SIM Card Recommendations for Traveling

[Mower Man]

Good day to you all,

What sim cards do people use for the internet in a motor home/caravan? How much data are we likely to use if we are away approx 1-2 weeks a month and sometimes travelling abroad? Can you purchase one that you can disable when not using and then reactivate when needed and what are the best networks?

Many thanks

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Thanks. The phone can take eSIMs, it also takes to SIM cards so that will be the alternative.

In Europe we use our UK SIMs which are O2 because they don’t have any roaming charges. You simply use the data in your contract as normal. We used over 60Gb last month with no additional cost.

 

[carolyn]

Thanks. The phone can take eSIMs, it also takes to SIM cards so that will be the alternative.

In Europe we use our UK SIMs which are O2 because they don’t have any roaming charges. You simply use the data in your contract as normal. We used over 60Gb last month with no additional cost.

If you’ve got proper dual sim phones like Nick I think you will find the proper physical local sim as cheap and it will certainly be more use as you’ll be able to make local calls with it. You will also be able to keep your whatsapp messaging to home fine to family.

 

[gus-lopez]

There must be a company out there that you can buy an unlimited data sim payable monthly and easy to cancel,100mb is not enough per month as we are in europe for the max 90 days
If anybody has any suggestions they would be very welcome

Digi 20€/month for unlimited data +calls. Works exactly the same in the Uk but restricted to 30gbhttps://www.digimobil.es/movil/ilimitodo

appears to be 15€ now

 

[Wanders from Glos]

If you’ve got proper dual sim phones like Nick I think you will find the proper physical local sim as cheap and it will certainly be more use as you’ll be able to make local calls with it. You will also be able to keep your whatsapp messaging to home fine to family.

Thanks that sounds the best solution.

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[starquake]

We are just looking at eSIMs for our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Our phones are not locked to any provider, but do we need to do speak with our current provider or can we just buy the one that looks the best, load it and that’s it? It’s blowing my mind a bit!

We done Thailand twice. We always buy a local sim there it's cheaper and easier than roaming. CAmbodia and Vietnam are exact same.

We tend to avoid eSims as it adds to the translation difficulties, the airports even in Thailand have shops from each of the networks selling a sim. You hand over passport, some cash (usually it's cash) or card -> and they hand over a sim good for duration of your trip with unlimited data (we got Unlimited hotspot use (in Bangkok near everywhere supports the wifi the sim enables), plus unlimited 4g for about £25 for the 3 weeks we were in Thailand). It even allowed hotspotting so we purchased "one" and then enabled the hotspot for our other devices (so we only needed one sim for effetively 2 phones).

One "useful" tip is to bring some sellotape and a firm backed book -> best tip is to take your UK sim and paste to the back page of a hardback or firm notebook (on the inner side). Then it's both protected from elements and you know where it is. First trip I have to admit LOSING the UK sim and having to get a replacement back home.

Swap on each country is our general rule if we there over 4 days. Also remember some sims limit the hotspot use (I think ours had a generous 500Gb or so, so would never run out) so it's not truely unlimited, but near enough.

 

[carolyn]

We done Thailand twice. We always buy a local sim there it's cheaper and easier than roaming. CAmbodia and Vietnam are exact same.

We tend to avoid eSims as it adds to the translation difficulties, the airports even in Thailand have shops from each of the networks selling a sim. You hand over passport, some cash (usually it's cash) or card -> and they hand over a sim good for duration of your trip with unlimited data (we got Unlimited hotspot use (in Bangkok near everywhere supports the wifi the sim enables), plus unlimited 4g for about £25 for the 3 weeks we were in Thailand). It even allowed hotspotting so we purchased "one" and then enabled the hotspot for our other devices (so we only needed one sim for effetively 2 phones).

One "useful" tip is to bring some sellotape and a firm backed book -> best tip is to take your UK sim and paste to the back page of a hardback or firm notebook (on the inner side). Then it's both protected from elements and you know where it is. First trip I have to admit LOSING the UK sim and having to get a replacement back home.

