Cell Phone Data Plan

Kevin, there are companies that offer service to cover Europe, including data service. Companies such as Telestial or Mobal and so on. After looking into them, however, I'd instead recommend getting a SIM from one of the countries you visit and then using that SIM to roam Europe. You'll get better rates. These "all Europe SIM" companies actually are usually just selling you a SIM with a U.K. phone number so you'll be roaming with them anyway (and paying their extra, sometimes substantial, markup). There apparently is no such thing as having one phone number for all of Europe. I don't know the specifics of each country you listed, but I have looked at SIMs available in the U.K. T-Mobile U.K. has some very decent rates for roaming in Europe. Check out some of the recent posts in this forum for details or google T-Mobile U.K. and look for yourself. Check out the European discussion in Howard Forums dot com, too.

I was just in Italy for 3 weeks and used iphonetrip.com. They sent me a micro SIM card that worked with my standard locked AT&T iPhone. It cost me $15 a day. It worked very well.

I'm looking for the same thing, something like the Sprint mobile broadband hotspot. @Lisa: Where did you find that deal? The only plan I could find on their website was $319 a month. $15 would be great. 20 times that is, um, quite a few meals.

Paul, I think you need to reread Lisa's post. She paid $15 a day so the $319 a month you saw is actually a discount over the $450 that $15 a day adds up to be. As I said, you have to get a local SIM from somewhere in Europe that has halfway decent data roaming rates. With T-Mobile U.K. for example, you can roam for 30 days in most European countries for £10 up to 50 MB.

If you have an unlocked phone you should be able to buy a SIM card locally, but you will need a different one for each country. I was able to buy a SIM card for an unlocked android Nexus S and my iPad in Italy. The SIM card for the phone cost 15 euros and that included an initial 5 euro credit. The iPad micro SIM was 35 euros for 5 GB within a month. Other wise you will pay more buying an international SIM or roaming on your own carrier.

Lisa, if Kevin can live with one European country's data roaming rates, he doesn't need to buy a new SIM in each country. That's what I plan to do on my next trip. The European data roaming rates aren't horrible. I can live with T-Mobile U.K.'s rates for 50 MB. My data needs aren't that extreme. As I understand the process from the T-Mobile web site, as soon as I turn on my phone in a European country, I'll get a message screen giving me the option to sign up for a data plan. At least that is how it is supposed to work. I'll let all know when I return. If Kevin has need for more data, then, yes, I'd recommend he get a SIM in each country so he wouldn't be roaming.

Thanks for the input everyone. Others have suggested that I get a SIM card for each country as the cheapest option, but I shy away from it because I won't be spending more than 2-3 weeks in any given country...and I feel like there should be an easier way somehow. I imagine 25-50 MB per month would suffice (wouldn't even need call minutes or texts)...I guess as a cheapskate, I'm just frustrated that I can pay $10 for 50 mb as I do in the USA.

Kevin wrote: I imagine 25-50 MB per month would suffice (wouldn't even need call minutes or texts)...I guess as a cheapskate, I'm just frustrated that I can pay $10 for 50 mb as I do in the USA. How about 50 MB for $16.10? That's what T-Mobile U.K. is offering. If you were in the U.K., it would be only $8 for 500 MB for a month. You can't beat that here. T-Mobile U.K.'s Pay As You Go Euro Internet Booster works in every country you've listed with the exception of Turkey. Advantage of a U.K.-based SIM? The messages you'll get from the company are in English. Its web site is in English. Because you are not going to the U.K. - and if you feel at all adventurous - you can go the ebay's U.K. site and buy a prepaid SIM and a top up e-voucher. You'll need to find a seller that offers to mail it to the U.S. and you'll need a paypal account if you don't have one. Don't limit yourself to T-Mobile. Other British carriers are on there, too. I just keep mentioning T-Mobile because it is the one I'm most familiar with, because I have a U.K. number from them, and because I know they offer Europe-wide data roaming. I suspect you might need to activate the SIM once you are in Europe and not from the U.S., but I've never done this before, so this is speculation on my part. I am happy to report that I was able to successfully add 10 pounds credit to my phone from the U.S. with a top up e-voucher I just bought off ebay. I've been pretty successful with ebay purchases so far, but it is always a bit of a gamble, so I'm happy it worked.