Comments on: Guide To Using Smartphones, SIM Cards, and Data Plans In Europe

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 13:08:00 +0000

Is contact information, phone numbers, etc stored in the SIM cards? If I choose to use SIM cards in western Europe, will this information be unavailable until the original SIM card is placed back in the phone? Or is this information stored independent of the SIM card?

By: Dori

Dori — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 12:24:00 +0000

In reply to Bonnie.

I don’t know about Isreal, Greece and Italy
In Croatia, just find a kiosk or go to a mobile phone shop and you’ll find one thre

By: Gielle Kaikey

Gielle Kaikey — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 23:22:00 +0000

What about mobile wifi? I used Mobil wifi in japan and in france. I used Skype and Facetime to communicate (call/connect) with family and friends in US during trip. I was able to do navigational and information apps everywhere without having to find places with free wifi. Is this a good option for me in Budapest and Prague? Thanks in advance.

By: Jose Cifuentes

Jose Cifuentes — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 13:16:00 +0000

I do want data because I want to pop up my pokemon go in Europe every once in a while and I’ve been looking for so much information about the best way for data plans in EU. I’ll buy a sim card on each country I’ll be visiting as it seems that is the best way to go. Thank you for your post!

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 22:07:43 +0000

Great advice! Thanks! I got ripped off at an airport at FCO – Rome. I remember I saw a much better deal in the city or even at the Termini station in Rome. Anyways, another thing I would add is T-Mobile is a great option for U.S. Travelers traveling international. I’ve traveled to many countries and used their free international data and texting. Just another choice to think about 🙂

By: Bonnie

Bonnie — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 22:13:00 +0000

I’m traveling to Israel, Greece, Croatia and Italy soon and I was wondering where to get the sim cards for my unlocked iPhone 5s? I only really need data. Do I need to order the nano sim cards in advance?

By: Emily Z

Emily Z — Thu, 14 May 2015 13:42:00 +0000

Thank you for the tips! Super helpful. Also, you can call on your cell internationally, just make sure you set your calls to route through Google Voice if it’s international. I do that here in the US, and Google Voice will automatically take over the call if it’s international and tells you the rate per minute for the call. Usually 1 cent per minute. 😀

By: Igor Babichev

Igor Babichev — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 18:41:00 +0000

In reply to JS. Haven't tried KeepGo, but they seem to quite expensive and don't offer voice/text.

By: JS

JS — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 07:02:00 +0000

has anyone tried keepgo? I am planning to travel a few euro countries over the span of 3 weeks and keepgo seems to offer the best value for what they are charging

By: Igor Babichev

Igor Babichev — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 23:06:00 +0000

During my last trip to Europe I used KnowRoaming, they sell a “sticker” to your original SIM card which is effectively a SIM card on its own, and have decent rates for calls and data. In most European countries you’ll pay ~$0.10/min to US/Canada, ~$0.17-$0.20/min for calls to most European countriles, $0.15/tepxt, $0.15/MB of data and you can always purchase an unlimited data package for $8 valid for 24 hours (gives you 250 MB at full speed and then throttles to 128kbps). The best part about this data plan – it can be shared if your smartphone has hotspot option. By default SIM card comes with a US and UK number for free (and you can set your original number as displayed caller id when making outbound calls), but you can purchase additional numbers in various countries (Canadian number is $3/month), including European countries you’ll be visiting to allow locals to reach you using a local number, and to forward calls to your original phone number to this travel SIM in case you live outside of US/UK (I live in Canada for example). Overall, my experience was great and having instant access to internet saved me a lot of time when finding directions and in some cases money because I could research prices / find cheaper restaurants in the area instantly.