Sim only deal - good EU roaming

[Red Sonja]

So I guess you didn't use them much in the UK before going away?

No I didn't. One I used for a week or so the other a month. I've used a lebara sim abroad before for a month after only a few days using it in the UK then just cancelled it after the month.

 

[Stealaway]

The biggest expense seems to be the £2-3 a day roaming charges in Europe with some network's.

 

[GoldenVision]

We are using ours now we are back in the UK and it is generally good. It's on the Vodaphone network so a good provider.It works in many places my EE one doesn't - including my house! As with all providers they tend to work better abroad as .

1) European countries seem to have better cell infrastructure than us
2) It will hop on to a variety of networks depending on which is best so it works better than the UK where they wil only use the one network.

Sorry, I meant did you have to use them (much) in the UK (as well as validating in the UK) before you could use them abroad?

I agree, I've been using mine at home and it seems fine - but we're heading to Spain soon.

 

[GoldenVision]

No I didn't. One I used for a week or so the other a month. I've used a lebara sim abroad before for a month after only a few days using it in the UK then just cancelled it after the month.

OK - thanks.

 

[Chod Jacqui]

Thanks for replies.
In the end I went with I'D Mobile - 15gb +5gb free 5g, unlimited texts., unlimited minutes and roaming, £8 per month (12month contract) a and a £45 Amazon or Tesco gift card. Deal was via Martin Lewis website.

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[Minxy]

I also have a Lebara SIM (1p/12Gb, which is amazing) but have yet to use it in the EU.

I think I read on one of the threads that the maximum EU allowance is based on prior UK usage - is that correct?

No however they monitor your usage over the last 4 months and if you are using more in the EU than you do at home then they may restrict or charge you. We've just been hammering the ones we have in preparation for our trip to ensure we don't have any issues.

Also, do Lebara SIMs need to be activated in the UK before they will work in the EU?

Yes.

I'd (pun intended) not heard of ID before.
Looked here https://1datasim.com/en/page/results/?gid=1&type=14 Days
Seems expensive. 9.5GBs for 40 Euro.

That's a different company.

Best deals are via resellers such as mobiles.co.uk, fonehouse.co.uk, e2Save.com, uswitch.com etc especially if you are willing to do manual cashback although some come with auto-cashback.

[Broken Link Removed]

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https://www.e2save.com/sim-only?sort=default&filter_tariff_data[]=>%3D20000%2C-1

SIM Only Deals: Compare our best in April 2025 - Uswitch

Compare our cheapest 2025 SIM only deals and save money with all the major UK networks including O2, Lebara Mobile, Lyca Mobile, Vodafone and more.

www.uswitch.com

 

[VXman]

Sorry, I meant did you have to use them (much) in the UK (as well as validating in the UK) before you could use them abroad?

I agree, I've been using mine at home and it seems fine - but we're heading to Spain soon.

No - they just need to be activated in the uk - i.e. used once.

 

[Minxy]

I use an EE sim from Amazon with 120gb of data that lasts a year and no monthly charge. It's great if you have some months when you don't need it at all.

I assume it's this one:

Amazon product ASIN B09BFXRM4C
Just reading the Q&As it appears not to work in the EU without you having to pay a daily rate now:

 

[sallys]

That's expensive compared to Plusnet which also uses the EE network. I pay £10 for 30gb

That’s expensive compared to ID…£16 for completely unlimited

 

[Minxy]

We've been debating what to do with the Three sim we have - we got it from Ezekiel on Ebay, valid for 3 years from May 2022 with unlimited calls, texts, UK data and 12gb roaming - unfortunately we are now in a virtual 'black hole' when it comes to Three since they started upgrading the local masts to 5g and we now have no service most of the time so our being able to us it is very limited. Hubby now has a Vodafone UK contract and I'm out of contract (since I ditched ID due to Three going down the pan not long after I got it) so am using Lebara's cheap 30 days sims for the time being.

Do we keep the Three sim or sell it to recoup some dosh? As these UK and EU ones are no longer available we're not sure whether to hang on to it and hope Three will improve but if it's like the last time they did this to us a good few years ago it's gonna be a LONG wait ... do we sell or sit tight?

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[DMartin]

I use an EE sim from Amazon with 120gb of data that lasts a year and no monthly charge. It's great if you have some months when you don't need it at all.

Agree, that works well for me in a MiFi.

 

[SM0129]

I switched from Sky to Smarty earlier this year. It has been used in Europe on 10 trips and no issues encountered so far

 

[BillWeb]

To the OP - don't forget it is generally cheaper to buy a local sim when you get to your destination. On our recent trip to Italy we got 120GB for 20 euros. In Spain last year we got an even better deal.

Yes, data is the main consideration. Away from home you want to be able to stream all sorts of stuff, from iPlayer to movies.

To the OP - don't forget it is generally cheaper to buy a local sim when you get to your destination. On our recent trip to Italy we got 120GB for 20 euros. In Spain last year we got an even better deal.

will Spain cover Portugal? Sounds very good value.

