Originally Posted by
richarddd
@h15t0r1an, am I interpreting Three's website correctly that I could do this:
Buy a SIM and a £10 credit and use it in the UK at 3-2-1 rates. Just before going to France, I could buy a 500mb add-on for £5 and use it for data in France, plus calls and texts at roaming rates (obviously provided I don't use more than a total of £10). If I just use data, I could use a total of 1,000mb (500mb in the UK at 1p/mb plus the 500mb add-on in the UK and France).
If you buy the add-on you will not pay roaming rates for calls back to the UK. Note that if you make calls that are not back to your 'home' country such as a local call in France to France or in Austria to Austria, you will pay roaming rates and not the Feel at Home rate. This is not heavily covered in Three's marketing.
I can't speak for data on phones as I keep my data contracts separate. You will have to read the offer yourself for that. Data will definitely be at UK rates even used in France on French websites if you use or buy it as per the terms. Three's only add-ons needed are for voice.
Otherwise I'd suggest just pick up a Lebara PAYG SIM when you arrive, newspaper/magazine shops have them and sometimes supermarkets. They give useful data amounts free with topups that you get very reasonable rates for calls on also.
There are considerably better options available in France. But you would need to be able to pay from French sources for those. So they are not worth it for short trips. All operators in the EU will have to make roaming in Europe same price as the country where the SIM is based, by a date in 2017. So you only need to worry about 2016 really. Market forces should bring rates closer across countries for roaming use in the EU by a date in 2017.
Beware that operators now seem to be bringing in small print limiting the number of roaming days per year. I think this is to try to limit the effects of the 2017 legislation. The examples I have seen in two countries from 2 different networks limit roaming at 'home' rates to only 35 days per year. So you should be fine for shorter trips. Not that the operators are colluding on the magic number of 35 days per year - perish the thought! :-)