Sim card/Amsterdam
May 14th, 2017, 12:24 PM
#63
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Indeed yes but I think the way it's being implemented involves capping of calls and data and also they don't want to undermine any individual companies in any particular country so, just as an example, they have put in safeguards of some sort so that it is not advantageous for a French person to go for a UK sim because it is somewhat cheaper. Giffgaff web site does have some roaming rates; don't know if they are final or will be further adjusted next month.
May 14th, 2017, 03:12 PM
#64
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It may be that you can activate Giffgaff from in the US:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...d_Kingdom.html
Post 11 on the second page and others have succeeded with US credit cards and Paypal (as well as mobiletopup.uk)
I don't know that I will bother to do this. For my trip, I will be in Paris for 7 days, then the UK for 5. If I have to buy any data, most likely I will need it in France. But having a free SIM card for UK can't hurt . Thinking....
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...d_Kingdom.html
Post 11 on the second page and others have succeeded with US credit cards and Paypal (as well as mobiletopup.uk)
I don't know that I will bother to do this. For my trip, I will be in Paris for 7 days, then the UK for 5. If I have to buy any data, most likely I will need it in France. But having a free SIM card for UK can't hurt . Thinking....
May 14th, 2017, 06:26 PM
#65
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After spending far too much time on this, I ordered a Three UK SIM card from the UK for about $2. It should be here in about 2 weeks.
xyz123 seems to be right... Three UK is very cheap. I could struggle with the 2 GB I think I already have that might be enough for 3 weeks, but might not. Three UK already offers free roaming in France (where I really need it ) and in the Netherlands. I can buy 12GB add-on for 20 quid and have data to burn for the whole trip.
xyz123 seems to be right... Three UK is very cheap. I could struggle with the 2 GB I think I already have that might be enough for 3 weeks, but might not. Three UK already offers free roaming in France (where I really need it ) and in the Netherlands. I can buy 12GB add-on for 20 quid and have data to burn for the whole trip.
May 14th, 2017, 07:06 PM
#66
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OK ANDREW and others, I have been able to download the google hangout and call two people in the US, and I am in the US, so i guess it is working to use for calls from Europe to US. Now I will get the Sim card installed (ordered from Ebay/Vodafone in US) in Amnsterdam, hopefully at the Vodafone store. Now my question is.....will I lose my address book for emails when they install the Sim card nano? Any more tricky things I need to know about this....I got the county code thing, and phone is not locked on my Apple I phone 7. Thanks for all the info. Sue
May 15th, 2017, 01:29 AM
#68
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If you have any time, take your new SIM and the phone to an Apple store before you depart for Europe. See if they can show you how to remove the SIM and replace it with the new one. And then try to activate the SIM. That may involve simply turning the phone on with the new SIM inserted. (Turn the phone off before changing SIMs.) If you get a "Welcome to the United States" text in Dutch from Vodafone, with (expensive) per-minute use rates, it's activated. Then turn off the phone and swap SIM cards again.
If there is some setting in the phone to roam, they can show you that at the Apple store too. I assume they will do this for free (never been to an Apple store or a "genius bar.").
The nano SIM size is tiny. Find something to put it in so it won't get lost and neither will your old SIM when you want to swap. I use little plastic cases for camera memory cards that are much bigger than the SIM but snap shut securely. You might find a ziplock bag to put that in - something too big to get lost easily. You may need a paper clip or something to pop the SIM out of an iPhone - put that in the bag too...
If there is some setting in the phone to roam, they can show you that at the Apple store too. I assume they will do this for free (never been to an Apple store or a "genius bar.").
The nano SIM size is tiny. Find something to put it in so it won't get lost and neither will your old SIM when you want to swap. I use little plastic cases for camera memory cards that are much bigger than the SIM but snap shut securely. You might find a ziplock bag to put that in - something too big to get lost easily. You may need a paper clip or something to pop the SIM out of an iPhone - put that in the bag too...
May 20th, 2017, 07:44 AM
#75
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A final update to the long saga of my trying to activate my NL Vodafone SIM card's 1GB YOU bundle. I have been in Germany since yesterday.
