I’m spending a month or so in France/Italy and wondering what will be the best/cheapest method of using a phone with 3G data when abroad.

With cheaper overseas tariffs thanks to the EU thingy is it much cheaper, or will I be better off getting a pay-as-you-go simcard considering that data will be the main usage?

I have an iphone, so will it be hard to get the micro sim?

what network are you with?

Vodafone are doing £2 / day for upto 25mb for roaming in Eurozone (if ur on a monthly contract). I’ll be doing this when I go to France this year.

The EU regs have made it a bit cheaper, but it is still very expensive. You pay to receive call and texts as well as sending them, and data can be really expensive. Either get a PAYG SIM locally or speak to your UK provider and see if they have some kind of special tariff to cover you

I’m with Vodafone.

I will probably have a laptop with me, would it be better to buy a 3G dongle for data, then keep my phone for calls, which if I remember was pretty cheap with Vodafone when abroad.

mtbmatt – sounds like you’re doing much the same as me.

Family Stoner off to France for a month – we do so every year.
I take laptop and continue to work from the back of the van as and when I need to.

We used to be with O2 from whom you could buy blocks of roaming data in advance (200Mb for £50) which was good VFM.

Then we moved to Voda and it’s daily rate was a bit pricey, so I picked up an SFR card pre loaded with €50 of data that I put in an unlocked MiFi Wireless dongle. I use the wireless dongle with my netbook, but still let myself use voda roam on the phone since fat downloads Id do over a local SIM.

This year will probably do much the same even though I can tether to my HTC now. I have kept the SFR SIM, if its still valid I can charge it at a shop. You can get even better data SIM deals from hypermarches.

EDIT if you get a dongle, you may need to make sure its unlocked so you can use whatever SIMs you want. A voda dongle might not let you use an SFR card.

PS I think Auchan supermarket used to do v cheap SIM deals if you can find one.

dunno about the 3G dongle, you may be better off buying one when your there (I assume it would work) as I’m not sure how your UK allowance on the dongle would work abroad.

For calls etc, make sure you sign up to Vodafone passport. Still not cheap, but you only pay a connection charge when making or receiving calls (60p I think), they you just use your standard inclusive minutes.

result! I had a note in my calendar to remind me to check with voda that our packages were all set up for roaming in france.

Just called them and we had the “passport” for calls, but no roaming packages for data. We are business customers.

The operator set us up with 25MB per day FREE on each of our numbers.
FREE

f******** FREE!

hahah!

f******** FREE!

You should have haggled mate.

I did ask him whether he was joking 😉

Did you ask what happens when you exceed that 25Mb?

Did you ask what happens when you exceed that 25Mb?

you revert to the normal roaming rate, so it’s a good idea to keep a check on what you’re using.

Just found out Im not special 🙁

Data roaming in Europe is easier with Vodafone Data Traveller. Opt in and pay just £2 a day (midnight to midnight, UK time) for 25MB in selected European countries, and 5MB elsewhere in Europe. And if you’re a frequent traveller, you can get Vodafone Data Traveller for just £10 a month. To opt in, call us on 40062 from your Vodafone mobile phone. Or if you’re abroad, call us on +44 (0) 3333 040 012 from any phone.

Price plans costing £40 a month or more (with at least 900 UK minutes) give you Vodafone Data Traveller at no extra cost.

although I dont think we pay £40 each, closer to £30 each.

If you haven’t opted in to Vodafone Data Traveller – or you reach the end of your allowance – these are the standard data costs you can expect to pay:

•Europe – £1 a MB up to 5MB, then £5 for every 5MB after that

I have a data monitor on the HTC. If I get anywhere near 25MB Id be surprised unless Im emailing some of my larger models many times a day – but then I can use the Mrs’ phone.

•Europe – £1 a MB up to 5MB, then £5 for every 5MB after that

It would be good if they could automatically stop you roaming when you reached the limit. Those prices are pretty extortionate.

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions/products-and-services/data-notifications-and-regulatory-data-roaming-spend-cap/index.htm

Vodafone customers will automatically start receiving notifications when they access data abroad

You will receive a notification when you are approaching the next charging point.

For the regulatory data roaming spend cap, you will receive notifications at 80% and 100% of the monthly cap limit. Once you have reached 100% of the cap, an automatic data roam bar will be applied and you will not be able to use any further data in Europe Zone 1 for the rest of the monthly billing period unless you choose to opt out of the cap. If you opt out of the cap, you can always opt back in at a future date to start receiving cap notifications again.

all Vodafone customers will automatically be opted into the regulatory data roaming spend cap of £38 ex VAT in Europe Zone 1 each monthly billing period.

Thanks for the advice. I’ll check with Vodafone first and see what they can offer, then think about buying a dongle out in France if need be. That would seem to be the cheapest method.