# Dealing with the loss of unlimited Eu roaming



## Derekoak

Many mobile data providers are now charging for Eu data ontop of your plan. Three and Smarty have reduced roaming to 12gb per month and I think 3 may stop data all together if they notice more than 2 months in the Eu in a rolling 12 months. Smarty does have a 30 gb for 10 pounds a month plan unlimited text and std phone calls and we now plan 2 of these on our  2 phones. They allow tethering. That gives us 60gb at home and 24gb in the Eu, better than 12 in the eu with one unlimited plan. If 24gb is not enough we can get a smarty data only sim for one of our tablets 15gb for £8.10. That also ought to have 12gb roaming allowance.  Giving 36gb roaming for £28.10 per month. We could also amalgamate these into a Smarty group and save 10%.


----------



## GMJ

I have EE 4G wireless unlimited data at home and the router is portable so I can take it with my in the MH anywhere in the UK. Up until the changes in roaming came in, it was also good for Europe as well.

I have yet to pick up the phone to EE and see what they are planning to charge me if I use it abroad. I am hopeful that as a long standing customer who also has 2 mobile phones and our house landline with them, they will cut me a deal. They usually do, so fingers crossed.


----------



## Fisherman

Here’s what three say about roaming abroad.






						Roaming Abroad
					

All you need to know about Roaming Abroad with Three.



					www.three.co.uk


----------



## Budgie

If you were in a contract with EE in July this year data in the EU is a max of 50 gb  month after July it is 25 gb,


----------



## Derekoak

How much would I pay for 25gb a month roaming in Eu with EE?


----------



## barryd

Looks like Vodafone who I am with are still (for now) allowing you to Roam in Europe but only up to 25gb a month and only within their now enforced (so they say) fair usage policy which they say is 62 days before they may start charging. I wonder if they will enforce it on a 90 day trip which is all we are allowed now anyway thanks to Brexit.









						An important update about roaming | Vodafone UK
					

An important update about roaming



					www.vodafone.co.uk
				




I always have found Vodafone extremely reliable in mainland Europe because they use so many different networks.


----------



## Derekoak

My research would suggest that Smarty can provide . 60gb in UK and 24gb roaming in the Eu for 18 pounds a month on a rolling month contract, or 75gb uk and 36gb Eu for £25.29/month. In the way I described in #1. Does anyone know of something cheaper in that region of use? Regulations allowing we may be in the Eu a good proportion of the year.


----------



## barryd

Derekoak said:


> My research would suggest that Smarty can provide . 60gb in UK and 24gb roaming in the Eu for 18 pounds a month on a rolling month contract, or 75gb uk and 36gb Eu for £25.29/month. In the way I described in #1. Does anyone know of something cheaper in that region of use? Regulations allowing we may be in the Eu a good proportion of the year.



I think I am paying £14 for 60gb and unlimited calls with Vodafone but you wont find that on their website. If you have a long term relationship with your provider you can usually with a bit of perseverance get through to someone who can haggle and negotiate a better deal thats not on the website. Worth a try.

Whats key though is how good the service is abroad and what the fair usage terms are.  I suspect they will all be two months now but whether they enforce that I dont know.  Only time will tell I suppose.


----------



## SimonM

As a standby I purchased some data sims in LeClerc in France this summer when I ran short of data on Three. They are meant to be used continually and topped up each month and so you get charged €4.95 for the sim and then a rolling monthly charge if you choose to use it. I didn’t, and just changed to a new sim for ease of use. Quick and easy, but they have a 5gb limit outside of France.

The service is from Reglo Mobile and used to be called LeClerc mobile.


----------



## GeoffL

Fisherman said:


> Here’s what three say about roaming abroad.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Roaming Abroad
> 
> 
> All you need to know about Roaming Abroad with Three.
> 
> 
> 
> www.three.co.uk


Eek! Thanks for the warning. However, they also say that you are exempt the daily charges if they have agreed this or your pay-monthly plan started prior to 1st October 2021. This means that we can continue to use our allowance both in the EU and in Australia until we change our plans -- and I'll make sure that continued free "Go Roam" is a condition of us staying with Three...

That said, they've also removed the ability to use you phone as a personal wifi access point when roaming outside the EU -- so I'll need to continue using my Telstra MiFi in Oz.

Here's some more in-depth info about Three's "Go Roam".


----------



## Derekoak

SimonM said:


> As a standby I purchased some data sims in LeClerc in France this summer when I ran short of data on Three. They are meant to be used continually and topped up each month and so you get charged €4.95 for the sim and then a rolling monthly charge if you choose to use it. I didn’t, and just changed to a new sim for ease of use. Quick and easy, but they have a 5gb limit outside of France.
> 
> The service is from Reglo Mobile and used to be called LeClerc mobile.


3 do/did a similar sim 24gb prepaid for 2 years but you are supposed to continue to use it after. We never did. About £2 per gb a while ago.
 So for 4.95€ how many prepaid gb did you get within France? Trouble is we do not just go to France.


