Travel Technology - Best PrePaid iphone Sim cards for UK and France for Data?

Hello, I did look through the consolidated thread but the UK part was from 2010 so I was worried it may be out of date, and I was unclear about France.

I'm in the UK for 2 weeks then France for 2 weeks, I am looking for a prepaid Sim card with the best data plan, as I will be using iMessage a lot, and hopefully uploading photos, and likely using skype for phone calls home. It may be nice to have the ability to send out a few texts too.

I'm assuming that it might be better to buy a separate sim card for each country?
I'm hoping to find good value and not break the bank.. is this possible?

Yeah. Just get a separate sim card for each country. You can check each country's providers page for the best deals, as it changes quite often.

Three UK (www.three.co.uk) has an unlimited 3G data SIM-only package for about 15 pounds, good for a month. It includes 600 calling minutes and 3000 texts. You can buy micro-SIMs or regular SIMs through them, including at vending machines in Heathrow.

Perfect, that's exactly what I was looking for... UK down, thank you... now.. anyone have anything similar with France?

Three UK (www.three.co.uk) has an unlimited 3G data SIM-only package for about 15 pounds, good for a month. It includes 600 calling minutes and 3000 texts. You can buy micro-SIMs or regular SIMs through them, including at vending machines in Heathrow.

if you remember where are the vending machines at Heathrow ?

and how long is the Sim good for until the number expires ?

Thanks for the info

Soarer

Oh I just realized, I'm flying into Gatwick, do you think I'll be able to get a sim card there?

i have to agree three uk is the best one great plans i used the 15.00 pound for 1 month with unlimited data when i visited and i used the tether for me and my wifes tablets

Oh I just realized, I'm flying into Gatwick, do you think I'll be able to get a sim card there?

im not sure if they have a sim vending machine in gatwick but search this site http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/ they have all the sims i got my sim from the hammersmith tube station they have a store in there they have alot of stores all over london

go to giffgaff and order a sim card from them. They use the o2 network and it's a lot more reliable than 3

go to giffgaff and order a sim card from them. They use the o2 network and it's a lot more reliable than 3

Seeing I'm in London and the rates seem much better for Three... is reliability really going to be a big issue?

if you remember where are the vending machines at Heathrow ?

and how long is the Sim good for until the number expires ?

Thanks for the info

Soarer

All I know is VendPOint.

https://www.google.com/webhp?q=heathrow%20sim%20card%20vending%20machine

Last time I was in LHR (about 20 mo ago) I recall there was a machine (probably was a VendPoint) by the stairs next to the Yotel.

Most SIMs I've gotten in Europe are good for 6 months from last usage. If you use it every 6 months then they're probably good indefinitely (as long as there's credit).

FWIW, I'm in the midst of a UK/France trip now, and here's what I've experienced...


UK
Getting a SIM in the UK was ridiculously easy. There are vending machines at Heathrow selling several carriers' SIMs. SIMs are also available at any Boot's pharmacy, Carphone Warehouse, and others. The best deal is Three, which will sell you a standard SIM or micro SIM for I believe 5 pounds (I happened to have bought one ahead of time on eBay). Charge it with 15 pounds of credit and you can get their 15-pound add on, which gives you 300 minutes of calls, 3000 texts , and unlimited 3G data for a month. The minutes and texts are only good for calling/texting UK numbers, not back home. The network in and around London was fine. Some dead spots, but nothing horrible or long-lasting.

I topped up my Three SIM at a Boots pharmacy in Heathrow with 20 pounds, got the 15 pound add on, and had another 5 pounds for credit to text back home (which I didn't use much, since I texted via Google Voice).


France
Getting a SIM in France was more of an ordeal. I first went to an SFR store, and they told me that their entire prepaid system had been down for a few days due to unknown technical problems, so they wouldn't/couldn't sell me a prepaid SIM.

Next, I went to Orange. The guy there flat-out refused to sell me a prepaid SIM for an iPhone, saying that with a smartphone I'd burn through all my data allowance in "five minutes". This despite the sign by the cash register showing prepaid SIM options, including an iPhone micro SIM with 200 MB of data. The flyer also said that it would take 48 hours for the data service to be activated, which is awful, so I didn't press the guy at Orange.

