Back in 2019 the biggest mistake I made on our great 3 week vacation in Europe was driving around to locate a SIM card, I wanted help setting it up. I never did find the help, eventually bought the SIM from a dollar store and figured it out myself on the trunk of our rental vehicle.
3 years the wiser I presume I can get off my plane in Gatwick, walk into the WH Smith store, and grab a couple of EE SIM cards fairly painlessly, correct?
Yes
The mvno options are more affordable, such as Lyca and Lebara.
They should be available at the store, too.
If it's a UK trip ,I can vouch for Giffgaff and Lebara.
too
Tend to be much better value.
Lebara have a good offer right now double data on signing up
If you go Giffgaff be sure to convert your credit to a goodybag for best value, so set up on a wifi network
Too be honest in the UK it's hard to find any general store or supermarket that does not carry a range of SIMs
30 pounds for 100 Gb, seems like a good deal to me, haven't seen anything else that makes me want to look elsehwere.
For my trip to the Uk in 2018, I ordered a Giff-Gaff sim card online.
It came by mail about a week later, with excellent instructions on how to set it up.
They also have an online forum for questions about it.
I practiced setting it up at home, and took it out again till I was traveling.
About an hour before landing at Heathrow, I reinstalled it; and as soon as I landed it connected me to their network.
It cost me Ten Pounds back then, not sure what it is now.
I liked it and it was very efficient for my two week trip!
I think if you look back in my posts from late 2018, I might have posted about it then.
I've also used a Lebara card on a previous trip, just bought from a small shop.
If you practice how to remove and reinstall your own sim card at home, you can do it yourself.
They are both good for the UK, but I don't know about on the continent.
£20 on Giffgaff for 100 Gb
£35 for unlimited .
Plenty of choice either way
I am assuming it's just a UK trip .
If you are heading to " Europe" ,post Brexit, the roaming rates will have to be carefully checked.
The activation takes a few minutes for UK Sims to be active
Thanx for all the SIM suggestions, I actually was more interested in ease of grabbing the cards, I take it it's not too dififcult to get out of there quickly with whatever SIM I want.
They will be out on display by the payment desks.
They will not ask for ID as they do in Europe,
Don't hold me to this but I think there are vending machines in the airport too
There can be a premium for sim cards sold in machines at airport.
If Giffgaff posts the sim to your home address prior to your trip, it would be a lot more convenient obviously.
Richard (and others)
Thanx for your advice regarding GiffGaff, checked it out and it looks perfect for my purposes. Plus I'm stunned they have posted two SIM's to us in Canada already, I honestly didn't think a company would post internationally. Look forward to using their services.
Is there any danger to using a new SIM when accessing online banking or credit cards during a trip? If not, GiffGaff looks like a great way to use my phone in the UK.
Is there any danger to using a new SIM when accessing online banking or credit cards during a trip? If not, GiffGaff looks like a great way to use my phone in the UK.
No. The SIM is simply the tool to acess a connection to the internet. All the security issues are handled by the website you are accessing (assuming that your phone itself is free of viruses).
Following up on this earlier discussion, I took Jeff's advice and got the GiffGaff. They had a SIM delivered to my home in the US within 5 days of my request, and I was ready to go once the plane landed. For local calls, it worked really well. I also paid extra money to make international calls, but wasn't able to use it since none of my family could accept international calls (which I found out when I got there). I contacted GiffGaff after I returned home and explained the situation, and they refunded the extra money. I highly recommend this company!