Swap on each country is our general rule if we there over 4 days. Also remember some sims limit the hotspot use (I think ours had a generous 500Gb or so, so would never run out) so it's not truely unlimited, but near enough.

They have dual sim phones so don’t even have to worry about losing the home Sim. Son and girlfriend said the Sim shops were so good and used to foreigners they’d just sellotape their UK sims inside the phone case. Unless they could just see Matthew coming of course!

 

[Wanders from Glos]

We done Thailand twice. We always buy a local sim there it's cheaper and easier than roaming. CAmbodia and Vietnam are exact same.

We tend to avoid eSims as it adds to the translation difficulties, the airports even in Thailand have shops from each of the networks selling a sim. You hand over passport, some cash (usually it's cash) or card -> and they hand over a sim good for duration of your trip with unlimited data (we got Unlimited hotspot use (in Bangkok near everywhere supports the wifi the sim enables), plus unlimited 4g for about £25 for the 3 weeks we were in Thailand). It even allowed hotspotting so we purchased "one" and then enabled the hotspot for our other devices (so we only needed one sim for effetively 2 phones).

One "useful" tip is to bring some sellotape and a firm backed book -> best tip is to take your UK sim and paste to the back page of a hardback or firm notebook (on the inner side). Then it's both protected from elements and you know where it is. First trip I have to admit LOSING the UK sim and having to get a replacement back home.

Swap on each country is our general rule if we there over 4 days. Also remember some sims limit the hotspot use (I think ours had a generous 500Gb or so, so would never run out) so it's not truely unlimited, but near enough.

Sounds perfect, didn't realise the SIM shops were at the airports, that's ideal.

 

[starquake]

Sounds perfect, didn't realise the SIM shops were at the airports, that's ideal.

Just past the cash machines and security as you enter landside at Bangkok and Chaing Mai (both places I've purchased). Bangkok at least had a booth for each of their major networks ran directly BY the network, so it' wasn't even a "concession" ran by an entrepeneur either.

I'm actually genuinely surprised Eurostar at the French/English terminal doesn't do similar as you go on or come off the train thinking about it given the high costs of roaming these days (French sims are similarly a LOT cheaper than buying a UK sim with roaming). It's something the far-east does very well.

A friend went to Japan and said he picked up his Japanese sim at the airport too ; along with a mifi device as a backup (as Japan uses different frequencies to rest of world, you need a Japanese specific device for 5g apparenlty). It's very common in far east -> ONly exception is India, as when I worked out there it was best to get a local to get you a sim, as the "tourist" price was a lot higher than that for people living there -> as I have friends in India we worked that out before I arrived and a sim was left in room.

(One thing for certain is you do not want to roam in far east, as both India and Thailand were a £2 a Mb level when I checked on a UK sim).

 

[matbic]

We tend to avoid eSims as it adds to the translation difficulties,

Not sure I understand what you are saying here. All the eSIMs I have purchased were from websites/apps that were written in English and required no translation. You don’t need to visit a shop and can install them at any time using just your phone.

Local plastic SIM cards require to deal with different languages and you have to find and visit a shop in each country you visit.

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[starquake]

Not sure I understand what you are saying here. All the eSIMs I have purchased were from websites/apps that were written in English and required no translation. You don’t need to visit a shop and can install them at any time using just your phone.

Local plastic SIM cards require to deal with different languages and you have to find and visit a shop in each country you visit.

I'm meaning local eSIMS not ones you buy ahead of time. Some are difficult as need activation in a shop in some countries (not all have a nice online portal, and no, not all of the portals are in English). When I had a Thai sim, although the website had an English mode, the top up was entirely Thai language. Thankfully we didn't need to do it as we purchased enough Gb for the trip at the airport on that trip.

ie, not all eSIMs are friendly, I do admit most are, but saying they all are in English is rather missing the point, I can assure you not all the websites are in English as I've expererienced a few.

That said, my mifi device (which we put the sim in mostly if not using one of our phones) doesn't support eSIM's so for ease, it's easier to have a physical sim to swap between phone and mifi. Moving sims between 2 devices if they are eSIM is a LOT harder than a physical sim. I Would therefore only buy an eSIM if I had a single device ...