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-   -   Sim Card (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/sim-card-1473734/)

sanitarium Sep 17th, 2017 01:53 AM

Sim Card
 
Hello,

I am doing a european tour (spain, france, belgium, germany) for around 2 months.
What is the most suitable sim card to purchase that will work in all these countries.

My main concern is the 3g/4g data consumption i will be needing around 10-20 gb a month.

Thank u in advance
Regards

sanitarium Sep 17th, 2017 02:13 AM

I would like to note that i will first arrive In madrid, if i can find something from there.

Regards

lavandula Sep 18th, 2017 02:59 PM

Hi, I confess I don't know the complete answer to your problem but I do have a helpful link for you:

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Spain

Nowadays in Europe there is mobile phone roaming between countries so if you pick a SIM that you can reload by internet (I think Vodafone does this), you should be OK across the four countries. Good luck, sounds like a nice trip.

Lavandula

sanitarium Sep 20th, 2017 09:12 PM

Thank u for ur help

Robert2016 Sep 20th, 2017 09:56 PM

You can stop into any MoviStar, Vodafone, or one of the other major phone service providers once you're in Madrid. They will help you set up the service you need.

Sarastro Sep 21st, 2017 01:24 AM

<i>Nowadays in Europe there is mobile phone roaming between countries so if you pick a SIM that you can reload by internet (I think Vodafone does this), you should be OK across the four countries.</i>

I do not believe that the eliminate of roaming fees applies to pre-paid plans unless your plan specifically states that there are no such fees.

lavandula Sep 21st, 2017 01:35 AM

From http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...s/index_en.htm :

"If you have a pre-paid card (meaning that you pay in advance for using your mobile phone) you can roam like at home. However, your mobile operator may apply a roam like at home limit for data if you pay per unit and your domestic unit price for data is less than €7.70 per GB.

If your mobile operator applies a roam like at home volume limit for data, that limit should be at least the volume obtained by dividing the remaining credit on your pre-paid card by €7.70 as soon you start using data roaming services. You will get the same volume of roaming data that you have paid for in advance. You can of course top up your credit while roaming."

If you follow the link there is a sample scenario which illustrates this (clear as mud) situation ...

Lavandula

bvlenci Sep 21st, 2017 03:05 AM

Maybe my situation will help to clear the mud from the water.

I live in Italy and have a monthly prepaid plan which gives me 10 gb of data monthly for €12, as well as 500 minutes of phone calls and 500 text messages. Obviously, my cost per gb is less than €7.70, so my plan has a limit of 4gb per month that I can use outside of Italy (but still in the EU).

If we consider the €12 as the cost of 10 gb, it seems as though I should be allowed to use 6 gb abroad, but they're probably considering that the €12 buys calls and texts as well, and applying some formula to determine what proportion of the €12 is for data.

zoe_traveller Sep 21st, 2017 04:46 AM

Great discussion, guys! I am having a similar query.
However, since I am planning of travelling to country-sides as well, I am more concerned about the network availability throughout my trip, to be able to call or access internet on my phone.
What are some popular operators in Spain? One of my colleagues suggested Lycamobile. How is it?


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