sim cards in italy/spain/and england

[canook1]

Any recommendations of sim cards for traveling to Spain/Italy and England on a Viking ocean cruise.

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

21 minutes ago, canook1 said:

Any recommendations of sim cards for traveling to Spain/Italy and England on a Viking ocean cruise.

 

Not that simple.

make and model of phone?

"unlocked" (for use with other SIM cards)?

capable of wifi calling?

your regular carrier?

etc?

etc?

etc?

If Viking doesn't throttle/block your cellular  provider's wifi calling, use that onboard with you purchased or complimentary Viking internet account. On land, check roaming packages provided by your carrier (e.g., AT&T daily or monthly "passport").

Be extra careful about free wifi on land (watch the NBC News reports about port and resort wifi  hacking.

 

[navybankerteacher]

Depending upon how much you plan to use your phone, you might find that buying a Mobal phone (about $40) and just paying for minutes used is the better way.  We use ours - sparingly - every time we are overseas for the few times we find a phone necessary.

[FlyerTalker]

If you want some comprehensive info on prepaid SIM cards throughout the world, this resource has proven to be one of the best.  I regularly use it, and have benefited tremendously.

 

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

[Extra Kim]

I would just get a pre-paid card. Since all countries in the EU "count as one" when it comes to mobile traffic, you will have the same cost for calling in all 3 countries as in the country you buy the card.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Extra Kim

[SRF]

Or switch to T-Mobile and get unlimited data and text, and 25 cents per minute calling in over 210 countries.

 

I travel a lot internationally for work, and switched a number of years ago and really enjoy having service most places.

 

If your phone and carrier support wifi calling, there are a LOT of free wifi hotspots around Europe.

[Heidi13]

On 10/23/2018 at 4:55 PM, canook1 said:

Any recommendations of sim cards for traveling to Spain/Italy and England on a Viking ocean cruise.

 

In UK, most of the people I know are using a SIM card from the grocery store Tesco. Currently works throughout Europe, but that may end with Brexit. Other option is visiting one of the many independent mobile phone stores and get a SIM from a provider that meets your needs.

 

However, to use another SIM card your phone needs to be unlocked.

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

In UK, most of the people I know are using a SIM card from the grocery store Tesco. Currently works throughout Europe, but that may end with Brexit. Other option is visiting one of the many independent mobile phone stores and get a SIM from a provider that meets your needs.

 

However, to use another SIM card your phone needs to be unlocked.

FYI 

if anyone is considering buying a new iPhone, you can buy a "sim free" (I.e., "unlocked") one but, only from Apple (their stores or Apple online). You can then use different SIM cards as circumstances may dictate.

[lisiamc]

9 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

In UK, most of the people I know are using a SIM card from the grocery store Tesco. Currently works throughout Europe, but that may end with Brexit. Other option is visiting one of the many independent mobile phone stores and get a SIM from a provider that meets your needs.

 

However, to use another SIM card your phone needs to be unlocked.

 

I think it might depend on your circle of acquaintances!  I don’t know anyone on the Tesco network.  Most of our friends use Three, since they have a long list of countries outside the EU/EEC where we can use our data allowance for no extra charge.  

[newport dave]

On 10/24/2018 at 1:24 AM, Flatbush Flyer said:

Not that simple.

make and model of phone?

"unlocked" (for use with other SIM cards)?

capable of wifi calling?

your regular carrier?

etc?

etc?

etc?

If Viking doesn't throttle/block your cellular  provider's wifi calling, use that onboard with you purchased or complimentary Viking internet account. On land, check roaming packages provided by your carrier (e.g., AT&T daily or monthly "passport").

Be extra careful about free wifi on land (watch the NBC News reports about port and resort wifi  hacking.

 

More scare mongering from US news agencies... 

[Flatbush Flyer]

17 minutes ago, newport dave said:

More scare mongering from US news agencies... 

 

17 minutes ago, newport dave said:

More scare mongering from US news agencies... 

Obviously never seen a Rossen Report...

[newport dave]

24 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

Obviously never seen a Rossen Report...

