EU roaming data SIM

wolfbln · 25-07-2014, 19:48

Thanks @Andy and @peterdoo for your suggestions.

Most of the offers Andy mentioned are more expensive than domestic data and most have a catch, so I need to revise my rules

UK-cards: It's practically impossible to top up an UK SIM card from abroad without an UK-registered credit card, only top-up vouchers go, but are not available abroad. That's a big problem not entering the country for foreigners. Very dubious agencies charge you 20% extra.

German Cards: Germany is not so restrictive about top-ups and credit cards, but the Aldi and Lidl offers are very exclusively sold at their supermarket stores. You hardly find them on ebay.de or other platforms to be shipped abroad. Dealers wont sell them like independent SIMs (e.g. Lyca or Lebara) and private persons only when not yet registered.

Thanks to Peterdoo, I read your comments on Telefon-Treff too:

I will revise the strict rule about spanish credit cards only to top up Orange on their site to a more flexible statement about some international cards too.

With Vodafone Italy and their very interesting offer I don't see any way to get them out of Italy or to be sent from Italy without a "Code fiscali" registration. So you must go to Italy physically first. There used to be the distribution via the "Europasim" clone, but this has been closed. Are there any distributors left? With them, top-ups are not a problem with PalPal on the VF Italy site.

For Simobil from Slovenia which really looks good too: No registration, no restrictions. Only a small brand. Has anyone already made it to have a Simpl SIM sent from Slovenia, enable the "Tarifa EU NESKONČNO" from abroad (= is the activation SMS accepted out of a roaming network?). What are the top-up choices? How long stays the SIM alive?

Sorry for my curiosity, guys. But I don't like to post SIMs which are not verified by users. And the telcos put up a lot of hurdles just to buy any European SIM card, use it for roaming and recharge it again.

Still, we have a long way to go in Europe....

wolfbln · 07-08-2014, 16:34

Thanks to your help I updated the site:
//prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/European_Union

I hope that we will have more offers soon. But no company came out with new offers when the new data cap of the EU took effect. They are still very strong in "preventing" the use of their products out of their home markets but still making the extra money for EU roaming from their loyal customers.

This whole roaming situation is a good example how "Europe" still sucks

As a good European I hope for the better collecting SIM cards in the meantime.

sleepy · 19-08-2014, 15:49

And also TIM Italy has the "TIM in Viaggio Pass" offer, slightly different from that of Vodafone IT. The preference depends on individual needs:

http://www.tim.it/estero/tim-in-viaggio-pass

10 Euro
7 days
500 Mb
125 minutes calls in
125 minutes calls out
250 SMSs
APN: wap.tim.it

Vodafone caters for brief stays and allows more data and calls each (calendar!) day at a slightly higher daily cost.

TIM gives a lower average daily allowance but lasts a week (it should be a real week, but from very recent personal experience I would say that is more like a calendar week, whatever they might telly at the call centre or you can read on their site) and if resources are managed wisely, switching to wifi when available, it can end up being cheaper and more convenient to use.
I managed to stay well in the limits by using this strategy.

In theory no tethering or PC connections.
In practice, at this very moment it works with no problems, until any limits gets really enforced.

I have no definite choice here. I use both options depending on what I am going to do and how long I stay abroad. It is an individual choice to be made.

Warning: switch off the "TIM in Viaggio Full" option which is automatically activated every time with the "TIM in Viaggio Pass" option, in order not to get "ripped off" in case you go beyond the allowance.

Sleepy

peterdoo · 03-10-2014, 00:55

Not prepaid and only for business customers with minimum 5 lines, however it shows, how the market is developing and that there still is a huge margin for lower tariffs from the other operators:

Orange Spain now offers a tariff with:
1000 minutes (the sum of in+out) in the EU/EEA+Switzerland+USA+China to all these countries per month.
1GB (incl. 4G where available) in the EU/EEA+Switzerland+USA+China per month.
29,25€+VAT per month.