----------



## Derekoak

barryd said:


> I think I am paying £14 for 60gb and unlimited calls with Vodafone but you wont find that on their website. If you have a long term relationship with your provider you can usually with a bit of perseverance get through to someone who can haggle and negotiate a better deal thats not on the website. Worth a try.
> 
> Whats key though is how good the service is abroad and what the fair usage terms are.  I suspect they will all be two months now but whether they enforce that I dont know.  Only time will tell I suppose.


Yes it the fair usage bit I am trying to get round. Smarty is using the 3 network and they share fair usage of 12gb max per month, but they do not say anything about other restrictions. So I am investigating several small Cheap contract sims to accumulate 12gb fair usages. On up to three devices all of which can be a hotspot for the others.


----------



## Glass man

I have a Virgin mobile contact and they still allow free EU roaming. I was in The Netherlands in October and  November for six weeks. We watched TV many nights, usually several hours at a time. It all came in my contact £20.00 unlimited calls, texts and Data. 
Very pleased with this. I do not have a Virgin media contract for a landlines or Internet Data at home.


----------



## barryd

Derekoak said:


> Yes it the fair usage bit I am trying to get round. Smarty is using the 3 network and they share fair usage of 12gb max per month, but they do not say anything about other restrictions. So I am investigating several small Cheap contract sims to accumulate 12gb fair usages. On up to three devices all of which can be a hotspot for the others.



It looks like they also apply a 60 day limit to roaming but more worryingly they say they could suspend your service completely if you over stretch it.






						Roaming fair use terms and call rates to the EU
					

If you are roaming in the EU or calling the EU from the UK, here's some information to be aware of.




					help.smarty.co.uk
				




That was similar to Vodafones policy when I last went abroad which concerned me so much I got it in writing from them that they wouldnt cut me off.  I wasnt so much bothered about the charges more the being cut off.  Vodafone have changed their policy now so you just pay for what you use outside of the 60 days or whatever it is.  If your Smarty number is important it might be worth getting some kind of confirmation from them that they wont cut you off.


----------



## Derekoak

barryd said:


> It looks like they also apply a 60 day limit to roaming but more worryingly they say they could suspend your service completely if you over stretch it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Roaming fair use terms and call rates to the EU
> 
> 
> If you are roaming in the EU or calling the EU from the UK, here's some information to be aware of.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> help.smarty.co.uk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That was similar to Vodafones policy when I last went abroad which concerned me so much I got it in writing from them that they wouldnt cut me off.  I wasnt so much bothered about the charges more the being cut off.  Vodafone have changed their policy now so you just pay for what you use outside of the 60 days or whatever it is.  If your Smarty number is important it might be worth getting some kind of confirmation from them that they wont cut you off.


Thanks Barry. I had not found that. I may enquire.
They warn you a fortnight before so if you had a plan B there might be a workaround. When you return to the uk they will reconnect you. Then apparently you could go again?  We haven't been abroad for more than 2 months while with Smarty. so it had not been relevant but we might want to. Maybe 5 months including Romania for example.


----------



## Derekoak

Glass man said:


> I have a Virgin mobile contact and they still allow free EU roaming. I was in The Netherlands in October and  November for six weeks. We watched TV many nights, usually several hours at a time. It all came in my contact £20.00 unlimited calls, texts and Data.
> Very pleased with this. I do not have a Virgin media contract for a landlines or Internet Data at home.


Here is virgin media extended travel fair usage policy
Fair Usage Policy – Extended Travel​I’m going travelling around the EU for 14 weeks. Will I be breaking the Fair Usage Policy?​Not necessarily. Here’s how the Fair Usage Policy works. In every rolling 4 month period, you must use more data, calls and texts in the UK than the EU or spend more time in the UK than away somewhere else.
So, if you’ve used your phone more in the UK than you have in the EU within the last 4 months, you can still use your allowance whilst travelling without incurring a surcharge.


----------



## SimonM

Derekoak said:


> 3 do/did a similar sim 24gb prepaid for 2 years but you are supposed to continue to use it after. We never did. About £2 per gb a while ago.
> So for 4.95€ how many prepaid gb did you get within France? Trouble is we do not just go to France.


The Three Internet with legs 24gb/24 months sim now has a 12gb limit total when used abroad.  

The LeClerc Reglo sim is available in different gb values, I think a 24gb one cost me something like €20 which included the €4.95 SIM card cost. I was happy to get internet and so the card was then a throwaway - it’s only money and needs spending on something . It does not work in Andorra at all (nor did Three), but for the few days we spent in Spain it worked fine.


----------



## Piper01

I have a Vodafone Red Together contract 200 GB total a month (only 40 Euro a month. Fair Use Policy said 25 GB every month when in foreign country. Just heard yesterday they upgraded this to 40 GB. If you use more than 40GB not a problem if not in 4 month  4 times. My wifes phone joins me with Red Together, so each of us has 40 GB to spent a month in foreign countries. Enough for watching my Tele needs using my phone as a hotspot.


