Eurotrip with iPhone 6: best SIM to get for data?
Mar 21, 2016, 6:45 pm
#46
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: ORD
Programs: AA PLT
Posts: 2,781
Thanks
. The one thing that bugs me about SpainSur is their website. It's really slow and I haven't been able to figure out how to register there with a U.S. address as the States aren't a drop-down country option! So, refilling might be challenging unless someone knows of a workaround...
. The one thing that bugs me about SpainSur is their website. It's really slow and I haven't been able to figure out how to register there with a U.S. address as the States aren't a drop-down country option! So, refilling might be challenging unless someone knows of a workaround...
Mar 24, 2016, 9:30 am
#48
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,243
SIM for Denmark and Norway?
I'm going to Copenhagen and Oslo in May and would ideally like one SIM I can use in both places. I suppose I could also just pay Verizon's $10/day but it seems a bit spendy. Is there a good option for me that people know about, or would it be better to buy separate SIMs in each country?
Mar 24, 2016, 9:49 am
#49
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Menlo Park, CA, USA
Programs: UA 1MM 0P, AA, DL, *wood, Lifetime FPC Plat., IHG, HHD
Posts: 6,912
I'm going to Copenhagen and Oslo in May and would ideally like one SIM I can use in both places. I suppose I could also just pay Verizon's $10/day but it seems a bit spendy. Is there a good option for me that people know about, or would it be better to buy separate SIMs in each country?
2GB is 45$ and 3GB is 55$.. calls are pretty cheap.
Mar 24, 2016, 2:07 pm
#50
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: DAY/CMH
Programs: UA MileagePlus
Posts: 2,474
Mar 24, 2016, 2:25 pm
#51
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,750
You didn't say how many days you will be there total - which means we can't tell how much total you would be paying Verizon at $10 per day. You also didn't say if you will be using primarily data, or whether calls are important to you.
If Denmark is your first port of call - you can look at normal Danish SIMs online, and see what kind of prepaid deal they have, and what type of roaming costs they have for Norway. You can find a list of the GSM carriers for each country here: http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/
If you plan to be making phone calls to the US, you might have to dig to find the pricing for that. Sometimes the European carriers have decent prices while roaming in the EU for calls, but only for calls within the EU - they can charge an arm and a leg to call the US. Solution for this is to use Localphone or similar dial-around kind of service to call a local number and then get forwarded to the US.
Vodafone Ireland has a good EU roaming product - called Red Roaming. Webpage here: http://www.vodafone.ie/roaming/red-roaming/
For €2.99 per day you get 200 MB of data, unlimited free incoming calls, and free outbound calls to Ireland and the country in which you are roaming. These can be bought on ebay for about $20 US including shipping. So, the question is how does $20 + €2.99 per day stack up against you would pay with Verizon - which would be more convenient, and depending on your plan you would have more data, and could call the US without a dial-around service.
BTW, Ireland is one of the shrinking number of countries in Europe which allow you to obtain and activate a SIM without showing up in person somewhere with your passport and registering.
The other issue is topping up - some SIMs are easy to top up from outside the country because you can top up with a foreign credit card, some companies will only top up with local cards.
If Denmark is your first port of call - you can look at normal Danish SIMs online, and see what kind of prepaid deal they have, and what type of roaming costs they have for Norway. You can find a list of the GSM carriers for each country here: http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/
If you plan to be making phone calls to the US, you might have to dig to find the pricing for that. Sometimes the European carriers have decent prices while roaming in the EU for calls, but only for calls within the EU - they can charge an arm and a leg to call the US. Solution for this is to use Localphone or similar dial-around kind of service to call a local number and then get forwarded to the US.
Vodafone Ireland has a good EU roaming product - called Red Roaming. Webpage here: http://www.vodafone.ie/roaming/red-roaming/
For €2.99 per day you get 200 MB of data, unlimited free incoming calls, and free outbound calls to Ireland and the country in which you are roaming. These can be bought on ebay for about $20 US including shipping. So, the question is how does $20 + €2.99 per day stack up against you would pay with Verizon - which would be more convenient, and depending on your plan you would have more data, and could call the US without a dial-around service.
