A little data in UK, France & Belgium
 

We're going to the UK, France and Belgium for two weeks in a few months and I'd like to be able to browse the internet and use google maps on my mobile. I likely won't use more than 30mb or so. I'd also like to make a few calls and send a few messages.

First stop is London, so buying one SIM there would be ideal.

What would you recommend?

Maybe Vodafone w/ their Passport option would be good for you. They allow you to use up to something like 25 MB (per day) for £1/day.

I think the data usage at this rate applies only within the UK. Outside the UK it's more like 9 pounds/MB. Check their website for more details. OTOH, tmobile UK charges 1.5 pounds/MB in all of EU. So, for data tmobile UK will be a better option. For voice, it will be vodafone since they have that summer special going on where by you do not pay for incoming in the EU and outgoing is the same rate you pay when in the UK.

EDIT: I just noticed that tmobile UK's rate to call any country from outside the UK is 0.38P. Initially this rate used to be for calls back to EU only.

EDIT: The vodafone rate is 5 pounds per day for up to 15 MB. So, a better deal on the long run.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/g...etailed-costs/

I can find the Vodaphone UK data charges on their web site (Vodafone Mobile Internet - Cost options but can't find the roaming charges. Where did you find that?

I likely will not make many voice calls, so whoever supplies data should be ok.

How do I buy the SIM and add the services? Just buy a cheap prepaid SIM in some store in Heathrow or London, then call Vodaphone or T-Mobile?

Voda UK roaming page below. Just choose the country you are going to and it will display the costs. As for the sim, you can either get it there, or if you have the time you can get it on ebay.UK. I have always gone the ebay.uk route. Even for my topups.

Internet access abroad and international roaming charges ? Vodafone

Depending on how much you will use in Belgium (and France) you might want to check the local operators there as well.
Base in Belgium has pretty good offers, both for Belgium itself and abroad. Especially when you use only small amounts because they will charge you per KB.
see http://www.base.be/base/en/home/offe...page.aspx/3662 and http://www.base.be/base/en/home/offe...page.aspx/4368

If I'm reading correctly, t-mobile and vodafone each offer internet plans in the UK for 50p to £1 per day. Outside the UK, it's £5/day on vodafone (up to 15mb) and £1.5/mb on t-mobile. If I'm roaming for 7 days, it would be £35 total on vodafone. If I use less than 23mb, t-mobile would be cheaper (1.5*23 = 34.5), else vodafone would be better.

In either case, I'd get a SIM, then call them to sign up for the appropriate plan? Would I then top-up (or prepay) a specified amount?

I won't be in Belgium long enough for a Belgium plan to be worthwhile. From the thread titled "France and Data" it doesn't seem a French plan would be much better.

i was recently in London may 2009. I got an O2 (the iphone provider in UK) prepaid card that was reasonable for calls ( i think around 20p/min), and included unlimited internet for 1 year! It was made for iphone but i believe works with other phones that you can change the apn on. The card cost me 15 pounds and included 10 pounds of credit. Roaming was expensive but at that rate (depending how long you are in london), it might be worth it to get that card in england and get a different card when you get to france or belgium.