Is it worth buying a sim in the EU to get round the fair use roaming issue?

[Bcollinson]

Is it worth buying a sim in the EU to get round the fair use roaming issue?

 

[DDJC]

There are plenty of esim options, they are easy to use and you don't have to change SIM cards. Some are app based like Airalo, worked very well in Morocco. Just used Maya for Egypt also okay, they also do an unlimited data SIM, £40 for France.

I don't think you can use esim in a MIFI router. I might be wrong.

 

[SVMC15]

I don't think you can use esim in a MIFI router. I might be wrong.

You could be right, I don't use a router, my phone or wife's phone provides the data connection.

 

[Richard n Ann]

isn't it comforting to know that UK telco's are not prejudice, they'll rip off anyone of any colour, race, sexuality, or age

Yes without competition they have a field day

 

[BrochMike]

3x 60GB monthly contract with ID mobile should give you 90GB (30GB per sim), I've not done this, but its a month by month contract so you can terminate if there fair usage policy kicks in...
View attachment 954040

And better deals can be found (eg. on uswitch and/or quidco) 3 x 30Gb max per SIM/month (total £21 = 90Gb EU).
But you have to juggle - and be sure to set a zero 'spend cap' if using Mifi as you won't see texts!

If you're OK with VPN, then a local SIM should be even better value.
(definitely cheaper than Starlink @ £96/mth )

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[BrochMike]

Yes without competition they have a field day

Pretty sure UK is one of the most competitive mobile markets. Just don't buy direct...

 

[DBK]

I bought a Réglo sim in a LeClerc supermarket. It gives me 50Gb of data for €6.95 a month plus a one-off payment of €5 for the sim card. It's a PAYG card and you can set it on their app to renew monthly or not.

Of course you can't stream UK TV with it unless you use a VPN which I haven't bothered with.

I only needed to show my passport, no French address needed although I was ready to give a campsite address if necessary. The fact we weren't staying there is another matter...

The 50Gb package was all that was available at the time as a PAYG, to get more data you had to sign up to a contract but their website now seems to be offering better "non-commitment" deals.

I use it in a Teltonika router which takes 2 sim cards but it would be fine in a mifi. I had no problems setting it up.

https://www.reglomobile.fr/forfaits-mobiles

 

[PaulW2]

If you're OK with VPN, then a local SIM should be even better value.
(definitely cheaper than Starlink @ £96/mth )

And doesn’t Starlink line Musk’s pocket?

 

[Riverbankannie]

I use EE UK unlimited data (£32 pcm). It has pretty comprehensive UK cover. If you add the EU roaming I get my full (I have checked this with them and have a record of the chat) data allowance in the EU, USA, Australia, plus a couple of others. It is £2.47 a day, If you are going to be there for more than 10 days, you can add a monthly Roam Abroad pass for £25. It worked a treat on our last trip to France and Spain with good service throughout. All done via the EE app. Just remember to cancel the £25 option before the next month starts.
Safe and happy travels.

You may find it worthwhile to change to EE broadband at home. My package recently renewed is £29 per month fibre broadband and £10 month unlimited data and including roaming anytime. I did have to ring up and negotiate though and I already had the roaming part negotiated on my last package.
Basically try and keep the price constant and get more data on each yearly renewal.

 

[gus-lopez]

I agree

we were down in Almerimar earlier this year and needed a bit of data, 13€ got me a Digi 200gb sim for a month and really good speeds as well

Where I have breakfast, the bar has wifi .It isn't a lot & my phone will always go for the wifi first. When I turn it off the Digi speed averages around 150down

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[bobnick]

I use EE UK unlimited data (£32 pcm). It has pretty comprehensive UK cover. If you add the EU roaming I get my full (I have checked this with them and have a record of the chat) data allowance in the EU, USA, Australia, plus a couple of others. It is £2.47 a day, If you are going to be there for more than 10 days, you can add a monthly Roam Abroad pass for £25. It worked a treat on our last trip to France and Spain with good service throughout. All done via the EE app. Just remember to cancel the £25 option before the next month starts.
Safe and happy travels.

I think Switzerland is a law unto themselfs. Mostly i hardly use my phone so wouldn't benifit from a contract. This episode was a one off.

 

[Googlebot]

You can get anything you want? For example 30 days unlimited data in France for £56

That’s good to know.

I couldn’t find more than 20GB when I looked.

 

[Bustup15]

This just landed in my inbox from Simoptions

 

[Lenny HB]

and be sure to set a zero 'spend cap' if using Mifi as you won't see texts!

Mifi will receive texts.

bought a Réglo sim in a LeClerc supermarket. It gives me 50Gb of data for €6.95 a month plus a one-off payment of €5 for the sim card. It's a PAYG card and you can set it on their app to renew monthly or not.

I used Reglo a couple of years ago gave the address of the nearest Aire. Never did manage to set up an account on their website.
Speed was very good and although they have a 5gb roaming limit I used over 10gb after leaving France.

 

[BrochMike]

Mifi will receive texts.

Yes, but you have to know to check & login to see them - so not exactly an 'alert'...

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[Idberr]

Email from Popit mobile just dropped in saying they are applying a fair usage policy from 1st October.

 

[DDJC]

Email from Popit mobile just dropped in saying they are applying a fair usage policy from 1st October.

Me too. Have cancelled immediately due to them breaching the terms of service they offered.

 

[seanandjules]

Right, up front I may have missed the point as we don't have a motorhome yet - we're picking up our Pilote P696D on Friday and are so happy. But data is important to me as i'll be working whilst travelling in France. Some good advice on here.

