Low cost roaming

stimpson

I just ordered this one for 1c with Parcel Motel

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B003M2YGQW/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&smid=A2R2S5J7MR5NDR

Edit: posted already. Woohoo!

Johnny_Fontane

what are the options for picking one of these up in France? Is there lebara shops?

September1

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

what are the options for picking one of these up in France? Is there lebara shops?

I ordered to place where I stayed - it still took a week or so, propably do it well before journey.

keithclancy

bk wrote: »

Note, while unlimited, it is only very slow Edge service (2.5G) rather then faster 3G that you would get with Three.

Also that price excludes tax, so it would work out at about €29 versus €19 from Three.

Worked fine for Google Maps and Google Music streaming while travelling across Florida for me.

Also used it as a hotspot to share with my Wifes iPhone.

joe250

Card arrived this morning and I activated it online no problem. I topped it up using PayPal.

martyc5674

Cheers Joe,
Ive ordered some from amazon to my parcel motel.

The ones to my home and work address havent arrived yet(doesnt look like they will either)

Was it a micro or a regular sim they sent?
Marty

September1

In my case sim was regular but you could pop out microsim,

Muahahaha

Jaysis it seems like half the Bargain Alerts forum are off to France this summer, where are all the bargains gonna come from ?!

masterK

To take the thread off topic slighty, I'm looking for a similar setup for Portugal. Ideally a free sim which I can top up for Data only to use my phone as a wifi access point.

September1

It seems Lyca is having some bundles but they are not as cheap as in other countries:
http://www.lycamobile.pt/en/bundle?id=2

sillymoo

September1 wrote: »

It seems Lyca is having some bundles but they are not as cheap as in other countries:
http://www.lycamobile.pt/en/bundle?id=2

Would it be a case of buying the sim when arriving in Portugal? Also looking at data options for Portugal but going next week so pushed for time

September1

sillymoo wrote: »

Would it be a case of buying the sim when arriving in Portugal? Also looking at data options for Portugal but going next week so pushed for time

I would recommend to ask Lycamobile to post it to place where you are going to be first night, I think sim is free. You can also try to put Irish address like with lebara and see if it arrives.

masterK

September1 wrote: »

It seems Lyca is having some bundles but they are not as cheap as in other countries:
http://www.lycamobile.pt/en/bundle?id=2

Thanks. Put in my details to see if they'd post it here.

califano

Is the data good enough for live video streams in France?. I presume the data will be local 3g French data, just wonder is it the equivalent of our 3g?

Dazzy

In Portugal you can get a Vodafone sim from any of the Vodafone shops or Car Phone Warehouse. It costs €15 which is €5 for the sim and €10 for 1 GB of data. You can then top up by €10 per 1 GB. I bring a second phone and tether when I need internet access.

There was also a similar deal for the same price and you could get 10 hours with unlimited data. I haven't gone for this option for a while so not sure if it is still available.

September1

califano wrote: »

Is the data good enough for live video streams in France?. I presume the data will be local 3g French data, just wonder is it the equivalent of our 3g?

In towns yes but in rural areas things get quite slow. I think West Ireland is quite unique for having LTE in very remote places and 3G almost everywhere.

stimpson

Dazzy wrote: »

In Portugal you can get a Vodafone sim from any of the Vodafone shops or Car Phone Warehouse. It costs €15 which is €5 for the sim and €10 for 1 GB of data. You can then top up by €10 per 1 GB. I bring a second phone and tether when I need internet access.

There was also a similar deal for the same price and you could get 10 hours with unlimited data. I haven't gone for this option for a while so not sure if it is still available.

And they have a shop in Faro airport, just beside arrivals!

irishproduce

califano wrote: »

Is the data good enough for live video streams in France?. I presume the data will be local 3g French data, just wonder is it the equivalent of our 3g?

Just my two cents on it.
Because I had my Irish sim and French sims running together, I was able to swap between them.
I drove all around Vendee in west France and I can assure you that the service the Lebara provides is clearly second or even third class. When I needed a page to load quickly, I had to configure the Irish sim which was almost always running on Orange network.
An example of what I mean is when using Jango. I was looking forward to driving around listening to it but it never worked over there on lebara. If I changed to the Irish sim though, it was perfect.

So, as regards streaming, if you are in west France, I am afraid you might be disappointed.
If you are looking for checking emails, checking webpages (slowly) then you will be fine

irish

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

DUBLIN_person

Lads, has anyone tried to top up and activate the add on for the three UK SIM card to use in France from July 1st. In theory, since it lasts for a month, and I'll be back within a month, I should be able to top it up and activate it here right? To activate the add on do you do it online or send a text? And do you do it before or after topping up, because I know on Vodafone prepay here, to activate an offer, you have to opt in before topping up for it to be valid.

In short terms: what's the best way of going about it? Many thanks.

Bigcheeze

DUBLIN_person wrote: »

Lads, has anyone tried to top up and activate the add on for the three UK SIM card to use in France from July 1st. In theory, since it lasts for a month, and I'll be back within a month, I should be able to top it up and activate it here right? To activate the add on do you do it online or send a text? And do you do it before or after topping up, because I know on Vodafone prepay here, to activate an offer, you have to opt in before topping up for it to be valid.

