This is more of an FYI. We just returned from our trip to Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. I can say I found the perfect solution for my unlocked phone for all countries we visited. Before leaving the US I purchased the OneSim Card. Worked perfect for phone and data in all countries and not bad rates at all. Just remember to turn your data roaming off until you want to recieve your emails or check the web for something and you will be fine. After much research I found this was a great alternative to buying a Sim for each country. Customer service was great and very helpful.
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA
7 posts
Alex, where did you purchase your OneSim Card? Does it work with all smart phones and all carriers? We have T-Mobile and were advised to have our phone unlocked and then purchase a pre-paid Sim card in France.
Posted by
OP
Longmont, CO, USA
527 posts
You can buy it direct from OneSim. http://www.onesimcard.com/
Easy to set up and customer service is very helpful. They have a listing of the phones they support, mine ( a newer smartphone) wasn't on the list so I asked them and sure enough it was supported. Loaded the card in when we arrived and never had a problem. It automatically searches for the carrier they have a contract with in the particular country. The site has a listing for which carriers in each country. Much easier than trying to get a Sim over there and you will be communicating with them in English as well, not the local language.
Posted by
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
35 posts
Alex... a question... what if I use the GPS on my iPad or Iphone and I have data roaming on for several hours while driving? Will I incur high fees? Is it better to buy a local SIM for the country I'm visiting? I did some country hopping (flying & renting a car) in July and used a different SIM in each country and it worked fine. Many companies offer free SIM's or charge a nominal fee. Thanks..
Posted by
Tilburg, Netherlands
2829 posts
John, roaming data fees are on the high-ish side between European carriers in different countries. On the range of € 1 / MB sometimes. However, if you are using an offline map GPS navigator (like a TomTom app on your smartphone), you really don't use much data for traffic live info etc. But if you plan on counting on data services for something like Google Maps (that needs to actually load the map as you go), it can become very expensive.
Posted by
OP
Longmont, CO, USA
527 posts
Onesim listed rates for data on their site, see my first response. I believe it is around .65 mb. Not too bad.
Posted by
San Antonio TX, United States
2393 posts
Although I am sure the previous post is a sales person from that other company who resurrected this I will comment on OneSim.
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I just checked their website and data roaming is pretty expensive. .50/MB (50.00 2 100 MB) .30/MB if you buy a weekly package or .20/MB if you purchase the monthly package at $99.95.
My Verizon is .25/MB when roaming and I can use my own phone that has all my stuff in it.
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Just an observation
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2787 posts
Every post before Christi's is from 2012! Hope she realizes that.
Posted by
San Antonio TX, United States
2393 posts
Yes Charlie I did realize it - the thread was revived by one of those recent spam posts. I just thought I'd update the info in case the next reader did not realize it was so old.