Travelling abroad - how to avoid roaming charges

[gus-lopez]

I wouldn’t know how to use that much data.

As said TV, especially in HD and using a vpn, consumes huge amounts of data.

 

[ChrisL]

Are you saying you need to purchase two sims? one in the UK and another for the country you are visiting.

You would only need two sims if you intend to be away for longer then two months in every four, if not just get a Tesco mobile sim, if you go into a Tesco extra store, speak to an advisor they will help you get the best deal for you. I've been away since the 13th Feb no issues anywhere in France or Spain so far streaming iplayer, netflix, skygo or any other UK streaming service and no need for a vpn.

 

[jongood]

You would only need two sims if you intend to be away for longer then two months in every four, if not just get a Tesco mobile sim, if you go into a Tesco extra store, speak to an advisor they will help you get the best deal for you. I've been away since the 13th Feb no issues anywhere in France or Spain so far streaming iplayer, netflix, skygo or any other UK streaming service and no need for a vpn.

Thats my understanding too. Or one could go EE and pay the £10/month, or O2 with no cap but more expensive all the time.

 

[ChrisL]

Thats my understanding too. Or one could go EE and pay the £10/month, or O2 with no cap but more expensive all the time.

I believe O2 whilst not charging for roaming have a data cap, Tesco mobile unlimited has no cap, i have used over 300gb of data since i left the UK and am still getting good speeds up and down, so no throttling either.

 

[HKF]

....Tesco mobile unlimited has no cap, i have used over 300gb of data since i left the UK and am still getting good speeds up and down, so no throttling either.

You need to be sure you use it more in the UK than you do abroard, otherwise you might be clobbered with their Fair Usage Policy. So, it's not a option to just use on holiday. As long as you're aware of this, that's good

"Are there any restrictions?

Home From Home isn’t meant for people who don’t live in the UK, so we have some limits to stop that happening. If you spend more time in Home from Home destinations (than in the UK and the rest of the world), or if you use more of your allowances in Home from Home destinations than in the UK and the rest of the world, then we’ll apply the fair usage policy.
This means that when you use your phone, you’ll still use up your monthly allowances or bundles and then when they run out you’ll pay our standard rates, but on top of that we’ll also add an additional surcharge. If we’re going to do this, we’ll text you first to let you know what your options are."

No EU roaming fees until 2026 | Home From Home | Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile Home from Home makes traveling easier! Take your minutes, texts, and data with you to any of our 48 Home from Home destinations at no extra cost!

www.tescomobile.com

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[ChrisL]

You need to be sure you use it more in the UK than you do abroard, otherwise you might be clobbered with their Fair Usage Policy. So, it's not a option to just use on holiday. As long as you're aware of this, that's good

"Are there any restrictions?

Home From Home isn’t meant for people who don’t live in the UK, so we have some limits to stop that happening. If you spend more time in Home from Home destinations (than in the UK and the rest of the world), or if you use more of your allowances in Home from Home destinations than in the UK and the rest of the world, then we’ll apply the fair usage policy.
This means that when you use your phone, you’ll still use up your monthly allowances or bundles and then when they run out you’ll pay our standard rates, but on top of that we’ll also add an additional surcharge. If we’re going to do this, we’ll text you first to let you know what your options are."

No EU roaming fees until 2026 | Home From Home | Tesco Mobile

Tesco Mobile Home from Home makes traveling easier! Take your minutes, texts, and data with you to any of our 48 Home from Home destinations at no extra cost!

www.tescomobile.com

So far I have only used it for two days in the UK, I will continue to use it in the UK on my return though. In my case I chose the 30 day rolling contract so I can cancel it should i need to. I spoke to the advisor about how i wanted to use it and he confirmed that it would be suitable, I would advise anyone considering one to do the same..

 

[Eddiex]

The deal Carpmart found, every time. Many of us are using it now and are very satisfied You can have the SIM posted to you in the UK and contact Camino when you want it activating

This looks like a good deal!
So how does it work? I order and pay for the sim via the link in Carpmart thread. Camino will send it to me at my UK address. I want to use in in France - when I ask Camino to activate it do I need to wait until I get to France or can it be activate and used in the UK before I leave on my travels?

 

[PhilandMena]

So far I have only used it for two days in the UK, I will continue to use it in the UK on my return though. In my case I chose the 30 day rolling contract so I can cancel it should i need to. I spoke to the advisor about how i wanted to use it and he confirmed that it would be suitable, I would advise anyone considering one to do the same..

After looking through all that stuff on the link, I cant find the cost of Home from Home and if there are any penalties for cancelling the contract after say 3 months.

 

[gus-lopez]

This looks like a good deal!
So how does it work? I order and pay for the sim via the link in Carpmart thread. Camino will send it to me at my UK address. I want to use in in France - when I ask Camino to activate it do I need to wait until I get to France or can it be activate and used in the UK before I leave on my travels?

You can activate it when you receive it in the UK.

 

[ChrisL]

After looking through all that stuff on the link, I cant find the cost of Home from Home and if there are any penalties for cancelling the contract after say 3 months.

If you take the 30 day contract you can cancel with 30 days notice.

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[PhilandMena]

If you take the 30 day contract you can cancel with 30 days notice.

Thanks! I still cant find the costs though. I'll contact them tomorrow. I'll be surprised if its not capped when in the E.U.

 

[VXman]

Have you found the coverage of 3 mobile to be good? We've not had great service in France or Spain with 3 Mobile.

Limited to 12GB when in Europe.

 

[ChrisL]

Thanks! I still cant find the costs though. I'll contact them tomorrow. I'll be surprised if its not capped when in the E.U.