It turned out I must text "YOU S aan" to 4000 to activate my 1GB small Bunuel, texting "1GB aan" did not work. Therefore, the correct way to do it is:
. for YOU S: text 'YOU S aan' to 4000
. for YOU M: text 'YOU M aan' to 4000
. for YOU L: text 'YOU L aan' to 4000
It turned out I must text "YOU S aan" to 4000 to activate my 1GB small Bunuel, texting "1GB aan" did not work. Therefore, the correct way to do it is:
. for YOU S: text 'YOU S aan' to 4000
. for YOU M: text 'YOU M aan' to 4000
. for YOU L: text 'YOU L aan' to 4000
May 20th, 2017, 10:29 AM
#76
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I did not have to text anything to activate my Vodafone "You" bundle. I activated it on Vodafones website with my My Vodafone account. I also have the Vodafone NL app on my phone (not easy to get if you aren't in the NL), and I could have activated it that way too.
One weird little quirk I noticed the other day: when I hit 800MB of data used, Vodafone texted me a message in Dutch waring me that they were warning me about "80% data limit reached." What?? I thought I had 3GB! (I bought the "You L" package with 3GB for 20 Euro for a month.)
Turns out Vodafone has some protection in place for people traveling out of the NL ("abroad") to not use too much data abraod. This is something else you can see in the app or in the My Vodafone account, but it looks related to a monthly amount spent, not data used. Still, it looked like if I hit 1GB, I'd reach my limit and it would shut me off.
But Vodafone lets you raise the data limit or even turn it off - so I just turned it off in the app (you can also text something to them to turn it off). If I were to go beyond my 3GB of data in a month, I'd be charged 10 Euro cents per MB of data, but it would come from any credit left in my account. I have only 5 Euro left in my account anyway, so that's all that I'd really risk. Maybe I'll keep the SIM to use again next year and will use the 5 Euros next year or something, if I can keep it.
So the data limit is something to address, maybe not if you have only the 1GB "You" package though. I just blew past 1GB the other day in 11 days of use and I have only 6 more days left in Europe, so I'm going to have a lot left over. I could have easily gotten away with only the 2GB package, but it's nice not to have had to worry about all about my data usage.
One weird little quirk I noticed the other day: when I hit 800MB of data used, Vodafone texted me a message in Dutch waring me that they were warning me about "80% data limit reached." What?? I thought I had 3GB! (I bought the "You L" package with 3GB for 20 Euro for a month.)
Turns out Vodafone has some protection in place for people traveling out of the NL ("abroad") to not use too much data abraod. This is something else you can see in the app or in the My Vodafone account, but it looks related to a monthly amount spent, not data used. Still, it looked like if I hit 1GB, I'd reach my limit and it would shut me off.
But Vodafone lets you raise the data limit or even turn it off - so I just turned it off in the app (you can also text something to them to turn it off). If I were to go beyond my 3GB of data in a month, I'd be charged 10 Euro cents per MB of data, but it would come from any credit left in my account. I have only 5 Euro left in my account anyway, so that's all that I'd really risk. Maybe I'll keep the SIM to use again next year and will use the 5 Euros next year or something, if I can keep it.
So the data limit is something to address, maybe not if you have only the 1GB "You" package though. I just blew past 1GB the other day in 11 days of use and I have only 6 more days left in Europe, so I'm going to have a lot left over. I could have easily gotten away with only the 2GB package, but it's nice not to have had to worry about all about my data usage.
May 22nd, 2017, 02:50 AM
#77
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For anyone going only to the UK, I got my free Giffgaff SIM in the mail, about a week from when I ordered it.
I activated it and got as close to funding it as I dared. It does look like it will take a US credit card directly as it wants the card number and wants "expiry date" which is not usually a UK feature (as well as accepting my zip code rather than postal code).
Their rates are OK for someone not needing much data or are staying in UK and want to hit the ground running:
https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-plans
For my needs, I am hoping to get and activate a Three UK SIM that allows a generous pile of data and can be used in the three countries I will be visiting - Netherlands, France and UK (and 39 others)
I activated it and got as close to funding it as I dared. It does look like it will take a US credit card directly as it wants the card number and wants "expiry date" which is not usually a UK feature (as well as accepting my zip code rather than postal code).
Their rates are OK for someone not needing much data or are staying in UK and want to hit the ground running:
https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-plans
For my needs, I am hoping to get and activate a Three UK SIM that allows a generous pile of data and can be used in the three countries I will be visiting - Netherlands, France and UK (and 39 others)
May 25th, 2017, 02:03 PM
#78
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As mentioned above, I ordered a ThreeUK SIM card on ebay 10 days ago. I received it today and activated it from the US.