----------



## witzend

Would Lebra sim work with out being charged roaming ?


			https://mobile.lebara.com/de/en/roaming


----------



## Brockley

We’ve been quite happy with our Superdrug payg unlimited 3 sim in Europe up until now, but looking further ahead the EE 24 month £25/month (160 GB) or the £28/month (200 GB) contracts look fairly attractive if planning trips in European longer than two months. They both allow one ‘smart benefit’. As far as I can see the ‘smart benefit’ of choice would be the ‘roam adroad pass’ which allows you (after January 2022) to use all of your allowance including data throughout Europe without dropping off after two months.

It also promises the same concessions for the US, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.

Having followed YouTubers John & Mandy on their epic European tour (ducking in and out of Schengen countries), they’ve reported great coverage using EE with a Netgear Nighthawk M1 and a Poynting antenna (both of which we decided to upgrade to).


----------



## Brockley




----------



## GMJ

That EE Roam Abroad Pass looks good for travel after 03/22 but if we can get away to Spain before then it'll be interesting to find out what the costs will be,  for January and February.


----------



## witzend

I'm due to renew my contract with 3 in Jan and reading the small print it seems as though If I stay on the same contract  roaming won't apply. The quote below is copied from the email


> Go Roam is changing for new contracts/upgrades. There is a £2 daily charge to unlock your UK allowance in Go Roam in Europe destinations and a £5 daily charge in Go Roam Around the World destinations. We are waiving the daily charge until 23 May 2022. *There is no daily charge if you choose to stay on your plan after your current contract ends.*


the new contract would be £1 a mth less than my current one so seems like I'm better to stay with what I got


----------



## Deleted member 27480

Brockley said:


> We’ve been quite happy with our Superdrug payg unlimited 3 sim in Europe up until now, but looking further ahead the EE 24 month £25/month (160 GB) or the £28/month (200 GB) contracts look fairly attractive if planning trips in European longer than two months. They both allow one ‘smart benefit’. As far as I can see the ‘smart benefit’ of choice would be the ‘roam adroad pass’ which allows you (after January 2022) to use all of your allowance including data throughout Europe without dropping off after two months.
> 
> It also promises the same concessions for the US, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.
> 
> Having followed YouTubers John & Mandy on their epic European tour (ducking in and out of Schengen countries), they’ve reported great coverage using EE with a Netgear Nighthawk M1 and a Poynting antenna (both of which we decided to upgrade to).


Which Poynting antenna is that?


----------



## witzend

britcoms said:


> Which Poynting antenna is that?


Spec you'll find it here


----------



## witzend

witzend said:


> I'm due to renew my contract with 3 in Jan and reading the small print it seems as though If I stay on the same contract  roaming won't apply.


After speaking with them today what I was told today was That even if I renewed my contract I'd end up paying roaming.
So after having a look at other sim deals I found Tesco are not charging for roaming and was told today even if they do decide to there will be no change until my new contract with them ends


> Home From Home​No extra charges in Europe and beyond
> Use your phone just like you do at home, at no extra cost


----------



## GeoffL

witzend said:


> After speaking with them today what I was told today was That even if I renewed my contract I'd end up paying roaming.
> So after having a look at other sim deals I found Tesco are not charging for roaming and was told today even if they do decide to there will be no change until my contract ends


AFAICT, you could just let the contract run rather than renew -- at least, that's what I understand about my contract with Three. In the past, I've only renewed because of more preferable terms (e.g. more data for less money) and just let the contract run if a better deal wasn't available.


----------



## witzend

GeoffL said:


> AFAICT, you could just let the contract run rather than renew -- at least, that's what I understand about my contract with Three.


From my conversation with them this morning either way I'd be paying roaming and its not just if you use your phone it's any day it's turned on in a roaming zone


----------



## GeoffL

witzend said:


> From my conversation with them this morning either way I'd be paying roaming and its not just if you use your phone it's any day it's turned on in a roaming zone


That doesn't seem to agree with what their website says at the page linked here:


> Go Roam lets you unlock your plan or Add-on allowances in 71 destinations. It is made up of both Go Roam in Europe and Go Roam Around the World. For new and upgrading Pay Monthly customers, there’s a £2 daily charge to unlock Go Roam in Europe, and a £5 daily charge to unlock Go Roam Around the World. But we’re waiving this charge until 23 May 2022. This will not affect Pay Monthly customers whose plan started *before 1 October 2021*. It will also not affect any Pay As You Go customers. Republic of Ireland and Isle of Man are excluded from the daily charge.


----------



## Simonfrench

I have unlimited data with EE. Pay £10 a month for adding and continue as normal. Cancel it on return. Re apply on next trip. I have an Amazon fire stick for tv and hot spot for IPad.


----------



## witzend

GeoffL said:


> That doesn't seem to agree with what their website says at the page linked here:


After my last post I phoned the local shop who also told me the same as my contract ends 25th Jan I'll be required to pay roaming but it's being waived for all until 23rd May.


----------



## barge1914

Just upgraded Plusnet to £10 for 27Gb, they only offered 15 to existing customers, but I spoke nicely to them. Of this 15Gb EU roaming allowed. Got another similar sim for t’other ‘arf. So 54Gb here and 30Gb away…which is about what we usually use per month. I did have Smarty which only now gives 12Gb in EU and threatens to cut you off after 2 months away…we need 3 months.


