Heading to Europe, should I use roaming or get a SIM over there?

[Jadel]

Hi all,
I know a fair amount of XDA-Developer members are from Europe so I thought I would ask you:
I am travelling all of Europe for five months, visiting about 15 countries.
Do you think it is better to take my current SIM card over to Europe and pay the huge roaming fees, or would it be cheaper to buy a SIM over there to call home?
Is there a SIM that covers the whole of Europe. Google says that there isn't, and I will have to get a new SIM in each country if I don't use roaming.

Obviously, I will be using Skype and VOIP as much as possible if I can.

Any ideas?

[fzzyrn]

skype + voip = data roaming=massive fees
use local sims.

[Jadel]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant Skype and Voip at Internet Cafes etc. Not on my mobile device.

[Farsquidge]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant Skype and Voip at Internet Cafes etc. Not on my mobile device.

Places in UK that provide free WiFi access are few and far between. The Cloud and BT provide access points but charge an arm and a leg for it!

Local PAYG SIM's will eat your cash if you call international.
O2 and others who say they are independant but actually use O2's network will not give you SMTP and POP3 free access only a basic WAP access.

IMHO after trying loads (Live in UAE but go home to UK 4x per year) I found the Orange PAYG best overall as it will give you full web access but checkout 3's PAYG if ya want faster access to Tínternet.

Travelling Europe means many different providers. If you plan on staying in any one country then get a local SIM but free WiFi is most prevalent outside of UK. I personally have a wallet full of various cards from my service engineer days but it is becoming much easier to find cafe's and hotel lobby's that give free WiFi in continental Europe.

Load up a WiFi scanning prog before you go such as WiFiFoFum and you will find them.

[deedee]

It has to be said the T-Mobile (http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/) in the UK offer a fairly decent PAYG deal, £2.50 for 5 days "unlimited", you want the 5-day WebnWalk pass.

Free WiFi via the Cloud can be had at most McDonalds, again not ideal but better than nothing.

[layercake]

If you're going to be traveling to over 15 countries, then purchasing a bunch of local prepaid SIM cards can be a hassle. There are a bunch of companies that make international prepaid SIM cards that specifically cater to businesspeople/ travelers. Most work in over 150 countries so you can make calls from just one sim card anywhere, and rates are pretty cheap. I personally used a card by onesimcard.com when in Europe. Had no problems and the sound quality was excellent. The onesimcard website has a great rate calculation page where you can compare against providers like T-Mobile.

[kayawu]

roaming fees are ca. 0.60 € pro minute. even you receive call you have to pay something like 0.40 € pro minute..

its better that u buy simcard for every country

for example in Austria there is a PREPAID simcard for 20 € which has 2 GB DATA Transfer volume for Internet usage... its very cheap for national and international calls, you can also call and send sms with this simcard
check here: www.yesss.at and here http://www.yesss.at/diskont-surfen/home.php

OR

if you have a Wifi phone, there are a lot free wifi spots, you can use wifi + voip from your phone to make a call,

have a nice trip :P

[rowley birkin qc]

Maybe this is something you can look at.

https://www.united-mobile.com/?p=&l=en

You would only need to buy one sim-card.

No experience myself with this product.

[rl66]

in france there is not so much wifi spot (too bad)...

in france there is europeane formula with Orange and SFR (perhaps bouygue but this operator not using a standard range... so forget with your foreigner phone lol)...

the only problem is that those formula are not in prepaid simcard... :mad: only with normal formula. :(

perhaps you should ask your provider... sometime there is some solution with them. (when i go to USA Orange make me a special offer for the 2 month i go over there...).