Can’t get a signal which is a bit disappointing. Lycamobile on my phone is much better and both services use EE.

Bear in mind if your wifi router is cat4, your phone will be cat20 or higher, so will work FAR better in high signal, especially in/near London.

Theres many threads on here about needing a cat6, cat12, or higher router these days to get decent performance (even rurally) in a motorhome now. Laymans terms peak data rate on cat4 in perfect conditions is 150Mbit, for cat12, it's 1.5 Gb. Same sim card, same antenna on roof.

Theres a couple of recent threads on cheap router upgrade options from ZTE and others (you looking at £130-150 for a cat12 device, about £300 for a cat20).

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[jameslee]

What is flavour of the month for a SIM card deal for roaming using my Huawei Mifi unit attached to a 4G roof aerial? We are not users of huge amounts of data, but will need more than the 12Gb per month roaming allowances on each of our phones which Smarty allows. Do not want a long contract, rather one that renews monthly, like our Smarty SIMS. Looking at Lebarra SIm which would give us 30Gb per month. That is as far as I have got.

We will mainly in Spain and Portugal. We used to be able to get a 15 or 30 day unlimited globesim registration from NOS in Portugal, but I am not sure that it will cover Spain as well. We will be going to Spain first and then onto Portugal probably, so is there anything similar in Spain?

For roaming in Spain and Portugal with your Huawei Mifi, Lebara’s 30GB monthly plan is a solid choice. In Spain, consider Orange or Vodafone ES for prepaid options with good coverage. For Portugal, NOS may still offer prepaid plans, but Vodafone usually has solid coverage across both countries.