----------



## shaunr68

It may be easier to buy a local data SIM card abroad rather than try to find a UK provider with a decent roaming allowance.

I have been in Spain for 3 weeks now.  Smarty cut me off after 12GB of data use, 5 days into the trip.

Reading the Prepaid Data SIM Card Wiki linked below, Digi Mobil are currently the only Spanish provider offering unlimited data (€25/m) but after visiting one of their shops, I was told that a Spanish bank account is required.

I bought the next best package I could find, a Llamaya SIM (from a MasMovil shop), 120GB over 30 days for €30. Stuck it in my old, trusty unlocked Huawei MiFi, entered the PIN code from the SIM and it worked straight away without any further configuration. You can register on https://mi.llamaya.com/ which allows you to track your usage and top up online.  It's all in Spanish but I have Chrome set to auto translate.

I'm travelling with a friend and a few days after Smarty got shut of me, he was dumped by Vodafone.  He doesn't have as much need for data as me, so he bought an Orange "Go Fly" SIM.  60GB over 30 days for €20.  Again worked fine in his MiFi box, just had to change the apn.  The Orange website has a Customer Services section in English and they have telephone customer support in English, French and German. https://en.orange.es/

Happy new year and happy travels!

https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Spain


----------



## goneoff

Both myself and my wife had Vodafone accounts 100gb each which we used all over Europe when traveling, cost was circa £21.00 pm. I had been with Vodafone since the 80’s; however with the new roaming restrictions kicking in, the best I could negotiate with Vodafone was 25gb per month; in fact there was no negotiation, more take it or leave it. 
We have both now switched to EE we each get 150gb to use in the U.K. (which in the U.K. we will rarely use) and 50gb per month each in Europe for the 5/6 months we travel as we both opted for EE’s “smart benefits” no other charges all for circa £18.00 pm each. It was the best we could find at the time but still naff considering we are paying for 150gb per month but twice as good as Vodafone. Incidentally we couldn’t have got this deal through EE’s retail stores only direct from their call centre somewhere in South Wales. We tether to our phones to stream tv etc so relatively heavy data users; Because of our usage as a backup I have purchased a Netgear M2 router and if we run short of data I will buy a local sim in whichever country we are in. Hope the info helps someone and happy new year.


----------



## Moped

witzend said:


> I'm due to renew my contract with 3 in Jan and reading the small print it seems as though If I stay on the same contract  roaming won't apply. The quote below is copied from the email
> 
> the new contract would be £1 a mth less than my current one so seems like I'm better to stay with what I got


I’m with Three also, visited one of their stores to clarify roaming position, and they concurred with yourself, and myself, that if you retain your old contract the 12GB roaming allowance continues, but for a 2 month period in 12 months only. They may be a lot stricter with this 2 month thing than previous but only time will tell.

Smarty, operated by Three, seem to offer more with their roaming so worth a look.

Made me look for alternatives and EE or Vodafone/Asda (Asda use Vod) look promising as long as you go for one of their premium sim only packages, with no apparent duration limits stated in their roaming terms and with larger GB allowances.

Vod/Asda have better coverage in U.K. which may be a consideration for those who park up in out of the way places.


----------



## Brockley

Regarding my posts #20 & #21 - EE may be reigning this deal in soon according to a recent news message that flashed up on my IPad, will need to look into it further and ask them some questions.


----------



## Compo

how about this !!!!!!! what about if you use your normal phone for 59 days 
. take a sim only payg with money on it and change the sim on the 59th day then swap back to normal sim when back in uk 
the om
only problem is can you get a sim only with your existing no on it ????


----------



## witzend

Compo said:


> how about this !!!!!!! what about if you use your normal phone for 59 days
> . take a sim only payg with money on it and change the sim on the 59th day then swap back to normal sim when back in uk
> the om
> only problem is can you get a sim only with your existing no on it ????


A phone with 2 sim slots 3 have said they arn't charging roaming to payg so have your number on that to receive calls and another roaming free sim to make calls possibly a local sim to the country you in ?


----------



## Compo

still doesnt get away from being cut off after 2 months away


----------



## GMJ

Simonfrench said:


> I have unlimited data with EE. Pay £10 a month for adding and continue as normal. Cancel it on return. Re apply on next trip. I have an Amazon fire stick for tv and hot spot for IPad.



Is that the Roam Abroad benefit?

if so it doesn't start until the beginning of March...

_*"From 3 March 2022, our Roam Abroad Smart Benefit will include roaming in our European roaming zone..."*_

https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/roam...broad/what-impact-will-brexit-have-on-roaming 

If not could you please advise what it is as we are with EE and don't fancy paying 2 quid a day when we are away for a 60 night trip!!

ta


----------



## GeoffL

Some lateral thinking here...
In their T&Cs, Three say, "_If you divert your incoming calls to another number, we’ll charge you for each redirected call. The cost of the redirected call depends on your price plan and type of number._" So if you divert to another UK number, your call will be usually be within your plan (assuming pay monthly contract). However, you can have a UK number that you can use anywhere in the World if you make use of VoIP. (For example, Localphone.com charge €3.75 set-up fee and €0.75 per month for a UK number that you can access from anywhere in the World where you can access the Internet).
So, you can divert your number to your VoIP incoming number, put a local SIM in your phone, receive all calls via VoIP and also make calls to UK via VoIP where that's the cheapest option.
FWIW, this is what we used to do when we went to Australia before World Go Roam because available.


