BigFlyer

I just used a Vodafone UK SIM while roaming in Continental Europe.

The Vodafone UK SIM allows roaming in continental Europe at a charge of 2 UK pounds per day of actual use, for 25 MB of data. You can roam outside Europe for 5 UK pounds per day, also with 25 MB of data.

I found 25 MB more than adequate for checking email, some surfing, using Yelp, and emailing a few photos a day.

Here's info on the roaming plan: http://bit.ly/y9wJlq

It is possible to order a SIM card on ebay. Assuming one does not have a UK credit card (in which case it is possible to topup online), one can top up anywhere in the world with a Vodafone UK topup voucher. I think there are some places online that allow you to order one using Paypal (and charge a surcharge.) Also, one can top up with Vodafone vouchers from the countries listed here: http://bit.ly/xPHG4N (click on the "Topping up abroad" tab.) You need to be in the country in which you bought the voucher at the time of topup.

Yes, I realize there are better deals with local SIMS. However, this can be easier than buying and navigating a local SIM in a different language, and can be used in multiple countries on a trip (or multiple trips.)

Global_Hi_Flyer

The way I read the Vodafone site, the 2 UKP for 25 MB only applies to monthly (contract) service.

For Paygo/prepay service, it's 1 UKP/day for 5 MB plus 5 UKP per 5 MB above.

BigFlyer

You are misreading the site. I just did it on prepay, and 2 UK pounds were deducted each day. I received a text message each day telling me that 2 UK pounds were being deducted for 25 MB. Here's a cut and paste from the page I linked to:

Vodafone Data Traveller
Pay monthly customers

Using data abroad in our Europe zone is easier with Vodafone Data Traveller. Pay just £2 a day (midnight to midnight, UK time) for 25MB.

Price plans with at least 1200 minutes give you Vodafone Data Traveller in our Europe zone at no extra daily cost as well as 10 SMS a day to use when in our Europe Zone as well, so it’s even easier to stay connected.

So in our Europe zone, you can either pay £2 a day for Vodafone Data Traveller or have it included in your price plan. If you need to use your phone in the rest of the world, you can extend Vodafone Data Traveller for just £5 a day for 25MB.

To opt in to Vodafone Data Traveller in our rest of the world zone, call us on 40062 from your Vodafone mobile phone. If you’re abroad, call us on +44 (0) 3333 040 012 from any phone.

If you’re a frequent traveller, you can get Vodafone Data Traveller in our Europe zone for just £10 a month (rather than £2 per day). Opt in by calling 40062 from your Vodafone mobile phone. If you’re abroad, call us on +44 (0) 3333 040 012 from any phone.

Pay as you go customers

As a pay as you go customer you’ll automatically benefit from Vodafone Data Traveller. You just pay £2 a day in our Europe zone and £5 a day (midnight to midnight, UK time) in our rest of world zone each day you use it.

Vodafone Data Traveller countries (these may change from time to time)
Terms and conditions
Standard data costs abroad
Europe - £1 a MB up to 5MB, then £5 for every 5MB after that
Rest of the world - £3 a MB up to 5MB, then £15 for every 5MB after that
We’ll send you free texts to let you know when you’re nearing the end of your data allowance. Once you’ve used your allowance you’ll pay the standard data rates.

chistery

I agree with you, though it apears to be just poor formatting on Vodafones part, it should be:

BigFlyer

Seemed clear to me before I got there, and it worked as I expected.

There are some differences between pay monthly and pay as you go with respect to Data Traveller (Vodafone's name for the discounted roaming plan.) With pay monthly, you have to elect Data Traveller, or else you pay the higher default rate. Also, with pay monthly, you have the option of electing to pay 10 UK pounds per month, rather than 2 UK pounds per day. It is also free for pay monthly customers who have plans that include at least 1200 minutes per month.

Dubai Stu

If all you want is mobile data, take a look at abroadband.com. It is a prepaid service from Austria Telekom that includes a number of countries.

CatJo

Stu, not sure if a data-only SIM makes much sense anymore at those rates - EUR 0.59/Mb in this case, which works out to around USD $160/200Mb. You may as well just get AT&T Data Global which gives you 275Mb for $100. I checked Maxroam and similar, they all cost pretty much the same for data.

roberto99

I purchased one of these activated UK Vodafone PAYG sims with almost 10 pounds credit on it 2 months ago. I thought that I was going back to England.

