Data in Europe

Nebulous2

Any good deals for data use in Europe? 

I intend doing 4-6 week trips in Europe, mainly Spain / France, with a caravan, but getting decent amounts of data is a pain. 

Our mobiles are on Vodafone, which on the roaming package limits us to 25GB. We have a 4g router using Smarty which limits us to 12GB. They give an additional 10GB for £9 which might be my best option. 

We aren't massive users, maps, forums, social media, very limited streaming, but still probably manage to use 3GB  a day. Site WiFi tends to be rubbish, and I'm not sure it's safe. 

I'm thinking it's worth timing my trips so that my data packages renew in the middle! 

Anyone got any better options? 

flaneurs_lobster

Could look at Lebara deals, they offer up to 30GB month, with a bit of account juggling you could run a couple of these on signup deals during your trips. 

I've always assumed that SIMs need to be activated in UK before they will roam but a discussion on another thread makes me now unsure about this requirement. 

Are you really sure that you are using 3GB/day? Seems high if you are not streaming Corrie/Eastenders in HD every day.

Are you really suggesting you would adjust your trip's timings around your mobile data resets? Nah.

Frozen_up_north

For mapping we use Maps.me, which includes up to 9 relatively large areas of very detailed maps for free. Maps.me doesn’t use any mobile data, once you have downloaded the areas you want, in advance.
The maps are very detailed for some areas, including outlines of pools at villas on the Costa Blanca, for example. It works as a basic satnav and you can mark points of interest, such as where you parked…

jbrassy

Frozen_up_north said:

For mapping we use Maps.me, which includes up to 9 relatively large areas of very detailed maps for free. Maps.me doesn’t use any mobile data, once you have downloaded the areas you want, in advance.
The maps are very detailed for some areas, including outlines of pools at villas on the Costa Blanca, for example. It works as a basic satnav and you can mark points of interest, such as where you parked…

I stopped using maps.me after it was sold to some crypto firm. They constantly tried to flog some debit card and restricted the number of maps you could download for offline use.

I would recommend Organic Maps over maps.me. It's completely free and was created by the guy who made maps.me before he sold it. It's practically identical to maps.me, but doesn't have the same restrictions and doesn't try and flog you crypto products.

amanda1024

I'm on O2 and do a lot of travel to Europe and find that works pretty well - but like vodafone it's limited to 25GB roaming data each month. 3GB/day seems pretty high - as others have said, worth seeing if you can reduce that by downloading maps in advance; also if you're using Netflix etc. you can download films/episodes while you're on wifi to use later. Otherwise, have you looked at local sim cards? I think EU roaming rules would mean a French sim would work in Spain and vice versa.

Frozen_up_north

Thanks Jbrassy, Organic maps looks the same as Maps.me without the limitations, and it’s free!

Nebulous2

Hi folks - thanks for the suggestions. We do manage to use 3 GB a day, without streaming. I'll download 4-5 films from Netflix before I leave, and return with most of them unwatched. We don't even have a TV in the caravan. 

My phone tells me android auto has used 5GB in the last month, so it isn't a massive culprit. I've a windows laptop, which upgrades regularly, but I suspect one of the biggest culprits is photos. I've a decent. camera, shoot in raw and my photos are backed up to OneDrive. 

I've looked at Lebara, but they have a fair use policy where you can only use roughly what you use at home, whilst abroad. 

Frozen_up_north

Nebulous2 said:

I suspect one of the biggest culprits is photos. I've a decent. camera, shoot in raw and my photos are backed up to OneDrive.

Can you avoid “automatically” backing up your photos? I use an iPhone with photos backed up to Proton Drive, it only backs up when I open the Proton Drive app, which I generally only do when back on WiFi. I am currently roaming in Jersey and the photo backup arrangement works well, especially as the hotel WiFi is pretty fast (around 200 Mb/s up and down).

Nebulous2

I can tell OneDrive not to sync when I'm connected to my 4g router, by making it a metered connection. That works for a few days, but begins to cause errors and running out of space on my laptop if it continues for a prolonged period of time. Unfortunately I don't have a hotel to return to. 

I was hoping there was a cheap and cheerful way of getting European data that I had missed, but it seems the smarty add-on of 10GB for £9 is as good as it gets.... 

alanjones60

Nebulous2 said:

I can tell OneDrive not to sync when I'm connected to my 4g router, by making it a metered connection. That works for a few days, but begins to cause errors and running out of space on my laptop if it continues for a prolonged period of time. Unfortunately I don't have a hotel to return to. 

I was hoping there was a cheap and cheerful way of getting European data that I had missed, but it seems the smarty add-on of 10GB for £9 is as good as it gets.... 

RWG do 100 gb a month one off bundle for£30, with 1000 mins and texts.
The bundle is for EU roaming only,and will NOT work when back in the uk.
I used the 50gb bundle when i was in spain last year and it worked fine.

Nebulous2

alanjones60 said:

Nebulous2 said:

I can tell OneDrive not to sync when I'm connected to my 4g router, by making it a metered connection. That works for a few days, but begins to cause errors and running out of space on my laptop if it continues for a prolonged period of time. Unfortunately I don't have a hotel to return to. 

I was hoping there was a cheap and cheerful way of getting European data that I had missed, but it seems the smarty add-on of 10GB for £9 is as good as it gets.... 

RWG do 100 gb a month one off bundle for£30, with 1000 mins and texts.
The bundle is for EU roaming only,and will NOT work when back in the uk.
I used the 50gb bundle when i was in spain last year and it worked fine.

Thanks - I've never even even heard of them. Do you need a physical sim or is it an esim?