----------



## REC

Three contacted me and told me I had to take a new contract with them to replace my previous data only. Have me two months to change. The new one meant I would have to pay for roaming so I changed to an ID sim which has better terms. We use a Vodafone.pt SIM  30days unlimited for 30euros when in Portugal,  but that may have changed this year! We shall see!


----------



## TJBi

SimonM said:


> The Three Internet with legs 24gb/24 months sim now has a 12gb limit total when used abroad.
> 
> The LeClerc Reglo sim is available in different gb values, I think a 24gb one cost me something like €20 which included the €4.95 SIM card cost. I was happy to get internet and so the card was then a throwaway - it’s only money and needs spending on something . It does not work in Andorra at all (nor did Three), but for the few days we spent in Spain it worked fine.


Did the Leclerc Reglo SIM require any proof of ID, registration, etc.?


----------



## SimonM

Yes it did, they accepted my UK driving licence no worry, a passport would have sufficed . That was all, there was no requirement to sign up to anything, or any form of commitment. It lasts one month and then they want you to subscribe to their service. I didn’t, threw away the Sim and bought another.

do not buy 2 and start one, expecting to start the other one in a months time - it is activated immediately on the day or purchase. Don’t ask how I know.


----------



## TJBi

SimonM said:


> Yes it did, they accepted my UK driving licence no worry, a passport would have sufficed . That was all, there was no requirement to sign up to anything, or any form of commitment. It lasts one month and then they want you to subscribe to their service. I didn’t, threw away the Sim and bought another.
> 
> do not buy 2 and start one, expecting to start the other one in a months time - it is activated immediately on the day or purchase. Don’t ask how I know.


Thanks for the prompt response. Useful to know that I may need to get to a suitable Leclerc precisely one month later! I will have to look into ease of subscribing and unsubscribing, which might suit me.


----------



## Drover

Vodafone rang me yesterday to say I was close to my phone usage .... how come says I as it's all unlimited......sorry sir I got it wrong.. so I ask about my unlimited In Europe...im in Spain and will be for a few months... I got told to phone back Monday and they should be able to reinstate the unlimited data from the 25 gb on the text I got.. .
Will let you know how I get on


----------



## GMJ

Prior to this current trip I rang EE whilst at home so that they could spell out what costs I would incur when abroad. Last year we took out a 4G wifi plan at home as our wired broadband was rubbish. When I took the plan out I was told that I could take the router with me anywhere in the UK and also abroad. After speaking to EE in January, apparently this isn't true: it doesn't work abroad!

I pointed out to the chap on the phone that I was told I could use it. As a gesture of goodwill for the duff info he put both our mobiles data at unlimited data for the trip and confirmed also that there would be no call/text charges either for ringing back home. So fair enough!

He did point out though that the data was capped at 50Gig on a 'fair use' poilcy...so not really unlimited then??!! Also to increase the confusion on this, we received a text each from EE saying that it had suspended its fair use policy for the time being due to Covid! 

So: capped or not? It's unlikely that we will reach that amount of data usage anyway but still confusing.


----------



## Drover

So after 90 mins on phone 
Got nowhere really. They are adamant 25gb is the most anyone can give on a UK phone deal..
All they could do was wipe out the 9 months that was left on phone contract and unlock the phone .. around £500 worth .... 
Not enough for what they have cost me over the years but it was the best they said they could do..
New unlimited sim (which is only available in uk) for 6 months and 25gb for the rest with no extra charge for 49 other countries... Will find out which when I read the e mails.
They could or can add a Amazon film account for a small extra charge..... plus a darn watch so I can leave the phone at home.......grrrrrrr I only wanted my unlimited data back....


----------



## Owlhouse

Just been reading about Esims - seems to be a lot of 'minor' service providers if you have a fairly recent smartphone? They seem cheaper, certainly on data and most with calls. Worth a look?


----------



## Reevsie

I left for Spain in Dec and to be on the safe side I rang EE and asked how much data I could use whilst in France and Spain. I was told during the pandemic they were giving unlimited data in the EU to people who had taken out unlimited data contracts before June 21.  I was a bit wary as I was steaming my TV and I also use a lot of Data for my work whilst in the Van. In 2 1/2 months I have used 400gb of data and I have only been charged my regular monthly payment. I was told I could only use if for 2 months whilst outside of the UK, But I have checked this month as it is my third and I have not incurred any additional charges.


----------



## Pauljenny

We're  in a similar situation, with 3. 
They've been great, so far. 
Keep us posted a to how you get on.


