Best SIM card for a long tour abroad.

[roubaixtuesday]

Logistics planning for the Big Tour continues. We'll be abroad for 4-5 months, in Europe but not all in the EU.

Mobile operators all apply some sort of "fair usage" restriction to their charges whilst abroad.

Here's Lebara (who look best to me):

https://www.lebara.co.uk/en/roaming/roaming-rate-finder.html

Lebara Roam Like Home scheme is designed for customers who primarily live in the UK and ideal for short trips to other places in the EU or India. To safeguard against abuse, if your roaming usage is greater than usage in the UK over any continuous 120 day period, you will be subject to a surcharge of 0.20p/MB (equivalent to £2/GB) for data, 0.04p/sec (equivalent to 2.4p/min) for outgoing calls, 0.01p/sec (equivalent to 0.6p/min) for incoming calls and 0.8p for sending an SMS

Which seems fairly reasonable (my days usage is typically <2GB monthly). And we'd definitely be caught by this. You can buy individual country add ons for the countries not covered by it.

Other operators apply whopping charges, seemingly as high as £100/GB(!) if you breach their policy.

There's also an option of an esim for data, airola look best, who charge only $59 for 10GB for 6 months world wide. But it's only data, not calls/ texts.

https://www.airalo.com/global-esim

My objective isn't to get something super- cheap, only to avoid getting totally stiffed by outrageous charges by accident, or completely cut off for breaching policy.

I think go with Lebara but also buy the global airola esim. The esim is probably cheaper than lebara top ups to cover the countries outside of their included ones and would mitigate their fair usage extras too.

Any advice?

 

[classic33]

Will your handset take another SIM card.
Always found the cheaper option was to use one bought on arrival.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Will your handset take another SIM card.
Always found the cheaper option was to use one bought on arrival.

Yes, I should have added that we're visiting about 12 countries, including 6 non EU, so that option is just too much faff.

 

[classic33]

Yes, I should have added that we're visiting about 12 countries, including 6 non EU, so that option is just too much faff.

Roaming within the EU at a reduced or cost or no extra charge is something most UK networks don't provide.
A single SIM for EU roaming, not one for each country visited.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

If you're not aware a sim card from any EU country will offer pretty much free roaming across the EU. (Some may apply limits but you'd be hard pressed to hit them).

My preference would be to buy a local (EU) sim and use that until I cross a border and it's either non-functional or prohibitively expensive. Then I'd buy a local sim for that country and when back in EU land pop the original back in. (If doing that beware of any functionality on your phone that requires verification to your "old" number! B00king, AerBnB..... even the bank).

One huge advantage of a PayAsYouGo local sim is that you cannot get stung for any inadvertent charges.

As @classic33 says, if you have a dual sim phone it's the way to go. If there's two of you, one phone with the EU sim, the other (for emergency) with UK.

Yes, I should have added that we're visiting about 12 countries, including 6 non EU, so that option is just too much faff.

My suggestion would be to check exactly what countries are covered when buying an EU sim. You might be surprised at what non EU countries are covered.

Also, consider what national specific regulations might apply in terms of having an address/ID in the country you buy the sim. Some may be easier than others.

However, the devil tends to be in the detail in these things. A good think about what you want a sim for and how you plan to use it may make all the difference. If for emergency use only a local sim in a disposable phone (an old nokia will last ages on one charge) might work and use WiFi along the way or at night.

 

[TheDoctor]

Data-only needn't be an issue if you can use WhatsApp for calls and messages.

 

[lazybloke]

Roaming within the EU at a reduced or cost or no extra charge is something most UK networks don't provide.
A single SIM for EU roaming, not one for each country visited.

My son went on a schooltrip last Autumn and found giffgaff didn't add any roaming fees in the EU but did impose a data cap of 5 GB a month.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

My suggestion would be to check exactly what countries are covered when buying an EU sim. You might be surprised at what non EU countries are covered.

From what I've seen, the non-EU Balkan countries are not included in EU sims.

 

[dicko]

We went to USA for three weeks recently and I was with EE at the time. They did me a great deal on a text and talk so I didn’t have to buy an American sim just kept my own phone. Wi-Fi there is everywhere.

 

[tom73]

Smarty don't charge for EU roaming up to 12GB and any extra you buy which is not used don't expire.
As it's owned by Three they do the same.
If you both went with smarty you each get a £1 under a group plan. Worth checking they often have some sort offer on.

 

[Sallar55]

Are you out in the sticks or cities, some are crap away from the cities .

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Are you out in the sticks or cities, some are crap away from the cities .

Bit of both.