Mobile phones- Buying data to use abroad

voixdeville

Hi,

I will be abroad for a month this summer and I was looking for some advise regarding buying cheap data. We are travelling round in a camper van- and we usually use a lot of data for streaming music etc.

Firstly, I am assuming that data roaming is still free in Europe (as it has been in previous years) as Brexit has not officially happened yet?

My second and main question is: I have recently moved to a new contract with 5GB of data per month. It’s with Vodafone and it isn’t easy to buy extra data when I am running low- often resulting in a big bill.

I am probably looking for an extra 20-30gb of data (possibly more) for the holiday. What would you recommend? Would the best option be to buy a pay as you go sim and top up lots of data on it for the holiday- I could then switch sim when I am running low on data. (I won’t be using telephony much on holiday anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I have a different number for a time).

Are there any other options? I am looking for the lowest price option.

Thanks

voixdeville

Can I add that we are only travelling within Europe. Thanks

bradders1983

You could just do a Giffgaff sim for a month

https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-plans

On the 40GB one, "The £20 goodybag comes with 40 GB of data, of which 20 GB can be used in the EU and selected destinations. This means that after you’ve used 20 GB of data, you’ll be charged 0.46p/MB while roaming."

20GB be enough on top of your main phone?

voixdeville

bradders1983 wrote: »

You could just do a Giffgaff sim for a month

https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-plans

On the 40GB one, "The £20 goodybag comes with 40 GB of data, of which 20 GB can be used in the EU and selected destinations. This means that after you’ve used 20 GB of data, you’ll be charged 0.46p/MB while roaming."

20GB be enough on top of your main phone?

Wow thanks so much! This is amazing advice! I love this forum!! Is the Goody bag available from their website? Thanks so much!

bradders1983

voixdeville wrote: »

Wow thanks so much! This is amazing advice! I love this forum!! Is the Goody bag available from their website? Thanks so much!

Well thats how I got mine, they post the SIM out to you, do it today and you get it by Saturday I would say.

Just remember to cancel it before they bill you for a second monrh

voixdeville

bradders1983 wrote: »

Well thats how I got mine, they post the SIM out to you, do it today and you get it by Saturday I would say.

Just remember to cancel it before they bill you for a second monrh

When will it be activated? Is it the first time you put it in your phone? Don’t want to activate it too early- do only begin using the data on holiday. Thanks

bradders1983

voixdeville wrote: »

When will it be activated? Is it the first time you put it in your phone? Don’t want to activate it too early- do only begin using the data on holiday. Thanks

You dont pay anything until you put the SIM in and go online to activate it. Make sure you activate in within the UK though.

CardinalWolsey

I got a GiffGaff SIM and loaded 20gb to go in to my MiFi - that might be a better route for you so that you keep using your phone as normal, but then you have portable wifi using the GiffGaff SIM.

If you use data primarily for streaming - consider what you are streaming and whether you can download before you go (e.g. Spotify / Netflix etc) - and then use in "offline" mode. Also a tactic when connecting to public WiFi when travelling.

sazaccount

voixdeville wrote: »

I will be abroad for a month this summer and I was looking for some advise regarding buying cheap data. We are travelling round in a camper van- and we usually use a lot of data for streaming music etc.

Can you download a load of music, Netflix before you go? a random/spare/old tablet you or a friend may have floating around you can borrow if your phone doesn't have large storage and using wifi while your away to download more. GiffGaff is good but you may want a back up encase you go though your data quicker than you were planning. I've gone though nearly a Gb on youtube before I realised I was using data and not the wifi at work within about 5 hours

voixdeville

CardinalWolsey wrote: »

I got a GiffGaff SIM and loaded 20gb to go in to my MiFi - that might be a better route for you so that you keep using your phone as normal, but then you have portable wifi using the GiffGaff SIM.

If you use data primarily for streaming - consider what you are streaming and whether you can download before you go (e.g. Spotify / Netflix etc) - and then use in "offline" mode. Also a tactic when connecting to public WiFi when travelling.

Hi, please can you explain to me how to get a mifi. I have never used this. Thanks

CardinalWolsey

An example of a 4G MiFi unit on Amazon.

For others, just search for "MiFi"