My trip fell through.

I have used these sims for very cheap voice calls to/the USA many times,even in other countries.

The sim has a good number associated to it, too.

PM me if interested in it for a trip in the near months. I am NOT marking up the cost to make any profit.

Mods, feel free to delete this post if it is not compliant.

BigFlyer

If you look at the Vodafone UK terms of service, you can basically keep the SIM alive forever, so you might want to hang on to it:

6. Suspension, disconnection and ending the agreement
6a.We can suspend (in other words bar), restrict or stop providing the services (all or part of them) in the following circumstances.

*****

You choose not to use the service for 180 days. Using this service means making any chargeable outbound calls (but not calls to 191, see your price plan for charges) or topping up your account.

*****

6b If we suspend the mobile phone because you have chosen not to use the services (as defined in 6a, 3) for 180 days, we will, if you ask within 90 days of the suspension, reconnect the services and make available any previous credit held on your account at the time of the suspension. If you have not kept to this agreement or not used the services for 270 days, and we disconnect your mobile equipment, you will lose any credit held on your account.

All above at http://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-u...ions/index.htm

In summary, they suspend it after 180 days of non-use. But, if you contact them within 90 days of suspension, they reinstate and restore all of your credit.

You might not want to advertise the fact that you live outside the UK, a somewhere else it says the SIM is only available to UK residents.

h15t0r1an

I did it on PAYG and I have to say I found it woefully inadequate. 200MB a day might have satisfied me. 25MB was sadly undersized. Maybe I just look at websites with too many pretty pictures

That was France. Then I tried it again in the US. No satnav and I got lost 3 streets away from where I was going. Powered up google gps maps on Android phone in emergency instead. Mistake. Got about 3mins satnav use on google on the phone and blew not only the 25MB, but apparently up to the cap where you have to call Vodafone to say you want to spend more than 40-50 euros. Although it functioned beautifully and I was most impressed with this satnav substitute. Just it croaking after three minutes due to my measly data allowance was unsatisfactory.

I think most plans don't have enough data for the explosion in applications that use data heavily. Fortunately I've heard we can expect big price reductions in data pricing over the coming year. Let's hope Vodafone keeps up.

mrcamp

This is actually a good deal for those that need minimal data usage. I agree that data hogging devices like the iphone, Android, etc. can easily go through the limit if one is not careful.

Another option is truphone, which charges $0.17/MB. At least for the US. I think in most of Western Europe as well. Their rate site is down, so I cannot verify the rates.

CelticFlyer

abroadband.com seems expensive!

Truphone's rates for home countries are around $0.10 - $0.15 / Mb and at that price the flexibility of using a single SIM seems worth the cost. The problem with Truphone is that they announce services in new countries then take forever to deliver them. If they don't speed that process up their roaming services will become irrelevant as the major networks progressively adjust their own pricing.

mrcamp

I concur CelticFlyer. Roaming sims are quickly becoming irrelevant in Western Europe. Most of them have realized that,and that's one of the reasons why some of them have started to target the US market, by providing dual UK/US numbers sim cards.

Dubai Stu

I agree that EU providers have started providing more attractive roaming packages (partly due to the nudge the EU gave them). I think cheap US roaming, however, is intended to get the European market as well as the US one.

The US numbers, however, demonstrate one advantage to the US model of cell user pays model of costing. In caller pays countries, free inbound calls feel good and reduce your monthly top up fee considerably, but it is very costly to call forward from one mobile network to another. It only consumes ordinary minutes to call forward to my US roaming SIM's number.

While I used to handle the forwarding through my Asterisks box and forward to the UK (Jersey) number, I ditched the practice because number of the VOIP providers ever quoted the rate correctly. When they were correct, I could save 8 cents a minute. When they were wrong, I took a major hit and had long fights.

On data, I also wanted to know what people thought Onavo which is a free data compression program for both iPhone and Android.

Stu

PS: Two roaming SIMs that I am watching right are the reconstituted telnamobile and the freetimetele. Freetimetele website is a little rough, but it looks interesting for Germans in particular.

chistery

Google Maps on Android allows you to precache a 10 square mile map tile, so you can use GPS and not have data on. Just download a tile for where you're going in advance.