----------



## GMJ

Reevsie said:


> I left for Spain in Dec and to be on the safe side I rang EE and asked how much data I could use whilst in France and Spain. I was told during the pandemic they were giving unlimited data in the EU to people who had taken out unlimited data contracts before June 21.  I was a bit wary as I was steaming my TV and I also use a lot of Data for my work whilst in the Van. In 2 1/2 months I have used 400gb of data and I have only been charged my regular monthly payment. I was told I could only use if for 2 months whilst outside of the UK, But I have checked this month as it is my third and I have not incurred any additional charges.



Nice one.

They gave me unlimited data due to an error on their part over something when I took out my home 4G contract last year. This was for 2 months also, whilst we were was away. the chap said there was a fair use policy of 50G for each of us (which doesn't make sense of its unlimited but hey ho!!) however when we got to France we had a standard text message to say that the fair use policy was suspended due to the pandemic.

We used our iphone as a hot spot for around 3 weeks so far (we have free wifi on the current site we are on so don't need the hotspot) and didn't get over 30 Gig I think. That included streaming the rugby last weekend


----------



## TJBi

SimonM said:


> Yes it did, they accepted my UK driving licence no worry, a passport would have sufficed . That was all, there was no requirement to sign up to anything, or any form of commitment. It lasts one month and then they want you to subscribe to their service. I didn’t, threw away the Sim and bought another.
> 
> do not buy 2 and start one, expecting to start the other one in a months time - it is activated immediately on the day or purchase. Don’t ask how I know.


In fact, all you have to do is visit a Leclerc to top up the account prior to expiry of the first month and the credit will be applied on the anniversary date, which is what I intend to do. Just don't try putting the SIM into a mobile router - banned in the T&Cs.


----------



## SimonM

I’ll bear that in mind (hoping there’s a next time)


----------



## Reevsie

Forgot to update. Came back from Spain after 84 days. Streaming on the EE card I used a total of 494gb of data in 3 months. I have not received ant additional charges with EE. 

With 3 I was limited to 12gb a month, but the calls were free. I got a bill in of 3 for £24 of data I was supposed to of used on the ferry. As far as I remember I did not use any. So a call to 3 customer services ands this was refunded. They said my phone was logging onto the ships WIFI on its own. Next time I will just turn my phone off whilst on the Ferry.


----------



## REC

Just for future reference, we again got the vodafone.pt  "go total " SIM card which gives unlimited data in Portugal for 30 days (can be renewed for up to 90 days) and cost works out to 1euro a day.


----------



## alcam

REC said:


> Just for future reference, we again got the vodafone.pt  "go total " SIM card which gives unlimited data in Portugal for 30 days (can be renewed for up to 90 days) and cost works out to 1euro a day.


Don't think they do that in Spain ?
Just got 60gb from Vodafone for €20


----------



## Trotter

Derekoak said:


> Many mobile data providers are now charging for Eu data ontop of your plan. Three and Smarty have reduced roaming to 12gb per month and I think 3 may stop data all together if they notice more than 2 months in the Eu in a rolling 12 months. Smarty does have a 30 gb for 10 pounds a month plan unlimited text and std phone calls and we now plan 2 of these on our  2 phones. They allow tethering. That gives us 60gb at home and 24gb in the Eu, better than 12 in the eu with one unlimited plan. If 24gb is not enough we can get a smarty data only sim for one of our tablets 15gb for £8.10. That also ought to have 12gb roaming allowance.  Giving 36gb roaming for £28.10 per month. We could also amalgamate these into a Smarty group and save 10%.


If you are going to use Smarty in Europe, remember to register your phones, sims, whatever, with them for travel, before leaving the UK. 
I didn’t, Therefore was unable to use any data.
British Vodafone not working in Spain made for a perfect  situation.


----------



## TJBi

Reevsie said:


> Forgot to update. Came back from Spain after 84 days. Streaming on the EE card I used a total of 494gb of data in 3 months. I have not received ant additional charges with EE.
> 
> With 3 I was limited to 12gb a month, but the calls were free. I got a bill in of 3 for £24 of data I was supposed to of used on the ferry. As far as I remember I did not use any. So a call to 3 customer services ands this was refunded. They said my phone was logging onto the ships WIFI on its own. Next time I will just turn my phone off whilst on the Ferry.


The ferry's WiFi should not be an issue, but the Inmarsat mobile phone service is. Mobile phones will connect automatically and can run up extremely large bills (calls outgoing and incoming, plus mobile data). I always go for airplane mode after embarking but before departure and then just enable WiFi until the ferry has docked on the other side.


----------



## Canalsman

That's what I do to.


----------



## REC

alcam said:


> Don't think they do that in Spain ?
> Just got 60gb from Vodafone for €20


Never looked for it in Spain tbh. I guess it would have to be vodafone.es ....


----------



## Derekoak

I was just looking at buying a EE 24 month 150gb contract with one smart benefit for 25 pounds a month. In the legal small print it said in the roam abroad smart benefit paragraph that while abroad there was a fair use policy of a 50gb per month cap.
  I thought all these you tube makers were on Ee with this roam abroad smart benefit using full data. Even the unlimited contract still has the same smart benefit which if you choose roam abroad appears to be capped at 50gb.
 We are off for 3 months to Scandinavia and have checked that our smarty contracts will cease after 60 days. What if we got a 3 with legs 24gb once off sim that lasts 2 years. Set it up before we go then take it out and wrap it in foil or something for 2 months then replace one of our smarty sims with the 3 with legs for the missing month? I believe the 3 with legs has a 60 day limit abroaf, but when does the 60 days count from?