Copying from above discussion...
"Another good UK sim card, available on ebay, is 3. Again, you can read about all the plans on three.co.uk. They already have roaming activated with a program called Feel at Home which covers all of the eu and even includes the USA. Their extra packages are called add ons and one has 12 gb of data and a couple of hundred minutes of calls
Unfortunately, while the 3 sim card is probably the cheapest sim card available on ebay, you cannot top up with a foreign credit card on their web site. Absurd like a £10 top up is something fraudsters will use. But in any event there is a workaround. It is called mobiletopup.co.uk. You can top up any British card there for a surcharge of £1.25. They do accept paypal and will e mail the top up code if you're not visiting the UK."
http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Top_Up
I went for the 12GB deal at 20 GBP
http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home/
The beauty of this is that it roams all over Europe and the US.
I can hit the ground running in Amsterdam, keep the phone running through France and the UK and even use what is left over from the 12 gig back here until the 30 days is over. I am using it now-
seems to be connected to T-mo. Another bonus is that it connects to wifi in the Underground.
I got it for the gobs of data for about $30. I don't know how useful it may be as a phone when you are roaming. I plan on using Hangouts for calling overseas.
I think this is a useful bit of kit for now, if you are going to be in Europe for 2-4 weeks. After 15 June, who knows? I am going to start a new thread and try to organize this better.
Copying from above discussion...
"Another good UK sim card, available on ebay, is 3. Again, you can read about all the plans on three.co.uk. They already have roaming activated with a program called Feel at Home which covers all of the eu and even includes the USA. Their extra packages are called add ons and one has 12 gb of data and a couple of hundred minutes of calls
Unfortunately, while the 3 sim card is probably the cheapest sim card available on ebay, you cannot top up with a foreign credit card on their web site. Absurd like a £10 top up is something fraudsters will use. But in any event there is a workaround. It is called mobiletopup.co.uk. You can top up any British card there for a surcharge of £1.25. They do accept paypal and will e mail the top up code if you're not visiting the UK."
http://www.three.co.uk/Support/Top_Up
I went for the 12GB deal at 20 GBP
http://www.three.co.uk/feel-at-home/
The beauty of this is that it roams all over Europe and the US.
I can hit the ground running in Amsterdam, keep the phone running through France and the UK and even use what is left over from the 12 gig back here until the 30 days is over. I am using it now-
seems to be connected to T-mo. Another bonus is that it connects to wifi in the Underground.
I got it for the gobs of data for about $30. I don't know how useful it may be as a phone when you are roaming. I plan on using Hangouts for calling overseas.
I think this is a useful bit of kit for now, if you are going to be in Europe for 2-4 weeks. After 15 June, who knows? I am going to start a new thread and try to organize this better.
May 25th, 2017, 02:18 PM
#79
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rs899...did you top up with the web site I suggested or perhaps you were able to top up on the British 3 web site.
Also I intend to top up with £25, get the add on for £20 and have the £5 left over for calls within the eu. Also part of the add on are calls back to the UK from European countries. I do have access to a local UK number for calling cards to call outside Europe during the 30 day period although the data is the key component.
One further detail...the top up mobile site has a surcharge totaling £2.98 for the £20 top up but they do take outside the UK credit cards and paypal.
Also I intend to top up with £25, get the add on for £20 and have the £5 left over for calls within the eu. Also part of the add on are calls back to the UK from European countries. I do have access to a local UK number for calling cards to call outside Europe during the 30 day period although the data is the key component.
One further detail...the top up mobile site has a surcharge totaling £2.98 for the £20 top up but they do take outside the UK credit cards and paypal.
May 25th, 2017, 02:30 PM
#80
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Yes, I used mobiletopup.co.uk . Cost 1.49 GBP.
I looked around for other top up options but could not find anything else that would work.
Apart from the funding snag, the activation was a breeze. Three texted me a couple of setup apps (probabaly to set APN) or something that I clicked on. I got a My3 account just to be able to see what I was doing, but I don't think it was really necessary.
I looked around for other top up options but could not find anything else that would work.
Apart from the funding snag, the activation was a breeze. Three texted me a couple of setup apps (probabaly to set APN) or something that I clicked on. I got a My3 account just to be able to see what I was doing, but I don't think it was really necessary.
