My experience with public mobile overseas in Europe

[Jamar_so_far]

Overall, the best part was not having to worry about if your data was on off, airplane mode, etc because there is no data roaming or service overseas.

A couple times during our Portugal trip though we needed a phone and I was unable to use mine in a pinch, so that sucked as you could always roam with the big 3, Koodo, etc.

Nice to know you're not gonna end up with weird charges post vacay though. An added bonus that I didn't think about was having a 120 day plan. With 3 weeks of not using my data would have meant unused data for a 30 monthly period, so now I have even more for the remainder of the plan. Definitely an advocate for the 120 day plan now.

[Jamar_so_far]

We were in Portugal and went with Vodafone with good success. I believe there is also NOS and Meo in Portugal but can't vouch for them. In other countries, i have used TIM in Italy and it was cheap and fast, Deutsche telekom in Germany (basically t mobile) and Orange in France.

[MoreYummy]

@Jamar_so_far Which carrier do you recomend for europe for hotspot wifi ?

[Michael77]

I hope you enjoyed your vacation. 🙂

[Mana]

As long as you have an unlocked phone, you can buy a local sim when you land at most airports. 

[Jamar_so_far]

Oh yeah, I've used plenty of SIM cards overseas. Since I was travelling with family we actually just picked up mobile wifi hotspot and grabbed a 30gb SIM of 3g for 15€. worked like a charm.

As long as you're travelling with someone and has something other than PM you're set. Anyone who's travelled abroad knows sometimes you can't find wifi and you're in a pinch to contact a hotel, Airbnb, etc so you just need to pony up and make the $$ call.

[imm1304]

Thanks for sharing your experience @Jamar_so_far.

With wifi or using mobile data, we can use Hangout Dialer or similiar apps such as Fongo, to make free calls to Canada/US from anywhere in the world.  

So I tend to forward my number to my fongo number before leaving and then pick up a much cheaper data plan on one of the local carriers.  Its always much cheaper to go this route.  

Whatsapp and similar messaging apps are increasingly more popular so I don't really miss the sms functionality while I am away.

[will13am]

@Jamar_so_far, since your SIM card is not welded in place, why not buy some local service if you need it?  It is always cheaper to shop locally.