Pay as You Go data SIM for Europe (1 Viewer)

Aug 27, 2014
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Apologies if this has been covered to death before but the deals are always changing...

We're off to France, Germany and Switzerland in 4 weeks time, for 3 weeks. I've got one of those Huawei mobile hotspot thingies that the Ipad can connect to, that needs a Data only SIM.

We won't be going abroad again for a year or so, and we won't be doing that much web browsing - it's just handy for finding opening times for local attractions, finding the nearest supermarket, weather forecast, that kind of thing - so a cheap pay as you go one is fine, data use will be fairly low.

Any suggestions?
 
May 29, 2013
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We're using the 3 data only right now in France really happy with it. We got the 12gig 1year £30 deal, but cheaper options are available .
 

TerryL

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Mar 5, 2010
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We use a pay-as-you-go datasim from 3 and just buy enough for what we want. However as I think iandsm was trying to say, it doesn't work in Germany. Been okay everywhere else, including all of Scandinavia.

If you're going to be any length of time in Germany and need internet, get a local datasim, or like us rely on finding free or campsite wifi.
 
Oct 5, 2012
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I have a 3 mifi but had to buy a card in Germany. The simplest way was from a Vodaphone shop, you no longer need to provide an address in Germany but do legally have to provide photo id. From memory it was something like €20 or €25 for 3GB of data. Plus €5 for the card, data is expensive in Germany. There are other cheaper options but are more complex to set up than going to a Vodaphone shop with your passport & mifi.
 
Jan 3, 2008
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The above solutions are all very well but all cost money. We simply find a tourist information office or a café with Wi-Fi and do it all for free. Simples

No offence intended but I would rather spend a few euros to have the convenience of having a data connection available 24 hours a day anywhere I am (with a few exceptions) as opposed to having to wait to find a tourist information office which may be some distance away or a cafe which has wifi which again may be some distance away. For me its a small price to pay for a lot of convenience. My present phone package includes 2gb data roaming a month as part of my package with unlimited calls and texts for £18.70 a month and it allows tethering. I suppose it depends how much you use data, I have my phone connected all the time for maps, info, motorhome are/site apps and more and wouldn't be without it.

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Jun 10, 2010
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The 3 feel at home does to work in Germany, you could research Vodafone, for example

I would be careful with this deal, £2/day would soon rack up so a 3 week holiday £42 I cant remember the details but pretty sure I did better than that walking into a vodafone shop with my passport
 
Oct 5, 2012
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I would be careful with this deal, £2/day would soon rack up so a 3 week holiday £42 I cant remember the details but pretty sure I did better than that walking into a vodafone shop with my passport
Me too, although I can't see the data allowance on that card? The over allowance data costs are enormous :Eeek:

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Oct 5, 2012
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No offence intended but I would rather spend a few euros to have the convenience of having a data connection available 24 hours a day anywhere I am (with a few exceptions) as opposed to having to wait to find a tourist information office which may be some distance away or a cafe which has wifi which again may be some distance away. For me its a small price to pay for a lot of convenience. My present phone package includes 2gb data roaming a month as part of my package with unlimited calls and texts for £18.70 a month and it allows tethering. I suppose it depends how much you use data, I have my phone connected all the time for maps, info, motorhome are/site apps and more and wouldn't be without it.
Google maps with real time GPS related public transport details has saved me a fortune on taxis and saved a lot of leg work !
 
Mar 10, 2016
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Re Vodafone - We used a German Vodafone PaYG SIM for our Mifi this year in March and while the rate was reasonable and you can get top up codes at any Deutschpost the actual German Vodafone website is an absolute nightmare to find your way around. Maybe ok if you speak/read fluent German. I usually managed to get the top up assigned to the SIM and the data service enabled but it is not easy. You can't even top it up via the Vodafone UK website.
I've got a 3 SIM in it now so can only hope that the impending EU rules will make that work in Germany as well in the future

Incidentally I got the 3 data Sim on a £10 for 8GB per month upgradeable on the phone to £13 for 12Gb per month. Also put a data cap on it by live chat on 3 website so no chance of over limit charges.
 
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Jan 3, 2008
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Re Vodafone - We used a German Vodafone PaYG SIM for our Mifi this year in March and while the rate was reasonable and you can get top up codes at any Deutschpost the actual German Vodafone website is an absolute nightmare to find your way around. Maybe ok if you speak/read fluent German. I usually managed to get the top up assigned to the SIM and the data service enabled but it is not easy. You can't even top it up via the Vodafone UK website.
I've got a 3 SIM in it now so can only hope that the impending EU rules will make that work in Germany as well in the future

Incidentally I got the 3 data Sim on a £10 for 8GB per month upgradeable on the phone to £13 for 12Gb per month. Also put a data cap on it by live chat on 3 website so no chance of over limit charges.

Not surprised a Gernan sim had to be topped up on their Gernan website really, but when you were using it how did you find coverage?

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Mar 10, 2016
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Not surprised a Gernan sim had to be topped up on their Gernan website really, but when you were using it how did you find coverage?
Coverage was fine and fast. We were mostly on a a direct route from Fussen in Bavaria to Ijmuiden and the ferry except for an excursion through the Black Forest.
It wasn't so much having to use the German website as to how clunky it is to use. You can't directly top up the SIM, you have to buy sort of tokens with your top-up (forget what they were called) and then you have to push them on the website to the package you are using, it doesnt 'know' which package you are on, you have to tell it each time. It wouldnt allow use of a UK credit card to top-up either
Plenty of times it would refuse to do this and then suddenly, for no obvious reason, work. Perhaps if I read fluent german it would have been easier, I don't and it wasn't. And why no English? It's a universal language, out here in Thailand a similar top up takes about 5 minutes on the DTAC website using a UK card in English (or Thai). When you look at how efficient Germany is generally eg ADAC and Landsraat registrations etc etc this was a very poor example, maybe because Vodafone was originally a British company??
 

snowdrops

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We went for the 3 12gb 30 day rolling contract. We can cancel when we want. Used it tons in our 3 and half weeks in France, great with our Huawei. We can just cancel when we're back from the Sept jaunt and renew next year. Tho may keep it :)
 

Huwmari

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Jul 26, 2013
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No offence intended but I would rather spend a few euros to have the convenience of having a data connection available 24 hours a day anywhere I am (with a few exceptions) as opposed to having to wait to find a tourist information office which may be some distance away or a cafe which has wifi which again may be some distance away. For me its a small price to pay for a lot of convenience. My present phone package includes 2gb data roaming a month as part of my package with unlimited calls and texts for £18.70 a month and it allows tethering. I suppose it depends how much you use data, I have my phone connected all the time for maps, info, motorhome are/site apps and more and wouldn't be without it.

And no offence taken. We have a perfectly good map book and satnav for finding our way and a Camperstop book for looking up the nearest aires so don't need to use phones for this. Our phones, which have roaming, cost us just £5 a month for all the minutes and texts which we need. I would hate to be as reliant on my phone as you are but then we are all different, thank goodness. Happy travelling.

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Jan 3, 2008
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And no offence taken. We have a perfectly good map book and satnav for finding our way and a Camperstop book for looking up the nearest aires so don't need to use phones for this. Our phones, which have roaming, cost us just £5 a month for all the minutes and texts which we need. I would hate to be as reliant on my phone as you are but then we are all different, thank goodness. Happy travelling.

Not a matter of reliance, more a matter of preference.
 
Sep 16, 2010
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3 doesn't cover Croatia. :(.
But as we will be on a site (( for a change )) we will hopefully have WiFi...
Getting itchy feet.
Mitch.
 

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