In short terms: what's the best way of going about it? Many thanks.

Yes I've done it.

You top up first and then buy the £15 add-on on three.co.uk. You don't need to opt in, just buy the add-on

Topping up is slightly awkward as three won't take an Irish credit card. I topped up using myphonecard.co.uk. Then went to three.co.uk, typed in the top up voucher code and bought the add on.

Also be aware the 3 sim will not work in a tablet or for tethering. I've tried.

DUBLIN_person

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Yes I've done it.

You top up first and then buy the £15 add-on on three.co.uk. You don't need to opt in, just buy the add-on

Topping up is slightly awkward as three won't take an Irish credit card. I topped up using myphonecard.co.uk. Then went to three.co.uk, typed in the top up voucher code and bought the add on.

Brilliant, Thanks a lot

tomslick

Is anyone looking for a lebera sim. I'm finished with mine. Still have 1970MB left on it. It was worse than useless for 3G on the west coast of France. Used the €15 top up for 360mins to Ireland with 2Gig of data. Minutes nearly gone. Pm if you want it.

BenEadir

Bigcheeze wrote: »

be aware the 3 sim will not work in a tablet or for tethering. I've tried.

this is a total deal breaker for me I'm afraid :mad:

BenEadir

tomslick wrote: »

Is anyone looking for a lebera sim. I'm finished with mine. Still have 1970MB left on it. It was worse than useless for 3G on the west coast of France. Used the €15 top up for 360mins to Ireland with 2Gig of data. Minutes nearly gone. Pm if you want it.

Hi Tom, I've two kids with smartphones, my wifes smartphone, my smartphone, a tablet and a work laptop so I'm I'm looking to use the Lebera SIM for data tethering in St Jean de Monts https://goo.gl/maps/86HPr for 3 weeks in late July early August rather than incur roaming charges which could bankrupt me!!!

Am I wasting my time using the Lebera SIM? Is the signal in the West of France really that bad? What network does the Lebera MVNO roam on?

Ben

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

vienne86

I spend a fair bit of time in France and have found that the coverage is very unreliable. I am roaming, so can pick up any network, and still find it difficult. In my experience, I have found Bouygues about the best of them but it really varies a lot, from one village to the next, or even within a village. There seems to be a lot of luck in it. The French are just not as much into the mobile networks as we are, and particularly they are not as into mobile data as we are. That's been my experience anyway.

tomslick

BenThere wrote: »

Hi Tom, I've two kids with smartphones, my wifes smartphone, my smartphone, a tablet and a work laptop so I'm I'm looking to use the Lebera SIM for data tethering in St Jean de Monts https://goo.gl/maps/86HPr for 3 weeks in late July early August rather than incur roaming charges which could bankrupt me!!!

Am I wasting my time using the Lebera SIM? Is the signal in the West of France really that bad? What network does the Lebera MVNO roam on?

Ben

Even with full signal on 3g in Bordeaux city the service was so so slow. It really was unusable. Same in Lourdes and St. Nazaire (port). All had Max signal but the speed wouldn't even load boards.ie.

It was a complete waste for data.

BenEadir

tomslick wrote: »

It was a complete waste for data.

$hyte

DUBLIN_person

Currently in France, My brother is using Lebara here, just outside St. Jean de monts in west France, He has 3G albeit slow 3G but it seems to do the trick. It was also just ok for the journey down from Cherbourg yesterday. Tethering was also fine.

I myself will be using a 3UK SIM, from tomorrow when the feel like home offer comes in, I will update everyone coverage wise then.

BenEadir

DUBLIN_person wrote: »

Currently in France, My brother is using Lebara here, just outside St. Jean de monts in west France, He has 3G albeit slow 3G but it seems to do the trick. It was also just ok for the journey down from Cherbourg yesterday. Tethering was also fine.

I myself will be using a 3UK SIM, from tomorrow when the feel like home offer comes in, I will update everyone coverage wise then.

Fair play Dublin_person. St Jean de monts is exactly where I'll be from July 26th to Aug 16th so anything you can tell me ref the Lebara and 3UK would be much appreciated. I've ordered both but am only interested in using them if they can be used in tethering mode. I'll be putting the sim in an old Android phone which will be left plugged in to act as a mobile hotspot in the car to and from the ferry port and in the mobile home when we are in the campsite.

I hope you're getting the weather there at the moment (it's splitting the rocks here) and all is going well. you didn't get the new LD Lines ferry over by any chance did you? It drops you off in St Nazaire which is only about an hour from St Jean de monts. The five hours driving that saves plus a tank of petrol/diesel almost pays for the ferry by itself!! https://goo.gl/maps/or6XH

Ben

DUBLIN_person

BenThere wrote: »

Fair play Dublin_person. St Jean de monts is exactly where I'll be from July 26th to Aug 16th so anything you can tell me ref the Lebara and 3UK would be much appreciated. I've ordered both but am only interested in using them if they can be used in tethering mode. I'll be putting the sim in an old Android phone which will be left plugged in to act as a mobile hotspot in the car to and from the ferry port and in the mobile home when we are in the campsite.

