Best Contract/PAYG for Roaming
Mar 31, 2016, 10:24 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 946
Best Contract/PAYG for Roaming
I'm looking for a UK mobile contract or pay as you go that allows good data roaming rates, primarily in the EU, but also non-EU destinations. Essentially most places where BA flies to...
While a good deal on minutes/texts would be nice, I'm primarily interested in data. Because I travel to lots of different places, but only for short periods of time, local SIM cards are unfortunately not an option. So far I have looked at Three, which seems great, but their EU roaming rates are a little on the expensive side (17p/MB).
While a good deal on minutes/texts would be nice, I'm primarily interested in data. Because I travel to lots of different places, but only for short periods of time, local SIM cards are unfortunately not an option. So far I have looked at Three, which seems great, but their EU roaming rates are a little on the expensive side (17p/MB).
Mar 31, 2016, 10:26 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2013
Programs: QRPC Platinum, KFEG
Posts: 998
Three has a great service called "Feel At Home" which is included in their phone contracts.
A list of destinations can be found here: http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phon...l_At_Home#dest
Basically you just use your allowance abroad as you would at home.
Saved me ££££ in France, Italy, USA and Norway already (mostly for data as well).
A list of destinations can be found here: http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phon...l_At_Home#dest
Basically you just use your allowance abroad as you would at home.
Saved me ££££ in France, Italy, USA and Norway already (mostly for data as well).
Mar 31, 2016, 10:34 am
#3
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Gloucestershire
Programs: BA Gold (ex-GGL, maybe future Silver), Hilton Diamond
Posts: 6,197
Three also do inclusive data packages at £5 per day within the EU, which is not as good a some but probably doesn't offset the feel at home data package if you're in France or Spain a fair bit.
I seem to remember Vodafone being quite good for roaming with them, but even if you have a contract with them, they'll never be better than a Three PAYG in countries where Feel at Home is available.
I seem to remember Vodafone being quite good for roaming with them, but even if you have a contract with them, they'll never be better than a Three PAYG in countries where Feel at Home is available.
Mar 31, 2016, 10:45 am
#4
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Silver
Posts: 772
Three's "Feel at Home" is brilliant. Costs you nothing extra to use your allowance abroad.
I have saved hundreds (in fact, probably thousands) of pounds thanks to it. They send you a text now and then telling you how much money it would have cost you to use the services you used abroad had it not been for "Feel at Home" and I can never quite believe how expensive it would have been.
I have saved hundreds (in fact, probably thousands) of pounds thanks to it. They send you a text now and then telling you how much money it would have cost you to use the services you used abroad had it not been for "Feel at Home" and I can never quite believe how expensive it would have been.
Mar 31, 2016, 10:49 am
#5
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: USA
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 812
Three's "Feel at Home" is brilliant. Costs you nothing extra to use your allowance abroad.
I have saved hundreds (in fact, probably thousands) of pounds thanks to it. They send you a text now and then telling you how much money it would have cost you to use the services you used abroad had it not been for "Feel at Home" and I can never quite believe how expensive it would have been.
I have saved hundreds (in fact, probably thousands) of pounds thanks to it. They send you a text now and then telling you how much money it would have cost you to use the services you used abroad had it not been for "Feel at Home" and I can never quite believe how expensive it would have been.
Mar 31, 2016, 10:53 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2005
Programs: BA Gold, A3 Gold, FB Gold, Bonvoy Titanium / LTP, Accor Plat
Posts: 13,859
Three is great if you're in its Feel At Home places but less good if you're not.
iD has a similar plan with a different set of countries (including the whole EU):
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and USA.
http://www.idmobile.co.uk/shop/plans/sim-only
iD has a similar plan with a different set of countries (including the whole EU):
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and USA.
http://www.idmobile.co.uk/shop/plans/sim-only
Mar 31, 2016, 10:56 am
#9
formerly rxfleming
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: AUH, DXB (and GLA)
Programs: BA GGL, HHonors Diamond, Marriott Plat Elite
Posts: 2,450
Probably should be moved to Travel Tech forum/thread...
Three is ok. But they really throttle the free data when your abroad. I was with them for years but found it increasingly unusable when I needed data to work.
Vodafone on the other hand don't. And you can take all your allowances abroad for £3 day or £5 a day to there nonEU destinations (quite a large list of countries. Google 'World Traveller'). I have a 20GB plan with Vodafone so never run out of data abroad.
I never call anyone on their phone anymore either. Tend to use whatsapp / IMO/ Facebook messenger / FaceTime for audio or video calls. So using mins or texts isn't important to me. I need data and need it to work, fast enough to make video and audio calls. Vodafone does that. Three didn't.
I also use wifi a lot abroad more than I ever thought I would so I only pay the £5 fee on odd occasions.
Three is ok. But they really throttle the free data when your abroad. I was with them for years but found it increasingly unusable when I needed data to work.
Vodafone on the other hand don't. And you can take all your allowances abroad for £3 day or £5 a day to there nonEU destinations (quite a large list of countries. Google 'World Traveller'). I have a 20GB plan with Vodafone so never run out of data abroad.
I never call anyone on their phone anymore either. Tend to use whatsapp / IMO/ Facebook messenger / FaceTime for audio or video calls. So using mins or texts isn't important to me. I need data and need it to work, fast enough to make video and audio calls. Vodafone does that. Three didn't.