There are more minutes and GB available inside Spain, however I am not mentioning that as we focus on roaming here.

http://www.orange.es/descubre/empres...OMO_CODE=23001

	(#1)
wolfbln (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 206 Join Date: 14 Jul 2014 Country:	25-07-2014, 19:48 Thanks @Andy and @peterdoo for your suggestions. Most of the offers Andy mentioned are more expensive than domestic data and most have a catch, so I need to revise my rules UK-cards: It's practically impossible to top up an UK SIM card from abroad without an UK-registered credit card, only top-up vouchers go, but are not available abroad. That's a big problem not entering the country for foreigners. Very dubious agencies charge you 20% extra. German Cards: Germany is not so restrictive about top-ups and credit cards, but the Aldi and Lidl offers are very exclusively sold at their supermarket stores. You hardly find them on ebay.de or other platforms to be shipped abroad. Dealers wont sell them like independent SIMs (e.g. Lyca or Lebara) and private persons only when not yet registered. Thanks to Peterdoo, I read your comments on Telefon-Treff too: I will revise the strict rule about spanish credit cards only to top up Orange on their site to a more flexible statement about some international cards too. With Vodafone Italy and their very interesting offer I don't see any way to get them out of Italy or to be sent from Italy without a "Code fiscali" registration. So you must go to Italy physically first. There used to be the distribution via the "Europasim" clone, but this has been closed. Are there any distributors left? With them, top-ups are not a problem with PalPal on the VF Italy site. For Simobil from Slovenia which really looks good too: No registration, no restrictions. Only a small brand. Has anyone already made it to have a Simpl SIM sent from Slovenia, enable the "Tarifa EU NESKONČNO" from abroad (= is the activation SMS accepted out of a roaming network?). What are the top-up choices? How long stays the SIM alive? Sorry for my curiosity, guys. But I don't like to post SIMs which are not verified by users. And the telcos put up a lot of hurdles just to buy any European SIM card, use it for roaming and recharge it again. Still, we have a long way to go in Europe....

	(#2)
wolfbln (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 206 Join Date: 14 Jul 2014 Country:	07-08-2014, 16:34 Thanks to your help I updated the site: //prepaidwithdata.wikia.com/wiki/European_Union I hope that we will have more offers soon. But no company came out with new offers when the new data cap of the EU took effect. They are still very strong in "preventing" the use of their products out of their home markets but still making the extra money for EU roaming from their loyal customers. This whole roaming situation is a good example how "Europe" still sucks As a good European I hope for the better collecting SIM cards in the meantime.

	(#3)
sleepy (Offline) Member Official Member Posts: 34 Join Date: 30 Aug 2007 Country:	19-08-2014, 15:49 And also TIM Italy has the "TIM in Viaggio Pass" offer, slightly different from that of Vodafone IT. The preference depends on individual needs: http://www.tim.it/estero/tim-in-viaggio-pass 10 Euro 7 days 500 Mb 125 minutes calls in 125 minutes calls out 250 SMSs APN: wap.tim.it Vodafone caters for brief stays and allows more data and calls each (calendar!) day at a slightly higher daily cost. TIM gives a lower average daily allowance but lasts a week (it should be a real week, but from very recent personal experience I would say that is more like a calendar week, whatever they might telly at the call centre or you can read on their site) and if resources are managed wisely, switching to wifi when available, it can end up being cheaper and more convenient to use. I managed to stay well in the limits by using this strategy. In theory no tethering or PC connections. In practice, at this very moment it works with no problems, until any limits gets really enforced. I have no definite choice here. I use both options depending on what I am going to do and how long I stay abroad. It is an individual choice to be made. Warning: switch off the "TIM in Viaggio Full" option which is automatically activated every time with the "TIM in Viaggio Pass" option, in order not to get "ripped off" in case you go beyond the allowance. Sleepy

	(#4)
peterdoo (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Fan Posts: 137 Join Date: 20 Sep 2013 Country:	03-10-2014, 00:55 Not prepaid and only for business customers with minimum 5 lines, however it shows, how the market is developing and that there still is a huge margin for lower tariffs from the other operators: Orange Spain now offers a tariff with: 1000 minutes (the sum of in+out) in the EU/EEA+Switzerland+USA+China to all these countries per month. 1GB (incl. 4G where available) in the EU/EEA+Switzerland+USA+China per month. 29,25€+VAT per month. There are more minutes and GB available inside Spain, however I am not mentioning that as we focus on roaming here. http://www.orange.es/descubre/empres...OMO_CODE=23001