European SIM card

[flyincanuck]

Hello,

I have a Canadian unlocked blackberry. Roaming charges are incredibly high overseas in europe.

Can anyone suggest a pay-as-you go SIM card that would include data?

I frequent most countries in Europe.

Tks!

fc

[Gomrath]

I did the same a few weeks back and used an Orange PAYG Sim. They charged me 5 UK Pounds for the data charge for a month.
There may be better options with Vodafone or T-Mobile but Orange worked OK for me.
Make sure you get a 3G Sim card.

You may find that your Canadian BB may not have the same channels as those used in the UK and Europe so it will step down to the common denominator (potentially slower).

[BOAC]

Mobile Roaming: Use your phone abroad for free... (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-roaming-calls#global)

[Mike-Bracknell]

Always buy in-country. Data-roaming charges are a rip-off wherever you go.

[BOAC]

Five disadvantages?

Arriving at 0-gawd-awful and needing to buy a Sim.

A different number everywhere you go.

You pay for incoming international calls.

Expensive calls out of area

Potentially unkown data costs

[Loose rivets]

I brought my Motorola Cliq XT over from Texas. To my chagrin I found T-Mob were a different mob in the UK. Roaming and other 'services' ate £10 a day. I screamed . . . loudly, and they offered to turn off the toys.

In a cliq (groan) they'd done the deed, and given me a deal with my old UK number - yes, not the US one - and a service which gives me 100 mins a month plus the £10's worth I have to spend to keep it going. Fine for me, but 20 quid would buy 600 mins and free texts.

I've got my old sim ready for landing back in the US.

It's not a rich man's setup I know, but it does the trick, and having an expensive phone at least means I can hear just what's being said -very, very clearly with dual earpieces. What's more, the battery lasts DAYS. Before, it was a few hours.

The warning is that the sucking of money out of my account was without any form of warning.

hee hee...a pal of mine here in the UK played a game. He's old enough to have known better, but that's what he did. It stole £20, and loooooog after he'd forgotten about games, it stole another 20, and another. It took 3 hours on A PAID CALL to resolve the nonsense, and they couldn't, by law, turn if off for some days.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Five disadvantages?

Arriving at 0-gawd-awful and needing to buy a Sim.

A different number everywhere you go.

You pay for incoming international calls.

Expensive calls out of area

Potentially unkown data costs

Five rebuttals:

- If you arrive at 0-gawd-awful and need to use a data SIM, you're either in the wrong job or you should be prepared to swallow the data roaming charges

- It's a data-roaming SIM, who cares what the number is?

- Ditto incoming international calls

- Ditto expensive calls out of area

- You've bought the SIM, you should know the data costs, especially since it'll be cash-based against a PAYG SIM.

[BOAC]

Thank you for your 'rebuttals' - refer to OP?
Can anyone suggest a pay-as-you go SIM card that would include data? .
Many crew members DO arrive at unsocial hours unlike office wallahs - and this is an aviation website, is it not?

[mixture]

BOAC,

Can anyone suggest a pay-as-you go SIM card that would include data?

In the UK, look at 3. They do one that comes with 1GB (which you can then top up).

Many crew members DO arrive at unsocial hours unlike office wallahs - and this is an aviation website, is it not?

Yes, but surely if you want roaming data and can't claim it on expenses, there are many more financially suitable ways to get yourself onto the interweb than paying expensive mobile data charges (particularly on PAYG where you will be charged a premium).

[BOAC]

Same for you, M, the quote was from the OP who I was seeking to help, not me! I'm fine for data. Can anyone suggest a pay-as-you go SIM card that would include data? - the OP did not ask specifically about Data and I expect he/she would prefer not to have to give all contacts a new number every time he/she lands in a different country - well, I would!

[mixture]

Well, you see, the problem is the word PAYG.

For a member of crew looking for something for their personal use, and only wanting to use PAYG SIMs, I would suggest keeping their present "home country" SIM and then just using WiFi to get onto Vonage or Skype where they can then receive their calls on one number wherever they are (yes, they would have to tell their contacts about their second phone number, but no more than that).

On contract, there are a few things you can do to reduce the cost of roaming (if you insist on using your mobile for voice/data rather than local facilities). The likes of Vodafone World, Vodafone Passport, Vodafone Data Traveller etc.

[BOAC]

I do recommend you look at Mobile Roaming: Use your phone abroad for free... (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/cheap-roaming-calls#global).

[Gomrath]

I stick by my initial reply to the OP. I recommended Orange which is what I used 3 weeks ago in my US Blackberry and for a measly 5 quid, I got a month of data usage which was perfectly acceptable and reasonably cheap phone calls. I think from memory I topped it up with 20 quid at the time and came back to the US still with 10 quid remaining.

By my putting an Orange Sim in, I did not divulge my new temporary number to anybody in the US - cos I didn't want to be bugged so there were no roaming charges.
If anybody wanted me - they could email me.

Worked for me.

[IO540]

Most UK networks offer very cheap data SIM deals. Same in most of Europe.

Obviously if you stick one of these SIMs into your phone, the phone # changes and nobody can call you anymore :)

So, look up a device called E585. Get one which is unlocked (Ebay). That is what I use when I go abroad; I pop the locally purchased SIM into that. It provides a wifi connection, which can support several devices concurrently. It's a superb solution.

[Frelon]

I have just inherited my daughter's iPhone 3GS when she upgraded to an iPhone 4!! I am like a kid with a new toy, but do not want to be hit by high call charges so use PAYG from O2 in UK.

I live in France so am conscious of potentially high call charges so have downloaded one of the Apps called VoipDiscount. I invested 10€ up front and then (provided I am in a WiFi zone) I can make free calls to landlines for three months!! At the end of the free usage period my call costs are deducted, as are calls to mobiles (at a low rate) from my 10€. As soon as you top up your three months of free calls starts again.

I feel certain the this app is available for Android and Blackberry systems.

Certainly worth a try. I have been most impressed with VoipDiscount.

[EEngr]

When you go overseas and buy a prepaid SIM, just dial back into your domestic number and call forward to the SIM #. If you can afford the international calling charges and your domestic number isn't in the hands of every chatty SOB in town.