I also use wifi a lot abroad more than I ever thought I would so I only pay the £5 fee on odd occasions.
Mar 31, 2016, 11:14 am
#10
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 6,189
For those interested, I have found google's project fi to be reasonable for travel. Haven't gotten to use it extensively, but the travel I've done outside the US has found it to be very adaptable.
I've used both Nexus phones (6P and 5X) and found them to be very nice phones. Project fi is quite flexible and since the phone is unlocked, you could probably justify using project fi and another sim and feel you've come out ahead.
I've used both Nexus phones (6P and 5X) and found them to be very nice phones. Project fi is quite flexible and since the phone is unlocked, you could probably justify using project fi and another sim and feel you've come out ahead.
Mar 31, 2016, 11:23 am
#11
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,257
Probably should be moved to Travel Tech forum/thread...
Three is ok. But they really throttle the free data when your abroad. I was with them for years but found it increasingly unusable when I needed data to work.
Vodafone on the other hand don't. And you can take all your allowances abroad for £3 day or £5 a day to there nonEU destinations (quite a large list of countries. Google 'World Traveller'). I have a 20GB plan with Vodafone so never run out of data abroad.
I never call anyone on their phone anymore either. Tend to use whatsapp / IMO/ Facebook messenger / FaceTime for audio or video calls. So using mins or texts isn't important to me. I need data and need it to work, fast enough to make video and audio calls. Vodafone does that. Three didn't.
I also use wifi a lot abroad more than I ever thought I would so I only pay the £5 fee on odd occasions.
Three is ok. But they really throttle the free data when your abroad. I was with them for years but found it increasingly unusable when I needed data to work.
Vodafone on the other hand don't. And you can take all your allowances abroad for £3 day or £5 a day to there nonEU destinations (quite a large list of countries. Google 'World Traveller'). I have a 20GB plan with Vodafone so never run out of data abroad.
I never call anyone on their phone anymore either. Tend to use whatsapp / IMO/ Facebook messenger / FaceTime for audio or video calls. So using mins or texts isn't important to me. I need data and need it to work, fast enough to make video and audio calls. Vodafone does that. Three didn't.
I also use wifi a lot abroad more than I ever thought I would so I only pay the £5 fee on odd occasions.
Mar 31, 2016, 11:30 am
#12
Join Date: Dec 2013
Programs: QRPC Platinum, KFEG
Posts: 998
I think it's more the supplier of the service (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile) in the US that decides the speed for roaming partners. Switching manually to AT&T or T-Mobile (depending on the region you're in) it increases speed.
Mar 31, 2016, 11:45 am
#13
Join Date: Oct 2004
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 1,008
ID agree with this - currently in hawaii big island using my 3 'at home', the T mobile network here is pretty poor telling me i have 3G but wont even load a map search etc. Sadly it takes too long to manually search other mobile networks so swapping to AT&T is a pain, plus AT&T seems even more patchy than T mobile.
Mar 31, 2016, 11:57 am
#14
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Sheffield, UK
Programs: BA - Silver,Hilton-Diamond, IHG - PlatAmb, GHA - Plat
Posts: 766
It all depends where you are travelling to as the 3 at home only covers certain countries in Europe, and they do heavy throttling of bandwidth when it comes to Roaming.
Im on o2 and in Europe its £1.99 a day for unlimited data, and is changing in april to include texts and minutes in your bundle..
Outside the EU is a different ball game for all networks, its basically a free for all, but I get 200mb of None EU Data for £120.00 not cheap, but works everywhere.
Im on o2 and in Europe its £1.99 a day for unlimited data, and is changing in april to include texts and minutes in your bundle..
Outside the EU is a different ball game for all networks, its basically a free for all, but I get 200mb of None EU Data for £120.00 not cheap, but works everywhere.
Mar 31, 2016, 12:04 pm
#15
Join Date: May 2007
Location: London, UK and Occitanie, France
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 517
I've saved hundreds of pounds on three, but the service is much less of a premium experience than Vodafone (who I was with for many years).
Again, the downside is that if you're not in one of the Feel at Home countries, the roaming prices are extortionate. If you are, you're laughing.
I have much better luck going on the ATT network in the US rather than the T-Mobile one - their data speeds are dire. I'm convinced that the guest/roaming network are indeed the ones that throttle bandwidth for three customers, but that's inevitably due to their SLAs with Three. Of note - they do only provide 3g data roaming, not 4g. Also their coverage outside London (or inside a building anywhere) is pretty poor.
I'm quickly talking myself out of them ;-) not really - I spend a good two months abroad every year, in a combination of the US, mainland Europe, and Australia, and I don't get to expense my phone... so Three have been fantastic, if not perfect.
Again, the downside is that if you're not in one of the Feel at Home countries, the roaming prices are extortionate. If you are, you're laughing.
I have much better luck going on the ATT network in the US rather than the T-Mobile one - their data speeds are dire. I'm convinced that the guest/roaming network are indeed the ones that throttle bandwidth for three customers, but that's inevitably due to their SLAs with Three. Of note - they do only provide 3g data roaming, not 4g. Also their coverage outside London (or inside a building anywhere) is pretty poor.
I'm quickly talking myself out of them ;-) not really - I spend a good two months abroad every year, in a combination of the US, mainland Europe, and Australia, and I don't get to expense my phone... so Three have been fantastic, if not perfect.