I will say though - if you're using a shared wifi module in the van then please make sure you set the 'network usage' correctly. With my Android phone it's called that, with my Macbook it's called 'low data mode'.

Reason for this is it'll stop downloading operating system updates when you're abroad which are massive. It'll also stop uploading videos etc until you get to somebody elses hotspot. I think on our last trip in the car around France for a couple of weeks I had something like 17gb of videos to upload just on my phone, so it does make a difference.

 

[jongood]

I bought a tourist Vodafone sim in Spain which was then capped in Portugal to 5 Gb, there are so many bear traps in this business ....

Yes the European sims also have fair use policies and roaming charges.

In France this year I was directed by a guy in the orange store to buy a sim from the tabac, ended up with a Lyca mobile one, worked fine.

 

[EdRedBird]

That’s good to know.

I couldn’t find more than 20GB when I looked.

HI

I am just on the NI border now my olf UK Vodafone nr lets me use my inclusive nrs when in the republic internationally...
Likewise my Irish vodafone lets me use my inclusive minutes internationally when North of that damned border

( I actually am stalking you as I need advise on LiFePo4 batteries and saw your post on them.

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ecotreelithium.co.uk

vs Ecoworthy)

Victrons are out of my price-range.. Though I am a huge Renogy fan i read too much inconsistency, so I found them with a warranty and location search.

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[Davecrawf]

Is it worth buying a sim in the EU to get round the fair use roaming issue?

It really depends what you want to use the sim for. If you are watching TV, iPlayer for instance, it's better to have a UK sim IMHO.
I have used Popit for the past few years.

 

[Kups]

Why not just buy an esim for the country you intend to visit?

Routers generally do not accept esims, latest phones do.

 

[Mick and Ruth]

We have found a lot of sites now give you wifi as part of the deal. I had 96mbs in Spain at one place last year.

An option is buy 2 IQ sims for £40 -34% back from Top cashback and take them with you. We have 25GB on each phone on our sim only deal with Voda

We tend to only watch certain football/rugby matches and sit out till 10/11 listening to music if the weather is pleasant, we turned the TV on about 5 times in 3 months on a recent trip in Scandanavia for England in Euros (midnight sun and brilliant weather did help) and didn't use a lot last year in Spain either.

If we need data then we could buy the IQ go 25GB bundle for £20 through top cashback and then get 34% back and if that runs out within the 4 weeks top the other IQ sim up, again 34% back and that should be well enough along with the Voda phones data.

If you are a heavy TV/Wifi user then Tiecom are offering 400GB per month at full 4G/5G speed (it reaches up to 150Mb). Roaming available in Zone 1 (up to 200GB but 400GB in Spain) at 43.90 Euro. No rolling contract. FREE registration fee.

 

[Northernraider]

You don’t get much data.

I use Lebara when I need to in France. Just put my passport number and campsite address in the registration and off you go.

You can get as much data as you want with an esim. It's what I use in countries my ee plan doesn't cover.

In Turkey I was buying the 25gb one but I could buy 100 gb if I'd wanted.

Etravelsim is a good one to use , thet often have sales on different countries

 

[Mike123]

Not so much EU - but for Spain / Portugal if travelling (also note you get 12gb data roaming in EU with Spain sim)

In Spain, bit of a no brainier - reg sim for €15 and gets 150gb for 28 days.

In Portugal - 15 days sim unlimited (no reg req) for just under €20

Above used on mifi

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[MikenPauline]

Who is that with? And where do you get it?
We are looking at one to go into a MIFI router.

Have found Orange in Spain, and Vodafone inFrance very helpful. Remember to take your passport to the store. They will activate the sim on one of their phones in store then put it into your mifi so you can test it’s working before you pay anything. Amazing deals. Much cheaper than esims or paying ee a daily or monthly add-on rate

 

[Coolcats]

Is it worth buying a sim in the EU to get round the fair use roaming issue?

Yes

 

[matbic]

Etravelsim is a good one to use , thet often have sales on different countries

Did you put an etravelsim in a router or was it in your phone? I just noticed they say you can’t tether with their Unlimited data eSIMs

I usually use about 80-100Gb/month so would be expensive to get two fixed amount eSIMs from them - the unlimited one would be just fine if I can tether it.

Thanks!

 

[grasscutter]

Picked up an Irish Tesco PAYG 100gb sim today for 15 euro. That should keep us going along with our popit allowance until we return home to sort it out.

 

[matbic]

Unfortunately you only get 13.55Gbytes when in the rest of the EU even if you paid for 100Gbytes in Ireland.

It’s in their Fair Use Policy which they say is:

“Fair usage policy applied to data allowance. The EU data roaming fair usage limits have been calculated in accordance with the guidelines provided by the European Commission – see www.tescomobile.ie/eu-roaming-regulation.”

Tesco Mobile Pre Pay Roam

You can Roam Like at Home with Tesco Mobile - Our Prepay customers can use their plan for roaming whilst travelling within the EU - Find out more

www.tescomobile.ie

Stay in Ireland - it’s great!

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[GrahamPye]

If you are going to be there for more than 10 days, you can add a monthly Roam Abroad pass for £25. It worked a treat on our last trip to France and Spain with good service throughout. All done via the EE app. Just remember to cancel the £25 option before the next month starts.

I discovered that the Roam Abroad pass is actually charged per day, so you can cancel it immediately you get home and they only charge you a pro rata amount of the £25 for the days you've used it. You may need to phone them up to get it immediately cancelled though...
It's also worth looking for a package that includes one (or more) free add-ons and you can use one to cover the Roam Abroad pass all the time.