Data charges in the Netherlands

Mark_In_Hampshire

I'm sure some experts on here will know this one...

Years ago when we used to go to the Netherlands (Amsterdam) the call and data charges were ridiculous when "roaming" (even when e.g. at home it's Vodafone, and there, it's, er, Vodafone NL) so my solution was to buy a Dutch SIM card on PAYG while over there, and use that instead.

Off to Amsterdam tomorrow - haven't planned very well in advance

I have a Samsung Galaxy S phone which is on O2 PAYG. This includes 500MB per month and so just works over here, it never runs out.

If I take this abroad the data charges appear to be £3.07 per MB so that's not an option.

If I put in the Three SIM card I have here waiting to replace the O2 one when the credit runs out (planned doing that anyway) the data charges appear to be about £1.28 per MB.

There doesn't appear to be much in the way of options here, other than to disable all the data connectivity on the phone and then only use WiFi in hotspots where available when I get there.

In an emergency £12.80 for 10MB isn't out of the question. So I'm thinking - take both SIMs (O2 and Three) with me, and look at buying a Dutch SIM when I'm there.

Any advice?

(edit: basic maths failure)

oergiR

When I go to the Netherlands (which I do quite a lot) I turn off data connectivity. With a "prepaid" (Dutch for PAYG ) sim card you'll pay at least €1 per MB anyway. So if you think you can do without mobile internet and only use wifi, that's probably your best option!

Richard_T_

ive recently been to the netherlands, and used data roaming while avoiding excessive fees.

This is what i suggest you do..

1: Get your phone unlocked so it will work with any sim.
2: get a UK vodafone pay as you go sim and put that in your phone, with some credit onboard, and put this sim in your android phone, this will give you 25mb a day for £2.00 you will be charged £2.00 as soon as you use data - in my case it was almost as soon as my android phone was turned on, but from that moment on i had plenty of data. ( after some heavy research the Vodafone pay as you go +vodafone passport deal is/was the best on offer - vodafone passport is automatically activated on pay as you go)
If your using avodafone pay as you go sim to top up abroad you will need to top it up in the UK with a credit card - registering that card with your account, this must be done in the UK, then you can top up abroad.
3: dont Text as this costs, use e-mail instead.
4: keep within 25mb:
For web browsing use opera mini instead of the stock web browser, as opera mini compresses web data and will significantly reduce data when browsing.
For sending pictures, do this via e-mail, and compress your photos first, theres a free app called reduce photo size, i reduced my pictures down to 640X478 (VGA) before e-mailing them.
Turn off background data, not only will this reduce data usage it will help your battery go that little bit further.
5: use Wifi if you can for web browsing, you can also set up internet voice calling and make voice calls over the internet ( ie Skype )

With your standard sim card, put that in an old phone so you still have access to your normal number, for emergency calls, and receiving texts ( its free to receive texts abroad)

Tell people that you will be using a temporary number, and that you will be responding to text messages via e-mail.


Install a data counter widget, just to be sure - with some web browsing ( opera mini), google earth mapping, navigation, e-mailing, emailing picture attachments i stayed well within the 25mb/day limit.

Another option would be to get a local sim, Vodafone netherlands offer a sim with 1GB of data included for €20 although i was unable to use this as, I didnt have any access to any phone shops/shopping areas until towards the end of my stay.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Thanks so much. Data counter widget downloaded and placed on the front home screen, will sign up for Skype now (never used that yet) and I've coped all the above and emailed it to myself so I have access to it as a handy reminder.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Just wanted to return to this and say thanks. Picked up a Vodafone PAYG SIM at St Pancras - even the guy there seemed surprised they were competitive, but he looked at the tariff and there it was, £2 a day. That worked well for Google Maps and walking navigation (hmmm - Kerkstraat pronounced "Kerk-Stray-Ate" - most amusing), plus, where we stayed had an open WiFi network (I presume it was the hotels ) so we were able to use that too. Thanks for sharing your research.