Finally, I went to Bouygues (pronounced "boog"), and they were happy to sell me a microSIM. He said it was 10 euro for the SIM and then I could buy more credit, but looking at my account online shows that that 10 euros is indeed reflected in my available credit. In any case, I got the "2 fois" plan, which allows free SMS in France and calls at EUR 0.45/min - a bit steep. There is a data add on of EUR 10 for 200 MB. Once you're out, you get an SMS from Bouygues and you can dial 630 to top up or buy another 200 MB with existing account credit.

Bouygues service is not the best. In the middle of Paris, I'd have inexplicable data outages despite showing full 3G signal. I frequently drop down to EDGE or get No Service intermittently, only to quickly bounce back to full 3G signal. They also block VPN connections. Still, it more or less works and is fine for short term.

Hope this helps someone.

Thanks for the heads up, Three has been awesome in the UK btw, I highly recommend them as the all you can use data is perfect!

As for France, I'm a little discouraged seeing that it's so difficult to find a SIM card with a decent data plan, my backup is to get a Vodafone SIM card here in the UK which is 2 pounds per day for 25MB.

I'd love unlimited data or at least more data for France but it feels like I'm running out of options.

I posted somewhere in another thread, but when I was in the UK last (May-June), I picked up an O2 sim card for my old iPhone 3 for GBP 10, and it was good for nearly unlimited data/text, and I used it for a couple of UK calls. The entire purchase process took no more than 5 minutes, and that included them helping to change out the sim card.

We went out to the Stratford Mall (near the Olympic Park), and there's shops for nearly every UK provider...many of them either beside each other or just across from each other.


We also went to Germany on this trip, and it is a bit more challenging there. I did get an O2 sim card, but I think it was E30, had to provide a passport, address (the clerk just used his), and in general it took about 30 min to do it all. The odd thing was, the first O2 store I went in they just said they were out of sim cards and come back tomorrow. I kept walking, was about to go into an Orange shop, when there was another O2 shop, where they had one.

I know it's too late to help the OP, but hopefully this helps someone else (and someone else can tell me if this is wrong :) There might be better plans available than the ones I found).

I specifically went looking for a plan/provider that would work in both the UK & France.

In UK:
3 - £15 300UK min, 3000 text, unlimited internet
giffgaff - £10 250UK min, unlimited text, unlimited internet
orange - £15 0UK min, unlimited text, 500MB internet
tmobile - £15 100UK min, unlimited UK text, unlimited* internet (plan says 500MB for videos/music, but always access for web/email)
vodafone - £10 0 min, 500 text, 500MB internet

Roaming in France:
3 - make = 28.8p/min* (higher to some regions) receive = 7.9p/min Data = 69.6p/MB
giffgaff - make = 28p/min receive = 7p/min Data = 69p/MB
orange - make = 28p/min receive = 7p/min Data = 59p/MB or 4MB bundle for £5 (which is about 2x the per MB price!)
orange deal through 31 August - £15 (good for 7 days) 50 min, 100 text, 30MB internet
tmobile - make = 28.8p/min receive = 7.9p/min Data = £10 for 50MB
vodafone - make = 28p/min receive = 7p/min Data = 69p/MB for first 2.9MB, then no charge until 25MB, then 69p/MB after


I don't understand the Orange 4MB data roaming bundle. I was really surprised that none of the other providers had any sort of roaming bundle on their PAYG plans.

An update to the prices I previously posted (added links & names of the plans;Orange UK plan changed from unlimited text to 600;Orange EU plan extended offer to Sept 30;removed tmobile UK because plans are unclear):


In UK:
3 All-In-One 15 Add-on (http://www.three.co.uk/_standalone/PricePlan_Details?content_aid=1220464365215) - £15 = 300UK min, 3000 text, unlimited internet
giffgaff (http://giffgaff.com/goodybags/10pound-facebook-goodybag) - £10 = 250UK min, unlimited text, unlimited internet
Orange Dolphin (http://shop.orange.co.uk/mobile-phones/plans/paygSimPlanList.jsp?selectedTariffName=Dolphin) - £15 = £15 credit, 0UK min, 600 text, 500MB internet
T-mobile (http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-as-you-go/plans/) - <not clear>
Virgin Mobile Addict (http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=payasyougo.airtime.bun dles.shop.sm034) - £15 = £15 credit, 0UK min, 3000 text, 1GB internet
Vodafone text & web Freebee (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/vodafone-freebees/index.htm) - £10 = £10 credit, 0 min, 500 text, 500MB internet (call prices the same as Vodafone Simply plan)
Vodafone Simply (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/call-charges/index.htm) - call-25p/min, 12p/text, £1 per 25MB/day (up to 125MB, then 4p per MB after that)

