Advice on sim for Traveling through Europe
 

Hi everyone. Great forum. Glad i came across it. I'm going to be traveling around Europ from June to october, visiting many different countries and am looking for an all around sim card with a UK or similar based number (no estonia or eastern euro). I have literaly done my head in looking at so many different cards with different rates, currency, free inbound calls etc etc.

Could you please advise me what sim you think may be best for my situation? I'll be making a few calls a day i'd say (both local and back to Australia but back to Australia probably 3 times a week) and i will probably recieve a few calls to the number (not to many). I'll try and do alot of my communication via sms to keep costs down.

Also, what do you guys think of this sim card.

http://www.telestial.com/view_produc...T_ID=MSIM-PPPL

Whilst it's not prefect it seems the best all around one i've been able to find so far. But hopefully you guys may know of a better one :)

Thanks in advance for your assistance. It's greatly appreciated as int. sim cards are a mine field :???:

Scott

Scott,
You are correct that it is a mine field. There is no single best international SIM. My current recommendations for you would be either one of the Isle of Man SIMs or the 09 SIM from Iceland. However, you should look carefully through the information provided on this site and make your own decision.

Since you're from Australia, have you looked at vodafone Passport...does Vodafone Australia offer this?

It's really not an easy question anymore...every time we come up with an inexpensive solution and let others know, suddenly the rates to call these international sims go through the roof as has recently happened with United Mobile.

I agree that an IOM card w. a +44 cell number or an 09 card w. a +372 cell number may be best Calling those numbers is not outrageious. Also, CelTrek offers a choice of UK, or French landline numbers in addition to U.S.

SMS costs vary. Everyone has free incoming. I don't know who would have the best SMS rates to AUS.

...mike

09 is +354 Iceland. Travelsim is +372 Estonia.
09 is reported not to work in Switzerland, +44 SIMs don't work in some eastern European countries. AFAIK there's no international SIM with free incoming in each covered European country...

Thanks for the info so far guys. Greatly appreciated. Another thing i have found i have to factor in is how weak the aussie dollar is against the pound and how strong it is against the US $. After doing more calculations, i can't seem to beat the telestial card i posted a link to in the opening post. It doesn't have free incoming calls but the rates are good and there is no call back.

Do you guys agree it is a pretty good sim or am i missing something?

Cheers

From what i can see voda's rates on their vodafone world plan are incredibly high. Nearly get a sat phone for less:eek:

You may want to wait...
 

The EU is about to impose new, lower roaming regulations & tarifs. You may want to wait until the dust settles a bit. Inbound rates are supposed to be around 30 e-cents and outgoing around 60 e-cents.

If your AU Voda is no good, you might check out the first European country for the PASSPORT (Resiepass in German). Check out the UK site first to see what the conditions are.

I did not see anything specific about RATES @ your Telestial link other than AS LOW AS 29 cents. I don't think much of that description.

Be sure to take along or purchase there a good calling card. You may be able to use that with your SIM/cell.

Stan

http://www.telestial.com/view_produc...T_ID=MSIM-PPPL

About rates

* There is a $0.40 USD per minute surcharge when you make a call to a mobile phone (does not apply when calling to a US or Canadian cell phone).

There is a one-time $0.25 USD connection surcharge for each outgoing call.


About callback

3. With your Passport PLUS cell phone

* 1. Dial 154 from your phone
* 2. Press the Answer key and wait for the call back
* 3. Press the Answer key to answer the call


Have you noticed this?

IMHO as long as you are satisfied with the European coverage of Telestial Passport, you should consider another international SIM with +44 7624/7924 (Isle of Man) prefix. It may have free incoming calls in countries of your interest along with similar rates for outgoing calls and charging each 6 seconds after first 30 seconds and no connection fee (unless you consider paying for the first 30 seconds as the connection fee :-))

It's an Isle of Man SIM using callback (the service numbers are the same), but with its lower outgoing charges compensated by having no free incoming anywhere.