blaven Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 We are crossing to Rotterdam in September and visiting Belgium. Luxembourg and (mostly) France. This will be our first continental trip since before Covid. Much has happened in the interim? We both have mobiles, both PAYG because we live in an area with no mobile coverage, so a contract is a waste of money for us. I’m with EE, my wife is O2 Giffgaff. We hedge our bets in areas of marginal reception. We both have IPads with slots for SIM cards and have used these successfully in the days before roaming was free. As I understand it this is now curtailed. We bought (local) SIM cards where we visited. We are both heavy users of data. Any advice/ recommendations you may have would be useful. We intend to be away for 3 weeks. So, to recap, what’s the best way of seamlessly using the internet while abroad please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 blaven - 2022-07-24 11:13 AM We are crossing to Rotterdam in September and visiting Belgium. Luxembourg and (mostly) France. This will be our first continental trip since before Covid. Much has happened in the interim? We both have mobiles, both PAYG because we live in an area with no mobile coverage, so a contract is a waste of money for us. I’m with EE, my wife is O2 Giffgaff. We hedge our bets in areas of marginal reception. We both have IPads with slots for SIM cards and have used these successfully in the days before roaming was free. As I understand it this is now curtailed. We bought (local) SIM cards where we visited. We are both heavy users of data. Any advice/ recommendations you may have would be useful. We intend to be away for 3 weeks. So, to recap, what’s the best way of seamlessly using the internet while abroad please? I cant answer for other than Giff Gaff but can say that Giff Gaff allows you to use your Goodybag for roaming within the EU up to 20Gb with no extra charge. All the details are on their App, or check their web page. We just spent 6 weeks in France Italy Germany with no charges. Just buy a larger Goodybag if you are heavy users. Jeremy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 Different companies have different terms for usage across EU, you need to study the various companies terms to find out which will suit you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 laimeduck - 2022-07-24 12:56 PM I cant answer for other than Giff Gaff but can say that Giff Gaff allows you to use your Goodybag for roaming within the EU up to 20Gb with no extra charge. Jeremy ...that's been reduced to 5GB from 9th August, Jeremy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laimeduck Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 Robinhood - 2022-07-24 1:32 PM ...that's been reduced to 5GB from 9th August, Jeremy. Robin - So there is! - it didn't say that on their App only on their Website! It won't affect me anyway - We didn't use 3GB during our 6 weeks. There is enough free Wifi around on sites and in bars/restaurants/towns that we didn't need to roam that much. Jeremy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeamRienza Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 I had a giffgaff payg sim in the second slot of my phone earlier this year. No so called ‘goody bags’. I needed to switch to it whilst abroad. It had about £9.50 credit at the time. It was used up in about 10 minutes so I have scrapped it. We have Smarty 12 gb for £7.20 on a group plan for my wife and myself. These worked well in France and Spain earlier in the year. On my return I obtained another Smarty sim at £7.20 for 12 gb on our group plan (10% discount) and also now get a free month on my main sim and the second slot sim. We now have 36 gb per month available to us for £21.60 We do not stream much, Skype, web browsing and listening to radio 4 extra satisfy most of our needs. All 3 sims have the advantage of being rolling monthly contracts which can be increased, reduced or paused for up to 6 months before being closed by Smarty. I intend to pause the 3rd sim when at home. The 2 main sims used by my wife and I could probably be reduced when at home, but the potential savings are not large enough to be worth the trouble. A possible good option is Reglo, a French sim, bought in Leclerc stores. Works in France and some other countries, 60 gb for about €14 per month (although limited) This thread on motorhomer.com is very useful. A good synopsis is post number 42, complete with photo of sim. https://motorhomer.com/threads/wi-fi-when-abroad.44941/page-3 Hope these points are helpful. Davy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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