It's £25 for a 2 year contract, £30 for a 1 year contract and £35 for a 30 day contract, you need to go into a store and speak to an advisor to get the full choice of contracts they are not all available from the website. Re data capping i'm in the EU at the moment and have been since the 13th Feb, there is no cap, just the stipulation that you use it for no more then 2 months in every 4 and that you use it in the UK, i've used more then 300gbs so far and am currently watching the F1 GP on sky go with no vpn.

 

[SomeoneElse]

I'm with EE not upgraded so no roaming charges at the moment. The text I had when we arrived in France said that during the pandemic they weren't enforcing their fair usage policy. We see in a week or two.

 

[HKF]

This looks like a good deal!
So how does it work? I order and pay for the sim via the link in Carpmart thread. Camino will send it to me at my UK address. I want to use in in France - when I ask Camino to activate it do I need to wait until I get to France or can it be activate and used in the UK before I leave on my travels?

Yes, you contact Camino and she'll send you the SIMs to you in the UK. When you're ready to activate it, just let her know. It doesn't matter which country you're in, as they're for use in all Zone 1 countries. As for payment, I'm not sure. I haven't paid anything yet.

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[Burgo]

"Travelling abroad - how to avoid roaming charges"
Why not just get a local PAYG sim card for the country you're in from a local shop?

 

[GeeCee]

It's £25 for a 2 year contract, £30 for a 1 year contract and £35 for a 30 day contract, you need to go into a store and speak to an advisor to get the full choice of contracts they are not all available from the website. Re data capping i'm in the EU at the moment and have been since the 13th Feb, there is no cap, just the stipulation that you use it for no more then 2 months in every 4 and that you use it in the UK, i've used more then 300gbs so far and am currently watching the F1 GP on sky go with no vpn.

I've just been looking on the Tesco website and they have a SIM only deal of 60Gb for a 24 month contract for £13pm. And that includes home-from-home usage. So that's 120Gb over two months - not that we ever stay that long. And if my wife gets the same then we're into 240Gb over two months.

 

[GeeCee]

There are several factors to considering when looking for data sims. They are not all equal! Yes the overall amount or Gigabytes of data you get is one consideration, the other is fundemental, what policies are employed by the operator when using the X Gigabytes in my allowance. How do they shape and control my usage.

Mobile data providers have got way smarter over the years and offer lots of ‘attractive headline’ plans with oodles (technical term) of data for low cost. Very few of these plans are without traffic shaping. Traffic control happens automatically on mobile data networks. It’s a complicated algorithm of number of subscribers on the cell, proximity to base station, propagation of signal, topographical constraints, directional or omni directional properties of the base station, what the subscriber is doing (email, browsing, streaming) etc etc… most importantly for the point I wish to make, these algorithms additionally use both fair usage and commercial filters. The latter are a combination of the plan you are on and the status (hierarchy) of your IP address with the HLR (Home Location Register).

Bringing this back to laymen terms, not all the plans we see advertised will provide you with the ability to receive the very best service you possible can at the precise moment in the cell you are in. The traffic is shaped by commercial rather than physical impediment. In other words, the type of service you are allocated based on the plan you have bought will fundamentally dictate the unfair allocation of the speed and service you enjoy.

What this means is that you can go and get a cheapie deal and be in a very uncontested cell and the algorithm doesn’t constrain you. Happy days, all is good and you can stream away. The next day is a weekend, the cell you are connected to has loads more traffic and because of your Lowly service status, the network is no longer allocating you a ‘fair’ proportion of the available bandwidth. Effectively there are more important customers than you, your service diminishes and you are no longer the happy bunny.

As with many things in life, it’s not the headline that’s important eg 300G for €40 Euros, it’s the up to 150MB download and no commercial shaping that dictates the best possible service you can receive.

I Hope this Helps to explain some of the annoying aspects of mobile data plans?

I wasn't aware of the detail you've described, but it makes perfect sense and bears out my own experience. Trying to stream something on say a Saturday afternoon over 4G in a busy seaside town can be difficult. But try again after 10pm and it's generally problem free. We do most of our streaming after 10pm, except if we're watching a live football match, and we rarely experience any difficulties, even in fairly remote areas where the 4G signal is weak.

 

[Carpmart]

I wasn't aware of the detail you've described, but it makes perfect sense and bears out my own experience. Trying to stream something on say a Saturday afternoon over 4G in a busy seaside town can be difficult. But try again after 10pm and it's generally problem free. We do most of our streaming after 10pm, except if we're watching a live football match, and we rarely experience any difficulties, even in fairly remote areas where the 4G signal is weak.

Hello Graham - We have all been there. Sadly it’s not quite as simple as just time of day, that was just an example. Traffic shaping in the context I was providing is mostly commercially driven. The key point is that not all mobile data plans are the same. It’s not ‘just’ about the amount of data, it’s about how quickly your plan allows you to consume it… this dictates what you can do with it and the experience you enjoy… look for up to 150mb speeds on 4G.

 

[Carpmart]

"Travelling abroad - how to avoid roaming charges"
Why not just get a local PAYG sim card for the country you're in from a local shop?

Yep, but same pitfalls even on local sims

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[jongood]

"Travelling abroad - how to avoid roaming charges"
Why not just get a local PAYG sim card for the country you're in from a local shop?

Because at this time of year people are watching UK TV on it.
But yes agree for the summer

 

[jongood]

I believe O2 whilst not charging for roaming have a data cap, Tesco mobile unlimited has no cap, i have used over 300gb of data since i left the UK and am still getting good speeds up and down, so no throttling either.

You re right, 25gb fair usages and pretty expensive for bolt ons.

 

[PhilandMena]

I popped into Tesco's today as it was on my daily walk route and staff confirmed the £30.00 rolling monthly contract was indeed unlimited data when roaming. This seems ideal for me and will mean we can strean sports and movies through our firestick.