----------



## GMJ

I was told about EE's 50Gig fair use policy when I went to Spain in January and again to France in May. on both occasions they then sent the standard 'Welcome to France..." text messages hen we got to France and on both occasions these messages said that they had suspended the fair use policy due to the pandemic.

Perhaps not much use in the long term but may give some consolation of you are away shortly.


----------



## Wooie1958

My Tesco Mobile 30GB contract just let me carry on as normal up to 25GB with no extra charges and the manual connection i did on OrangeF was 4g all the time no matter how remote we were especially up in the Pyrenees   

Tethering the laptop when needed was very fast as well 

The wife however is still tied to Three for another couple of months and she got the £2 per day imposed for the last 10 days of our time over there which basically tripled her monthly payment, she also manually connected to OrangeF but strangely her connection was not as good as mine even though we have identical phones which are also the same age   

As soon as she can she`ll ditch Three and it looks like she`s coming over to Tesco Mobile which runs on O2.


----------



## SimonM

Derekoak said:


> I was just looking at buying a EE 24 month 150gb contract with one smart benefit for 25 pounds a month. In the legal small print it said in the roam abroad smart benefit paragraph that while abroad there was a fair use policy of a 50gb per month cap.
> I thought all these you tube makers were on Ee with this roam abroad smart benefit using full data. Even the unlimited contract still has the same smart benefit which if you choose roam abroad appears to be capped at 50gb.
> We are off for 3 months to Scandinavia and have checked that our smarty contracts will cease after 60 days. What if we got a 3 with legs 24gb once off sim that lasts 2 years. Set it up before we go then take it out and wrap it in foil or something for 2 months then replace one of our smarty sims with the 3 with legs for the missing month? I believe the 3 with legs has a 60 day limit abroaf, but when does the 60 days count from?


I have used Three 24gb with legs sim and their revised info is that now only 12gb is usable abroad. I buy Reglo mobile in France from LeClerc , but they only allow 5gb usage outside of France and does not work in Andorra.


----------



## Derekoak

I think our plan now is to stick with Smarty as it is monthly so after 2 months away we will suspend the next payment and restart when we get back to the UK.  For the missing month we will buy one or 2 telenor Sweden prepaid sim cards which are easily available and free. Then we will choose to "refuel" from the fastpris menu 40gb for a month data and unlimited calls/ texts for 299 swedish króna (23.90 pounds ) or 100gb 349swk or 5gb 149 swk. They allow use as a hotspot and all of the EU and EEA (Norway) is the same deal as in Sweden. So we might keep the sim and use it for other long trips in the eu after the first 2 months with Smarty


----------



## Brockley

Derekoak said:


> I was just looking at buying a EE 24 month 150gb contract with one smart benefit for 25 pounds a month. In the legal small print it said in the roam abroad smart benefit paragraph that while abroad there was a fair use policy of a 50gb per month cap.
> I thought all these you tube makers were on Ee with this roam abroad smart benefit using full data. Even the unlimited contract still has the same smart benefit which if you choose roam abroad appears to be capped at 50gb.
> We are off for 3 months to Scandinavia and have checked that our smarty contracts will cease after 60 days. What if we got a 3 with legs 24gb once off sim that lasts 2 years. Set it up before we go then take it out and wrap it in foil or something for 2 months then replace one of our smarty sims with the 3 with legs for the missing month? I believe the 3 with legs has a 60 day limit abroaf, but when does the 60 days count from?


We chose to go ahead with ee on a 24month contract. It was £25/month with one smart benefit (EU roaming) but their annual inflationary ‘adjustment’ recently increased it to £27.3 which I think is still very competitive given the alternatives options out there. It actually gives you 160GB/month (not 150) and has been completely reliable since March this year, 20 countries so far.

We use it in a Netgear Nighthawk mobile router connected to a ‘Poynting’ antenna (brand name). It’s a particularly good combination especially in out of the way places with few phone masts. I’ve linked a John & Mandy video explaining this combination previously but here it is again. No commission .






If we leave the van, I put the Nighhawk in a rucksack so we can be online on our phones while exploring and it works well without the antenna anywhere with mobile phone signal. 

Only in Turkey did we need to remove the sim to avoid massive roaming charges. Turkcell sims worked a treat everywhere and the ‘tourist payg sim package’ currently costs £35/month for two sims (20GB’s of data on each sim). Two is the maximum amount one tourist is allowed to buy (Turkcell shops everywhere and rated the best provider) and you need to fill out a form and show your passport. They give unlimited phone calls to one another (if used in phones), but I mostly put one Turkcell sim in the other half’s phone and the other in the Nighthawk. That way we had internet on the move and the ability to WhatsApp call each other on the phones whenever needed, but also Wi-Fi the internet on our phones  if we were both close to the Nighhawk in the rucksack.