Just watched said video and not a single bit of evidence provided. Just a "expert" showing what is allegedly happening. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

Travel much?

[newport dave]

6 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Travel much?

Yes, all over the world. Used WiFi all over. Never had any trouble. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, newport dave said:

Yes, all over the world. Used WiFi all over. Never had any trouble. 

Perhaps you're encrypting your data and using. VPN?

in any case: 

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-hackers-can-use-public-wi-fi-steal-identity/

 

That said, consider yourself lucky. A Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report announced that 594 million people around the world were victims of cybercrime in 2015, with 21% of Americans getting their email hacked and 12% having their financial data stolen after shopping online. With public Wi-Fi available everywhere, what seems like a convenience can actually put you at risk. Free public Wi-Fi is a hacker’s playground for stealing personal information.

[FlyerTalker]

If you rely on "free" wifi, and don't use a VPN, you are basically saying "Hello...my front door is open, my back door is open, my garage door is open and you are welcome to come in and take any of my stuff that's in my house".

 

But if that's OK with you.....

[lisiamc]

On 10/25/2018 at 4:18 AM, Flatbush Flyer said:

FYI 

if anyone is considering buying a new iPhone, you can buy a "sim free" (I.e., "unlocked") one but, only from Apple (their stores or Apple online). You can then use different SIM cards as circumstances may dictate.

I do tend to buy my phones directly from Apple, but at least in the UK, you can buy a SIM-free phones from other retailers such as John Lewis, Amazon and Argos as well.

 

And I definitely see the point about the insecurity of public WiFi.  I pay annually for what I hope is a good VPN, for an extra layer of security.

[Viv0828]

if you're only going to use your phone occasionally, all the us carriers have overseas plans.  

for $40 a month on verizon, you get 100 texts, 100 minutes of calling and 100mg of data.  

if you plan to use your phone a lot you probably do need a foreign sim card

[FlyerTalker]

2 minutes ago, Viv0828 said:

if you're only going to use your phone occasionally, all the us carriers have overseas plans.  

for $40 a month on verizon, you get 100 texts, 100 minutes of calling and 100mg of data.  

if you plan to use your phone a lot you probably do need a foreign sim card

 

Given how so many websites and apps have become data hogs, that 100mg can be easily eaten up before you know it.  I suggest that you get an app such as 3G Watchdog (or similar) and monitor just how much you currently use your phone.  Then decide if the amount of data provided is sufficient.  Also, suggest you monitor your usage so you don't go over when abroad.

[VMax1700]

27 minutes ago, Viv0828 said:

 100mg of data.  

 

 

mg ?  milligrammes??

mb = megabytes

gb = gigabytes

[crzndeb]

On 10/24/2018 at 7:13 AM, SRF said:

Or switch to T-Mobile and get unlimited data and text, and 25 cents per minute calling in over 210 countries.

 

I travel a lot internationally for work, and switched a number of years ago and really enjoy having service most places.

 

If your phone and carrier support wifi calling, there are a LOT of free wifi hotspots around Europe.

 

I’m glad you mentioned this...I switched to T-Mobile after many, many years with Sprint. Their coverage in foreign countries is outstanding. I was just on a Baltics/TA cruise, and I got the text message of my coverage in every single country and port we stopped at. This included Russia, Tallinn, Iceland, Greenland, and the rest. No messing around with SIM cards. And Mexico and Canada are free calls.

 

Plus it only costs me $50 (all taxes included in the price) for the +55 plan.

Edited October 26, 2018 by crzndeb

[Extra Kim]

On my last SIM-card I paid 10-11$ for one month, during that month I had free calls, free SMS, free MMS and 1GB data.

I think that the "free" part had some limit, but I never reached it.

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, Viv0828 said:

if you're only going to use your phone occasionally, all the us carriers have overseas plans.  

for $40 a month on verizon, you get 100 texts, 100 minutes of calling and 100mg of data.  

if you plan to use your phone a lot you probably do need a foreign sim card

Prices in UK/Europe are significantly cheaper. We spent 5 months last year and for UKP 10 per month (no contract) we had unlimited UK minutes, unlimited texts, 100 International minutes and 1GB data every 30 days.