mobile phone options for Europe

[patpalloon]

What are my best options for mobile phone access in France and Spain? I'm on 3. I'll try and use wifi as much as possible but apart from that?

[Cunobelin]

What are my best options for mobile phone access in France and Spain? I'm on 3. I'll try and use wifi as much as possible but apart from that?

What I did was unlock my phone, then I buy a cheap data bundle from a local supplier wherever I go. Much cheaper than roaming.

Especially if you can get a "new customer" deal

Any phone shop will advise you, but I would still check coverage for the areas you wish to go to if they are a little remote




You can then give those who "need to know" your new number and be un-contactable by everyone else

Win-Win

[RickH]

Its a shame that 3 don't (yet) do their "Feel at Home" in France & Spain.

How long are you going for? For a long trip it may be worth making more effort but for 2 or 3 weeks you possibly have diminishing returns on any extra expenditure.

The last couple of times I've used my phone abroad it cost me about £20 on each 2 week trip just light use of phone & text plus a few MB of data when I needed to check something when I couldn't find any free WiFi. That was in 2010 & 2011 so it would probably be cheaper now with the capping of roaming charges.

Rick.

[patpalloon]

I'm going for 2 months. Yes it's a shame the feel at home countries are a bit limited so far. I will use my kindle for emails. I have the keyboard 3g one which you can get free 3g access.

[Barrenfluffit]

3G access on kindle is limited to amazon and wikipedia. There is a download limit too. Hooked up to wifi should be ok.

[Mark1978]

Doesn't help for now but I beeline from 2015 roaming in Europe will be outlawed. Don't know what this means in practice.

[mjr]

3G access on kindle is limited to amazon and wikipedia. There is a download limit too. Hooked up to wifi should be ok.

Is that new? Wasn't true last May in France and Spain.

[randomblue]

I'm not sure about local SIMs (although I'll have more updates on French payg sims in the next few days when I get to the shops with my French housemate!) but out of UK roaming data options the best I've found is £1/20MB (to be used in one day) from EE payg. You can get the SIM itself free from their website. Works out to be 5p/MB which is much much better than the 45p+ you'd be paying on other networks or on 3 in non feel-at-home countries!! The EE option also means if you don't find yourself needing internet for a day or you're in a town when you can limit your use to wifi you're not paying anything at all. Could still add up on the bill if you use it every day though!

Will let you know what the cheapest French sim works out to be =)

[georgew]

3G access on kindle is limited to amazon and wikipedia. There is a download limit too. Hooked up to wifi should be ok.

Is that new? Wasn't true last May in France and Spain.

I too have the 3G version and understood that it could handle email. It was a selling point at the time of sale.

[mjr]

Doesn't help for now but I beeline from 2015 roaming in Europe will be outlawed. Don't know what this means in practice.

the cost of making a call or downloading internet data in another EU country will be the same as at home.

Vote for Members of the European Parliament this May because this is the sort of good work they can do... this and the blind-spot-reducing lorry cab rule changes... and ideally don't vote for that lot who oppose almost everything and have a recent history of bonkers bike-bashing

[Mark1978]

Same as at home is open to interpretation. It could be the same as your standard tarrif but not included in your included talking time for example.

[randomblue]

Popped into SFR (one of the French providers) at lunch. Was told you have to pay 10E for the sim itself and then you buy data bundles, for example 9E will get you 1gb to use over 7 days. They don't really have long term low useage options and they don't have tops ups of basic credit with a per text/minute/MB system like in the uk, when you buy a top up you're buying a specific package of minutes/texts/data which is only valid for a limited length of time. It's like buying a contract package really. They only do a 7 day data one and the multiuse ones that last longer are like 20-30E in which case you might as well stick with roaming data.

With orange the SIM costs 1E90 and there are three types of credit:
- data only top ups are 5E for 150MB over 1 week, or 10E for 500MB over 2 weeks.
- basic credit is available but data uses 50 cents per MB. You do get a free extra so for example you pay 5E and get 6E of credit, the more you buy the more you get for free eg 15E -> 20E, 100E -> 150E
- package credit that also gives you minutes and texts to french numbers (might be handy if you're booking accommodation as you go etc). 5E option lasts one week, unlimited texts and 20MB of internet. 10E option lasts one week, unlimited calls and texts with 100MB data. Monthly options are 20 or 30E both with unlimited calls and texts and 300MB/1GB data respectively.

To be completely honest (and especially if you can use your kindle for emails) I wouldn't bother with getting a local sim in france at least. It's lots of hassle for probably little/no saving. You're better off sticking with roaming data on EE.

Roll on when they ban roaming charges next year!

[mrjemm]

3G access on kindle is limited to amazon and wikipedia. There is a download limit too. Hooked up to wifi should be ok.

Is that new? Wasn't true last May in France and Spain.

I too have the 3G version and understood that it could handle email. It was a selling point at the time of sale.

Amazon made a crackdown on this some time ago. I know the newer 3g models were restricted, but not sure if older versions were still more open. Worth looking on Amazon, or just giving it a go. Otherwise do a search, perhaps via digital reader, who will've covered it at the time.

Talking of kindles, my Paperwhite (MK2) battery is going downhill now. Been using it a lot lately, but charging intervals are decreasing quite rapidly.

As for using a mobile in Europe, I am not sure if anyone's mentioned it, but I think it's worth taking a basic phone- batteries last longer, signal usually better (I find smartphones terrible for this), and newer smartphones don't always give you the option of choosing lower than 3g now (my Lumia 820 only says max speed 3g or max speed 4g!), and if signal is poor, it's good to go lower than 3g seemingly. Lighter and smaller too.

[stevemb]

There is a post on this somewhere else but from memory I believe it is a sim from Motorhome wifi. It basically is a sim from vodafone italy and the rate is 3 euros per day for 500MB of data. You only pay the 3 euros once you use the data for that day. If you dont connect there is no daily charge. The 500MB is a decent amount , especially if you want to stream video - I think you would get at least 2 hrs live video for that - works out 167MB per Euro - good value. The SIM is good for all European countries so no need to keep looking for a SIM in each country you visit. They also sell dongles if you want to keep your own SIM in your phone for receiving calls etc.. but this option is more expensive as you have to buy the dongle - the SIM is the same in either option. If you phone is a 4G one I believe it can connect at 4G if available

[randomblue]

3 euros a day can get pretty expensive when you're on an extended trip though =\