bvlenci

2 gb should be plenty for any phone for a whole month if you just browse the internet, check email and social networks, and use mapping. I never use 2 gb a month on my phone and I keep data services turned on all the time. Data sent to phones is usually very compressed, so a phone doesn't use as many bytes as a tablet or computer even to do the same things.

What might push you over is watching video or uploading large photos.

Pintxos

Great thread. bookmarking.

sparkchaser

<i>2 gb should be plenty for any phone for a whole month if you just browse the internet, check email and social networks, and use mapping.</i>

I do the same stuff you do (except for Google maps) yet I hit my 4GB cap around the 20th of the month.

bvlenci

You must do an awful lot more of those things than I do, or you must have a lot of stuff going on in background. I just checked my data usage for the period 14th August to 14th September, which included two weeks when we were at our summer home, which has no wifi, and where I used my phone every day to tether my tablet. I used just shy of 1 gb that month. Maybe your phone is one of those "phablets"?

Anyway, if someone is in Italy for 14 days, 2 gb is is the equivalent of 4 gb per month.

banoffi

well, i did bust 3GB during my 2.5 weeks in New Zealand last year!! but that was probably because we were using a pocket wifi, and we used it for both maps, and games (the kids had a ball while i was driving the long stretches).

banoffi

Does anyone know if TIM offers a pocket wifi device for rental?

bvlenci

I don't think they rent anything. Anyway, pocket wifi devices are obsolete, now that any smartphone can become a pocket wifi hotspot via tethering. If you can't unlock your phone, you can buy a cheap unlocked GSM Android phone for well under $100 on Amazon or EBay. Then you'll have both a pocket wifi device and a phone you can use on all your future international trips.

bvlenci

Online games will certainly chew up the GBs.

sparkchaser

That's a really good point about using your smartphone as a WiFi hotspot.

aflaat

I didn't expect to be going to Italy so soon again so I threw out my TIM sim /-:

I've gotten so much info so I'm better prepared.

What sim do you recommend for England?

sparkchaser

I use Lebara in England, more out of habit than anything.

bvlenci

I go to England fairly often, but I don't buy a SIM card there. I just use my Italian card with TIM in Viaggio Full or TIM in Viaggio Pass for roaming. It works out being cheaper than getting a local SIM card and data plan.

BCNLucca

In France: Avoid Orange...horrible customer service.
I finally went to Free.fr
You can also go to Virgin but you need to do it online and have the SIM mailed to you. To buy certain SIM cards in France you need a French "RIB" or social security number.

Spain has lots of pay as you go options.

UK I always pick up a SIM from Virgin. Since I travel, I keep my SiMS.

I have a US T-mobile hotspot device but could not use my data plan. My device was also unlocked but in France I tried all major carriers and none worked with the device.

If you are in major cities and only want to check email and don't need a connection at will, go to Apple. They all have free wifi connections.

Also, McDonald's has free Wifi. If you are driving across country, stop at a McDo even if it is just to use the wifi and stretch your legs.

BCNLucca

Also, I do not use a cell phone. I am strictly VoIP / Wifi telephony so my search was for a data plan. Normally without any video or music downloads, I conservatively use 5 gb a month.
Since my Tmobile device wouldn't work with Orange, SFR or Club B and Free didn't offer a data SIM, I bought a cheap, unlocked phone to use as a hotspot.

If I had a French RIB I could have bought Virgin's plan with 7 GB a month but had to go for the 3 GB from Free at 20 euros a month.

Orange sold me a SIM for 10 Euros plus 35 Euros credit and after hours on the phone with Tmobile, it was determined the SIM was not compatible. Orange refused to take back the card and credit me. Instead they insisted I buy for 50 Euros their hotspot device. Bait-and-switch!

So if anyone has info on DATA PLANS ONLY that would be great.

bvlenci

I'm not sure what the difference is, but I've noticed that there are different versions of mifi devices for Europe and the US, or at least there were when I was thinking of buying one. They all seemed to have the same bands, so it was a little puzzling. It's one of the things that prevented me from buying one. Now I use my phone to tether and that works well.

Are you looking for a data-only plan for the cheap phone you bought? That should be easy. Just get a pay-as-you-go plan for calling, which will cost you nothing if you don't make any calls, and a separate data plan. Some companies only sell data in bundles with calls and texts, but they usually charge little or nothing extra for the calls.

Also, you've told us a lot about where you've been, but I didn't see any mention of where you're going to be using this data plan.

bvlenci

Sayamara topped up this old thread to praise an expensive "international" data-only SIM card. I can't be sure of his/her motives, but for a monolingual English speaker, he/she doesn't speak it very well.

I just want to warn those that run across this old thread that cellular voice/data plans change very frequently, so nearly everthing I wrote 16 months ago would need revision.