BTW, Ireland is one of the shrinking number of countries in Europe which allow you to obtain and activate a SIM without showing up in person somewhere with your passport and registering.
The other issue is topping up - some SIMs are easy to top up from outside the country because you can top up with a foreign credit card, some companies will only top up with local cards.
I'm going to Copenhagen and Oslo in May and would ideally like one SIM I can use in both places. I suppose I could also just pay Verizon's $10/day but it seems a bit spendy. Is there a good option for me that people know about, or would it be better to buy separate SIMs in each country?
Mar 24, 2016, 6:28 pm
#52
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,243
You didn't say how many days you will be there total - which means we can't tell how much total you would be paying Verizon at $10 per day. You also didn't say if you will be using primarily data, or whether calls are important to you.
If Denmark is your first port of call - you can look at normal Danish SIMs online, and see what kind of prepaid deal they have, and what type of roaming costs they have for Norway. You can find a list of the GSM carriers for each country here: http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/
If you plan to be making phone calls to the US, you might have to dig to find the pricing for that. Sometimes the European carriers have decent prices while roaming in the EU for calls, but only for calls within the EU - they can charge an arm and a leg to call the US. Solution for this is to use Localphone or similar dial-around kind of service to call a local number and then get forwarded to the US.
Vodafone Ireland has a good EU roaming product - called Red Roaming. Webpage here: http://www.vodafone.ie/roaming/red-roaming/
For €2.99 per day you get 200 MB of data, unlimited free incoming calls, and free outbound calls to Ireland and the country in which you are roaming. These can be bought on ebay for about $20 US including shipping. So, the question is how does $20 + €2.99 per day stack up against you would pay with Verizon - which would be more convenient, and depending on your plan you would have more data, and could call the US without a dial-around service.
BTW, Ireland is one of the shrinking number of countries in Europe which allow you to obtain and activate a SIM without showing up in person somewhere with your passport and registering.
The other issue is topping up - some SIMs are easy to top up from outside the country because you can top up with a foreign credit card, some companies will only top up with local cards.
If Denmark is your first port of call - you can look at normal Danish SIMs online, and see what kind of prepaid deal they have, and what type of roaming costs they have for Norway. You can find a list of the GSM carriers for each country here: http://maps.mobileworldlive.com/
If you plan to be making phone calls to the US, you might have to dig to find the pricing for that. Sometimes the European carriers have decent prices while roaming in the EU for calls, but only for calls within the EU - they can charge an arm and a leg to call the US. Solution for this is to use Localphone or similar dial-around kind of service to call a local number and then get forwarded to the US.
Vodafone Ireland has a good EU roaming product - called Red Roaming. Webpage here: http://www.vodafone.ie/roaming/red-roaming/
For €2.99 per day you get 200 MB of data, unlimited free incoming calls, and free outbound calls to Ireland and the country in which you are roaming. These can be bought on ebay for about $20 US including shipping. So, the question is how does $20 + €2.99 per day stack up against you would pay with Verizon - which would be more convenient, and depending on your plan you would have more data, and could call the US without a dial-around service.
BTW, Ireland is one of the shrinking number of countries in Europe which allow you to obtain and activate a SIM without showing up in person somewhere with your passport and registering.
The other issue is topping up - some SIMs are easy to top up from outside the country because you can top up with a foreign credit card, some companies will only top up with local cards.
Mar 24, 2016, 6:37 pm
#53
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,750
I used one of the Irish Vodafone SIMs for a while - I think I was able to top up online with a US Amex card.
The problem is that the sites don't tell you, you just have to try it and see if it works. Which means you have to buy the SIM and hope it works. I believe the last time I topped up my Irish Vodafone SIM was last July.
The problem is that the sites don't tell you, you just have to try it and see if it works. Which means you have to buy the SIM and hope it works. I believe the last time I topped up my Irish Vodafone SIM was last July.
Mar 28, 2016, 10:16 am
#54
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: City of Angels
Programs: DL Kettle| HH Pot
Posts: 525
I have the Italian Vodafone SIM and you get top up using PayPal guest with your CC. Never could get regular paypal to work nor US CC.
