Best Sim Cards For Italy & the UK

[Flying Senior]

Hi - hope someone can help. We have found the roaming costs too high in the past when travelling in Europe and the UK.
We both have 3 G Siri Telstra connected phones and do not want to have to change our phone numbers as business calls still come through while we are away.
We will be in Italy France and the UK for the majority of our time away.
We know we will be able to connect to Wifi in some spots but would like advice on the best sim cards and where to get them from.
Also the best sim card for the I pad.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[mella2007]

In Italy I buy one by TIM which is available at all mobile shops and newsagents etc....I paid $20 which included unlimited data and calls for 30 days which was excellent and then could top up at tobacco shops.
In Paris I did a similar thing except it had no wifi (sim cost was $10) so I used the free wifi where I could find it.
Both these sims could be used for the iPad also.
I don't know re the UK but I believe the pre paid cards there are even cheaper.

 

[MelbMan]

Hi to the OP... the UK is a real no brainer. A Vodafone simcard. I bought one on English Ebay and had it posted out here in early 2011 for a mid 2011 trip. That really wasn't necessary as you pretty well have to go into a UK Vodafone shop to get it activated. Mid 2011 I was using a Blackberry Pearl 3G 9105 or 9015, it wasn't that straightforward to get going but once going it was tops.

For GBP30 you have some options including international free minutes, 240 of them which allows you to call Aussie landlines (not mobiles) free of charge and most other destinations. As well as on the BB pickup your emails. I'm sure IPhones would work as well. We spent a week in Portugal with the same phone. Once there the calls are about 29p per min and don't work as well as in the UK. I used the international minutes very sparingly thinking this can't be right. But was able to run an international business phoning Australia, China, the USA and Italy while on the move. The same card should work in France and Italy but maybe with a surcharge like Portugal. If you run through 4 hours of free international mins, just buy another GBP30. Can't remember what the local UK calls were as I wasn't really getting the simcard for that.

Here's a link to the Vodafone UK where they talk of the "international" package and calls to overseas from the UK from 5p min. If you have look around their website (like every phone company it's like looking under rocks) you should get a good idea.
I found the Vodafone Wimbledon UK shop to be very helpful, the BB was a real dog to get going.

Calling Abroad – Make Cheaper Calls to Numbers Overseas – Vodafone

Fast forward to 2012 and just back from Rio with an IPhone 4S and still the Blackberry. The Blackberry spent the whole trip turned off in my luggage as it's pretty well useless. An Iphone with Skype you only need WI-FI to connect with the world. I had WIFI at most of my hotels and this worked. Did buy a Skype Aussie phone number for the IPhone while travelling which theoretically my family could have phoned me on from a normal landline. But if my home computer was on with Skype running chances are the computer would have "rang"
When travelling internationally I'm more interested in being the caller than the receiver.

Travelling with an Aussie simcard overseas is just a waste of money. Be it receiving calls, making them or data, the bill will be huge. Getting a local simcard or some sort of WIFI access is definitely the go!


Good luck with your trip!

 

[Flying Senior]

In Italy I buy one by TIM which is available at all mobile shops and newsagents etc....I paid $20 which included unlimited data and calls for 30 days which was excellent and then could top up at tobacco shops.
In Paris I did a similar thing except it had no wifi (sim cost was $10) so I used the free wifi where I could find it.
Both these sims could be used for the iPad also.
I don't know re the UK but I believe the pre paid cards there are even cheaper.

Thanks for that information Mella. Are we able to keep our same phone numbers?

 

[Flying Senior]

Thanks MelbMan - will research the website and act on your advice. Cheers

 

[here2go]

Thanks for that information Mella. Are we able to keep our same phone numbers?

Phone numbers even in Union-centric Europe are still nation-based. If you want people to be able to call you, maybe look at the 3G data plans and get an account with MyNetFone for voice with a National Number (eg 08 xx_x xx_x) depending on which Australian city you live. You can receive and make calls with apps on you iPhone or Android as though you were using a desktop phone. If you are out of range, they can leave a voice mail which will come through as email.

 

[mella2007]

Thanks for that information Mella. Are we able to keep our same phone numbers?

No the number will change every time you get a new sim.
These days I am using a global sim card for multiple countries (if you do a google search there a quite a few on the market) and my individual country sims when I am in those countries for a longer period of time.
Only catch with the global sim is that data rates are generally not so good, therefore being able to access free wifi is important to me.

 

[leemin]

I had the same problem as the OP before my trip in November. Hours of research to no real avail. I find the situation odd given the economic and immigration relationships within the EU. Anyway, in the end I left the Telstra sim in my iPhone for the whole trip to receive calls and send/receive texts, with international data turned off 99% time. Cost an extra hundred bucks all up I think, including (a measly) international data roaming pack.

Used Skype on WiFi to make any outgoing calls.

 

[futaris]

DROAM » Because data has no boundaries, http://www.europasim.com, https://www.roamline.com/ or http://www.tepwireless.com/ is a good option. 50 EUR for a week, 75 EUR for two weeks, 100 EUR for 3 weeks or a month. 1GB included.

 

[KLN]

Spanish Vodafone told me that my sim for data using the tablet would work global roaming in other countries in Europe but the charges would be higher of course.................was prepared for this, but as soon as crossed the border into France.........bang.........no coverage whatsoever! wouldn't work anywhere else at all. gave it away in the end to some friends kids who were going to Spain on holidays. ended up buying Sim cards seperately.........Spain/France/Switzerland/Singapore. usually only paid 20Euro each time and able to top up if necessary.

 

[ashleyn]

Careful with TIM in Italy, just bought one for 14e which included 5e of calls. That lasted one short call and 3 texts so was all gone by the time I actually wanted to use it. Also they send a heap of texts in Italian which is quite annoying.

 

[mella2007]

Careful with TIM in Italy, just bought one for 14e which included 5e of calls. That lasted one short call and 3 texts so was all gone by the time I actually wanted to use it. Also they send a heap of texts in Italian which is quite annoying.

I've never had that experience with mine....I have an unlimited plan which is probably what you should have got. The texts in Italian are letting you know your balance and when your credit runs low.

 

[Shenos]

Hi, I'm currently in Cardiff, UK using my iPad, connected to the net using my phone as a wifi hotspot. Have also inserted the microsim into the iPad as well.

We bought a sim from 3 in the UK, just went to a local store and purchased it. Cost 15 pounds for unlimited data as well as various amounts of calls and SMS. It's prepaid and lasts for a month. We've been all around the UK over the last two weeks and had reasonable range throughout Scotland, England and Wales. It's been brilliant for using Skype to make calls through the iPhone, iPad and the MacBook.

Its not much help in other European countries but is useful for the UK.

 

[cove]

We are using Giff Gaff for the UK and it works great.It seems difficult to spend a lot as the calls are pretty cheap and the connection quality is not a problem. Haven't tried it in amongst a big crowd at Wembley but we are happy.