Only one criticism of the Turkcell sim, certain areas of Turkey block some social media sights, happened to us on our last day!

When we left Turkey for Chios, 7.5 mile ferry ride, the ee sim sparked back up faultlessly as it’s Greece. One problem though, if you have the ee sim in your phone or mobile router set to automatic search, you can find yourself latched on to an expensive provider, as we left Chios on the ferry to Piraeus, the wife’s phone latched on to Turkcell as the ferry passes Turkey close enough to pick it up as the strongest signal. Luckily her phone wasn’t on roaming.

Can’t fault ee so far and because we were on Turkcell for 10 days, our ee data allowance for the rest of this month is very healthy. I can feel some binge watching coming on! Ordinarily we can watch 3-4 hours of streamed tv/day, social media including face timing family, internet browsing and still have data spare by the end of the month .

Another good thing about the ee roaming ‘smart package’ is that we’ve found BBC iPlayer is accessible, so too are Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in their U.K. configuration. We can also watch live streaming U.K. tv (whenever there’s anything worth watching ) through our iPads on the Freesat app, can’t seem to get that on the Avtex or Amazon Firestick? I’m thinking the ee package must come with built in VPN?

I’ll need to rethink for Albania and Montenegro, as they aren’t covered by ee’s European smart roaming, but I’m sure local sims will be available just like Turkey. Keep you posted.


----------



## TJBi

SimonM said:


> I have used Three 24gb with legs sim and their revised info is that now only 12gb is usable abroad. I buy Reglo mobile in France from LeClerc , but *they only allow 5gb usage outside of France and does not work in Andorra.*


I'd be interested to know where that information comes from, because it's not what Réglo Mobile say on their website. In Zone 1 (EU countries plus a few others including UK), the full package data allowance can be used. Andorra is in Zone 2 and Internet usage there is prohibitively expensive.


			https://www.reglomobile.fr/pdf/Fiche-tarifaire.pdf?v=2022.05


----------



## SimonM

TJBi said:


> I'd be interested to know where that information comes from, because it's not what Réglo Mobile say on their website. In Zone 1 (EU countries plus a few others including UK), the full package data allowance can be used. Andorra is in Zone 2 and Internet usage there is prohibitively expensive.
> 
> 
> https://www.reglomobile.fr/pdf/Fiche-tarifaire.pdf?v=2022.05


It was told to me by a sales person in LeClerc after I found out it didn’t work in Andorra when I was there for 2 days last October


----------



## TJBi

SimonM said:


> It was told to me by a sales person in LeClerc after I found out it didn’t work in Andorra when I was there for 2 days last October


The tariff sheet does not even show 5GB for Andorra. Outside Zone 1, all Internet use is chargeable and you therefore have to have the requisite credit available on your account, without which it will indeed not work.


----------



## GeoffL

GeoffL said:


> Eek! Thanks for the warning. However, they also say that you are exempt the daily charges if they have agreed this or your pay-monthly plan started prior to 1st October 2021. This means that we can continue to use our allowance both in the EU and in Australia until we change our plans -- and I'll make sure that continued free "Go Roam" is a condition of us staying with Three...
> 
> That said, they've also removed the ability to use you phone as a personal wifi access point when roaming outside the EU -- so I'll need to continue using my Telstra MiFi in Oz.
> 
> Here's some more in-depth info about Three's "Go Roam".


Someone just liked my post to which this is a reply, so I felt it only fair to give an update. Three have exercised their right under the T&Cs of the advanced plan I was on to give notice and end my contract. They gave me three options:

Sign up for a new Three contract;
Switch to another provider; or
They would move me to a default tariff if I did nothing.
I phoned them up and asked for a PAC code; telling them I'm leaving unless I could retain free "Go Roam" in Australia. While they weren't prepared to do that, they eventually persuaded me to stay with them by cutting the monthly payments to half price for the full term of the new contract.
For various reasons, I suspect we won't be able to get over to Oz for the next year and so the lack of "Go Roam" is moot. Hopefully, free roaming will be available when it's time to look again. In the meantime, if we go over to EU or to Oz, we'll divert our phones to a UK VoIP 'landline' number; use local SIMs and pick up calls via the Internet.


----------



## Wooie1958

We are now both back on free roaming for when we go over the channel     

I`m with Tesco Mobile and joined before the 16th June cut off date so my free roaming stays until the end of the contract as long as i don`t change or upgrade and the wife has gone over to Plusnet which similarly gives free roaming


----------



## GMJ

Us too Graham.

Our pay as you go contracts ran out officially but EE has just let them run at the current price, so we keep the free roaming option...all for a mighty £7.80ish a month each!


----------



## UFO

I've not read the whole thread but 1p Mobile is worth a look, runs on the EE network.

£10 a month for 10gb, £15 for 50gb, both with unlimited calls and texts.  I'm not aware of any Euope roaming restrictions apart from the usual vague 'fair use'.









						UKs cheapest PAYG mobile tariff
					

1pMobile offers great value with 1p a minute, 1p a text and 1p a MB. Excellent coverage, free SIM and you can keep your existing number.




					www.1pmobile.com


----------