I hope you're getting the weather there at the moment (it's splitting the rocks here) and all is going well. you didn't get the new LD Lines ferry over by any chance did you? It drops you off in St Nazaire which is only about an hour from St Jean de monts. The five hours driving that saves plus a tank of petrol/diesel almost pays for the ferry by itself!! https://goo.gl/maps/or6XH

Ben

Got the new Irish Ferries from Dublin to Cherbourg. It's a bit small but not too bad really. Weather is getting better ... I'll let you know how I get on with the Sims anyway...

gingernut79

Ordered a giffgaff sim last night a £12 top up will get me unmilited data and lots of calls and texts for the journey in uk. The sims are free with free delivery to a uk address and I got £1 cash back on quidco with £4 more to come when I activate it (though I think the offer ends today) It's an mvno on O2 uk.

galait

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Yes I've done it.

You top up first and then buy the £15 add-on on three.co.uk. You don't need to opt in, just buy the add-on

Topping up is slightly awkward as three won't take an Irish credit card. I topped up using myphonecard.co.uk. Then went to three.co.uk, typed in the top up voucher code and bought the add on.

Also be aware the 3 sim will not work in a tablet or for tethering. I've tried.

Will it work in a MiFi Device ?

Bigcheeze

galait wrote: »

Will it work in a MiFi Device ?

No, just phones.

DUBLIN_person

Update on the Sims:.Lebara has become UN usable in The west of France here near st Jean de Monts, Was ok for.most of the journey down from Cherbourg. Tethering was also ok on Journey down.

3UK seems to be working fine here, not lightning fast, but enough to easily browse the web, maybe not enough to watch YouTube or stream music though. Also Tethering won't work as previously stated.
Roaming on BYTEL at the moment as I selected automatically, haven't tried it on other networks/ don't know if it's possible to roam on other networks yet.

Will be in Paris in a week or two, so will update then with coverage in/ around that area.

BenEadir

DUBLIN_person wrote: »

Lebara has become UN usable in The west of France here near st Jean de Monts

Damn, that's the only place I need it to work!!

DUBLIN_person wrote: »

3UK seems to be working fine here, not lightning fast, but enough to easily browse the web, maybe not enough to watch YouTube or stream music though. Also Tethering won't work as previously stated.

Double damn!! If I can't tether with it it's of no use to me

Thanks for the update DP, you've saved me a lot of hassle setting up those sims only to find out they won't work for me.

Ben

Kalyke

Any advice for pay as you go mobile broadband for Amsterdam? Its for an unlocked Huawei MiFi. I will only be there for a few days.

BenEadir

Kalyke wrote: »

Any advice for pay as you go mobile broadband for Amsterdam? Its for an unlocked Huawei MiFi. I will only be there for a few days.

I don't think MiFi's "roam". I tried this a couple of years ago and if I recall your networks APN might be hard coded into the MiFi stick thus preventing any other networks sim from working in it as it is constantly looking for e.g. Vodafone Ireland. I could be wrong on this so please validate what I'm saying elsewhere.

Ben

MICHAELO_4921

I'm in the Vendee region at Port-Bourgenay. I'm using a French sim from Joe mobile, I ordered it at home & got it delivered to the site. You need a Web connection to activate it on there website. For €30 I get call within France, landline calls back to Ireland & 7GB of data for 30 days. You log your credit card details with them, you are able to turn off the automatic top up after 30 days. If you don't top up within 6 months the sims it inactive. I'm getting 3.68mbs download & I'm able to use the device as a hotspot. They have an app you can see your usage & turn off the recharge of the sim card.

Fred Swanson

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BenEadir

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Corrected I stand!!

keithclancy

Kalyke wrote: »

Any advice for pay as you go mobile broadband for Amsterdam? Its for an unlocked Huawei MiFi. I will only be there for a few days.

You can pop into any Phonehouse or Albert Heijn supermarket and get a Lebara SIM card.

Then get 1 GB for 10 Euros, valid for 30 days.

http://www.lebara.nl/mobiel-internet

Uses the KPN Network so should be good all over Amsterdam.

APN:
multimedia.lebara.nl

Proxy: None
MCC: 204
MNC: 08

Authentication: PAP

yellow76

LEBARA sim was worse than useless for us near St Jean De monts too, western France.

I still have a sim unused if anyone wants it to try

ScouseMouse

Im using a uk 3 mobile sim in my ipad to type this in eurodisney.

I got a 20 quid top up code from family in uk. Topped up online and bought the 15 pound 3 gig data add-on.

Works grand

Fred Swanson

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ScouseMouse

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

When u travelling?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

m4r10

Any tips on a sim for Spain? I'm only interested in a data plan, no calls or text.

martyc5674

My lebara sims working fine on il de re south west france.
Once or twice couldn't use data but for the most part its good.
For some reason seems slow on the phone but if I tether phone to ipad forinstance the ipad is way faster for browsing.
Ive now put SIM into a mifi device and its working pretty well.
Marty