 

[Manic]

We've been debating what to do with the Three sim we have - we got it from Ezekiel on Ebay, valid for 3 years from May 2022 with unlimited calls, texts, UK data and 12gb roaming - unfortunately we are now in a virtual 'black hole' when it comes to Three since they started upgrading the local masts to 5g and we now have no service most of the time so our being able to us it is very limited. Hubby now has a Vodafone UK contract and I'm out of contract (since I ditched ID due to Three going down the pan not long after I got it) so am using Lebara's cheap 30 days sims for the time being.

Do we keep the Three sim or sell it to recoup some dosh? As these UK and EU ones are no longer available we're not sure whether to hang on to it and hope Three will improve but if it's like the last time they did this to us a good few years ago it's gonna be a LONG wait ... do we sell or sit tight?

Would you get charged the £2 per day when roaming with the Three sim

 

[busby]

That's expensive compared to Plusnet which also uses the EE network. I pay £10 for 30gb

100 gb for 25 pounds sounds reasonable to me for a service without overseas limit..30 gb wod not last long watching TV abroad..BUSBY.

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[07790]

We use an esim from Holafly 90 days unlimited I think we paid about £80 for it works very well. Only down side it can only be used on one device you cannot share the data.

I meant to say we only use this in the EU but it can also be used in the UK they also do 1 or 2 months. We watch UK TV with no problems.

 

[VXman]

Yes, data is the main consideration. Away from home you want to be able to stream all sorts of stuff, from iPlayer to movies.


will Spain cover Portugal? Sounds very good value.

Should do as it's all EU. So if you take the Spanish sim out of Spain it is EU roaming just like UK to EU - except they wont have limits like we have due to Brexit. I seem to remember ours working in France and UK on the way home last year.

 

[Minxy]

Would you get charged the £2 per day when roaming with the Three sim

No as it's a business sim so it allows 12gb data per month in the EU.

 

[Pablo19]

That’s expensive compared to ID…£16 for completely unlimited

Only expensive if you use more than 30gb which I don't!

 

[Pablo19]

I assume it's this one:

Amazon product ASIN B09BFXRM4C
Just reading the Q&As it appears not to work in the EU without you having to pay a daily rate now:

View attachment 688412

Yes that's the one. I used mine in 8 countries in September and it worked perfectly. Not sure if they changed something very recently?

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[dabhand]

We've been debating what to do with the Three sim we have - we got it from Ezekiel on Ebay, valid for 3 years from May 2022 with unlimited calls, texts, UK data and 12gb roaming - unfortunately we are now in a virtual 'black hole' when it comes to Three since they started upgrading the local masts to 5g and we now have no service most of the time so our being able to us it is very limited. Hubby now has a Vodafone UK contract and I'm out of contract (since I ditched ID due to Three going down the pan not long after I got it) so am using Lebara's cheap 30 days sims for the time being.

Do we keep the Three sim or sell it to recoup some dosh? As these UK and EU ones are no longer available we're not sure whether to hang on to it and hope Three will improve but if it's like the last time they did this to us a good few years ago it's gonna be a LONG wait ... do we sell or sit tight?

I know this is an old post Minxy but what did you do about this ? I bought one of these from Ezekiel about a year ago fr £100, used about 4gb and forgot about it, just put it in my mifi May 2023 and….. nothing, no signal no connection, zilch, do you think Ezekiel will do a refund?

 

[Minxy]

I know this is an old post Minxy but what did you do about this ? I bought one of these from Ezekiel about a year ago fr £100, used about 4gb and forgot about it, just put it in my mifi May 2023 and….. nothing, no signal no connection, zilch, do you think Ezekiel will do a refund?

I'm afraid he is no longer on eBay so there's no way to contact him. As you've left it so long unfortunately you won't be able to do a chargeback either from your credit card provider, assuming that is how you paid, as it usually has to be done within 120 days of the seller's last communication. Sorry.

 

[ChrisL]

I know this is an old post Minxy but what did you do about this ? I bought one of these from Ezekiel about a year ago fr £100, used about 4gb and forgot about it, just put it in my mifi May 2023 and….. nothing, no signal no connection, zilch, do you think Ezekiel will do a refund?

Have you checked the APN? If you can log into the mifi via a web page or app, check what APN your mifi is trying to connect with, if you can identify the correct APN for the sim card you should be able to add it to your mifi and that should then work if the sim is still good.

 

[dabhand]

Have you checked the APN? If you can log into the mifi via a web page or app, check what APN your mifi is trying to connect with, if you can identify the correct APN for the sim card you should be able to add it to your mifi and that should then work if the sim is still good.

Thanks, good point but how do you identify the correct son for a 3 sim?

 

[ChrisL]

Thanks, good point but how do you identify the correct son for a 3 sim?

Try the link below, if there is no value assigned to an entry just leave it blank, likewise if you don't have an entry for some of the values given just leave those and fill in the ones you do have.

Three APN Settings 2023 for your device

Updated Three APN Settings 2023 for your device. This 3 APN Settings UK is working on Android and iPhone.

www.myapnsettings.com

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