Apr 3, 2016, 7:57 am
#56
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 321
Apr 3, 2016, 11:52 am
#57
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: source of weird and eccentric ideas
Posts: 38,702
It only gives you 100 mb per month which is not enough. I need 1 or 2 gb per week. At least.
Apr 9, 2016, 12:22 pm
#59
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,214
Update from my trip:
1. SIM Mundo Orange. Avoid like the plague. Spanish website + Russian customer service. I think that's all you need to know. My package was not added correctly and best customer service could do (despite the fact that I actually speak Russian, so I figured it would help) was "call our English-speaking hotline". But oh, it costs money. Everything there costs money; there's even a fee to top up. Forget it. I'm not even going to bother asking for my money back - chalk it up to lessons learned and move on.
2. WorldSIM. Works okay once you figure out not to dial a "+" to connect to their UK number. Problem is, it's not a British number, per se, it's the Isle of Man's, which incurs long distance charges from within England proper. It isn't disclosed when you purchase (just listed as a UK number). Works for what it's worth, but isn't cheap. Would recommend for its ease of use with roaming, though, and for the less-than-sophisticates, like my parentsw. Just look up your rates both to and from the number.
3. Lebara (on location). Avoid simply because customer service both sucks and blows. It isn't an awful deal when you get down to it, but the data you get is 3G only and if anything at all goes wrong, you're going to be left holding your own dick with barely anyone to help you. The customer service chat is a Russian roulette of "somewhat helpful when prodded" and "I would like to bulldoze your entire company to the ground, you either smug or impotent sack of (well, I'll leave it to your imagination)".
Bottom line: WorldSIM worked okay for my parents and I should have just stumped up the 45GBP for a Vodafone card at Heathrow. It came with a whopping 56GB of data (6GB for the regular plan and a 50 gig bonus) that I could have used to my heart's content anywhere on the continent and in the UK.
1. SIM Mundo Orange. Avoid like the plague. Spanish website + Russian customer service. I think that's all you need to know. My package was not added correctly and best customer service could do (despite the fact that I actually speak Russian, so I figured it would help) was "call our English-speaking hotline". But oh, it costs money. Everything there costs money; there's even a fee to top up. Forget it. I'm not even going to bother asking for my money back - chalk it up to lessons learned and move on.
2. WorldSIM. Works okay once you figure out not to dial a "+" to connect to their UK number. Problem is, it's not a British number, per se, it's the Isle of Man's, which incurs long distance charges from within England proper. It isn't disclosed when you purchase (just listed as a UK number). Works for what it's worth, but isn't cheap. Would recommend for its ease of use with roaming, though, and for the less-than-sophisticates, like my parentsw. Just look up your rates both to and from the number.
3. Lebara (on location). Avoid simply because customer service both sucks and blows. It isn't an awful deal when you get down to it, but the data you get is 3G only and if anything at all goes wrong, you're going to be left holding your own dick with barely anyone to help you. The customer service chat is a Russian roulette of "somewhat helpful when prodded" and "I would like to bulldoze your entire company to the ground, you either smug or impotent sack of (well, I'll leave it to your imagination)".
Bottom line: WorldSIM worked okay for my parents and I should have just stumped up the 45GBP for a Vodafone card at Heathrow. It came with a whopping 56GB of data (6GB for the regular plan and a 50 gig bonus) that I could have used to my heart's content anywhere on the continent and in the UK.
Apr 9, 2016, 2:31 pm
#60
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: ORD
Programs: AA PLT
Posts: 2,781
Bottom line: WorldSIM worked okay for my parents and I should have just stumped up the 45GBP for a Vodafone card at Heathrow. It came with a whopping 56GB of data (6GB for the regular plan and a 50 gig bonus) that I could have used to my heart's content anywhere on the continent and in the UK.
I've never had to deal with the Spanish Orange CS, since the card has worked alright, but one annoying feature I discovered is that they simply shut off your SIM if you're out of credit -- no text, no warning, just barred from registering on any networks. Topping the card off fixes the issue.
If the Go Europe option wasn't properly added to the card, I'd take that up with the seller you bought it from.
Thanks for the report.