Roaming in France:
3 (http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Roaming_and_international/Going_abroad_Pay_As_You_Go/Destination_Details?content_aid=1214306374696) - make = 28.8p/min* (higher to some regions) receive = 7.9p/min Data = 69.6p/MB
giffgaff (http://giffgaff.com/index/pricing) - make = 28p/min receive = 7p/min Data = 69p/MB
Orange (http://www.orange.co.uk/roaming/france/) - make = 28p/min receive = 7p/min Data = 59p/MB or 4MB bundle for £5 (which is about 2x the per MB price!)
Orange EU Combined Bundle (http://studio.orange.co.uk/eu-bundle/) (through Sept 30; plan good for 7 days) - £15 = 50 min, 100 text, 30MB internet
T-Mobile standard roaming (http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=COSTS_AND_COVERAGE&pcateg=HELPANDADVICE) & Travel Booster (data) - make = 28.8p/min receive = 7.9p/min Data = £10 for 50MB (http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=USING_THE_INTERNET_ABROAD)
Virgin Mobile + EU Data Travel Pass (http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/callCostsSpecial.do?isoCountryCode=&paymentPlan=PAYG&x=14&y=4) - make = 28p/min receive = 7p/min Data = £10 for 25MB
Vodafone Data Traveller (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/data-traveller/index.htm) & Vodafone World (http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/travelling-abroad/index.htm) - make = 28p/min receive = 7p/min Data = 69p/MB for first 2.9MB, then no charge until 25MB, then 69p/MB after

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The Vodafone Simply option without freebees seems like it might be a good one unless you are a heavy internet user (in which case you would definitely need to look into the "fair use" policies of the carrier to see if they'll cut you off or throttle your data service after some point). Also great for just a short trip.

Another thing I noticed is that you might have to do things in a specific order for some of these PAYG top-up offers. For example, read the fine print on the Vodafone text & web offer. Unless you opt-in for that freebee first, you won't get it when you top-up with £10. For the T-Mobile plan, they don't have clear terms of how much data you get for your Internet booster. Plus the bonuses they offer on top-up don't appear to apply to the current month but the next month, making them not valuable to most travellers.

You might want to check the option of mobile hotspot rental.
No need to have a second phone, of change the settings. You rent a totally pre configured mobile hotspot for the country you are visiting. Once there, you switch it on, a new wifi signal appears, you log on it, and the cost of being connected to the internet drops a lot.
To find the providers: google "rent mobile hotspot france" or "rent mobile hotspot england"
When comparing providers, check:
- Daily price
- How many MB are included per day
- Can the unused MB be reported to the next day
- How do I track my consumption
- Can I skype/VOIP
- Is the support/company in the same country (only way of having a quick fix in case of a faulty hotspot)
- What are the shipping costs
- Is the cost of return included

Enjoy!

You might want to check the option of mobile hotspot rental.
No need to have a second phone, of change the settings. You rent a totally pre configured mobile hotspot for the country you are visiting. Once there, you switch it on, a new wifi signal appears, you log on it, and the cost of being connected to the internet drops a lot.
To find the providers: google "rent mobile hotspot france" or "rent mobile hotspot england"
When comparing providers, check:
- Daily price
- How many MB are included per day
- Can the unused MB be reported to the next day
- How do I track my consumption
- Can I skype/VOIP
- Is the support/company in the same country (only way of having a quick fix in case of a faulty hotspot)
- What are the shipping costs
- Is the cost of return included

Enjoy!

Welcome to FT.

If you have a compatible phone for the Skype for Three app you can use Skype for nothing whilst in the UK. You can't call UK numbers but you can call anywhere else using your skype credit and other skype names for free. Your phone needs to be a 3G one obviously.