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Going to france
- Thread starter rathomo
- Start date
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- Tags
- nexus 7 (2012)
Nelviticus
Well-Known Member
Who's your carrier? Just before I left T-Mobile they sent me a message saying that (finally) you could buy data bundles for use in Europe. I haven't looked into it for other carriers but they probably do something similar, following them all getting rapped over the knuckles for their horrendous EU data roaming charges.
If you're network unlocked and not Orange branded you can.
Orange have bundles to use abroad, but they're extortionate: Using Your Mobile Abroad | Roaming | Help and Support | Orange UK
It just means you can use other SIMs in it. It does void your warranty though (in saying that, I've given 2 rooted handsets back to Orange and they didn't bat an eye lid).
I went to one a local shop so my Mrs could use her Giff Gaff SIM in my old Orange branded HTC One X and they were going to charge
MISS DIVA
Android Enthusiast
You could buy an unlocked Mifi modem and put a local data sim in it. The advantage is that up to 5 devices can be hooked up to it at the same time
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-E533...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370985796&sr=8-1&keywords=mifi
As quoted by this Amazon reviewer:
Easy to use, nothing to install. Very great for mobile internet access with iPad, iPhone and laptop. Very great
cannot live without it. Especially a good thing for short stays abroad using foreign SIM cards.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Huawei-E533...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370985796&sr=8-1&keywords=mifi
As quoted by this Amazon reviewer:
Easy to use, nothing to install. Very great for mobile internet access with iPad, iPhone and laptop. Very great
cannot live without it. Especially a good thing for short stays abroad using foreign SIM cards.
I didn't when I unlocked mine, not sure if the process differs for your phone.
BubbaHotepUK
Member
My vote is for the MiFi if you travel a lot. It has the advantage that you buy one local SIM with data on it, then can use your phone and tablet, laptop etc. with it. When you go to another country, all you need to do is change the SIM in the MiFi, nothing else needs to be touched.
Does anyone have a link/advice to get a French PAYG SIM that will deliver to the UK?
Out in the French Sticks you don't find many Mobile Phone shops and I would prefer to get setup prior to going.
By the way. The maximum roaming and data rates are being forced down again from 1st July 2013 by the EU. eg Mobile call from France to UK drops from 28p/min to 24p/min. I don't have the new dta rates to hand, I will try and find them.
Update from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulationshttp
From 1/7/2013 Maximum roaming rates
Outgoing calls 24p/min was 28p
incoming calls 7p/min was 8p
SMS 8p
MMS 45p
data transmission (1MB) 45p was 70p (20p from 1/7/2014)
Out in the French Sticks you don't find many Mobile Phone shops and I would prefer to get setup prior to going.
By the way. The maximum roaming and data rates are being forced down again from 1st July 2013 by the EU. eg Mobile call from France to UK drops from 28p/min to 24p/min. I don't have the new dta rates to hand, I will try and find them.
Update from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulationshttp
From 1/7/2013 Maximum roaming rates
Outgoing calls 24p/min was 28p
incoming calls 7p/min was 8p
SMS 8p
MMS 45p
data transmission (1MB) 45p was 70p (20p from 1/7/2014)
MISS DIVA
Android Enthusiast
GeoUSA
Android Enthusiast
Here's a quick report of my experience traveling with my USA Verizon global smartphone (HTC Incredible 4G) in New Zealand and Australia earlier this year. Verizon assured me all of their 4G global phones are unlocked and would accept a foreign SIM.
I opted to keep the phone in airplane mode while in New Zealand. Free Wi-Fi is plentiful there and worked for occasional use.
When I reached Melbourne Australia, I stopped in a Telstra store and purchased a pre-paid SIM. There were about four different price levels. The mid-level was $50 Australian. I opted for the $70 plan which included 1.5gb of data and about $1,400 credit for phone calls including international calls.
Swapping the SIM chip went smoothly. Initially there was no connection but going into Settings > Mobile Network > Network Mode and switching it from LTE to Global did the trick. At that point text messages arrived from Telstra and I had cellular signal bars. As instructed by Telstra I placed a call and entered an ID number to add the appropriate minutes for my package to the SIM. Data and MMS did not work while I was in Melbourne. When I arrived in Sydney I made several international calls to family and friends and the connection was clear. It was not necessary to dial + first or any country codes -- it just worked. Free Wi-fi was not as common in Sydney and I was motivated to get data working. The SIM card included a small user guide which included a web site to visit to solve data problems. Using this link prompted me to choose manufacturer and model of my phone. While the Inc4G wasn't an option, the IncS was. Essentially I had to go into Settings > Mobile Network > CDMA Options > Access Point Names > Menu > New APN to enter a bunch of settings for Telstra including username, password, server address, and port. Data started working and I would sometimes get 3G service as well as other levels like "H" which I had never seen before. Performance was not bad. Frequently the connection speed was "E" (Edge I presume) and even that had decent performance.
At this time I had both APN settings for Telstra and Verizon in my phone. Telstra was the one selected. It was great to have mobile data including navigation and Google review info while in a new city. Friends and family were surprised to receive voice calls.
Returning home there was a challenge. I swapped my Verizon SIM chip back into the phone only to find the only APN setting was Telstra. I'm not sure why, but the Verizon APN setting vanished. The result was no data on the phone when back in the USA. Ugh. Not wanting to call Verizon Wireless, I searched the Internet for solutions. Others reported no success with Verizon in similar situations and ended up having to perform the dreaded factory data reset. Nooooo! I called 611 and received a pretty good support person. His suggestion was to keep pulling and inserting the Verizon SIM and one time it would pull the Verizon settings. Apparently they are not hand-entered like they are with Australia's Telstra. No luck. Then my call with the Verizon rep dropped or he hung up. I found a friend with a Verizon HTC phone and discovered the name of the Verizon APN was VZWInternet. I created a new APN with this name, pulled the SIM and reinserted and instantly received a 4G connection. Hooray!
I opted to keep the phone in airplane mode while in New Zealand. Free Wi-Fi is plentiful there and worked for occasional use.
When I reached Melbourne Australia, I stopped in a Telstra store and purchased a pre-paid SIM. There were about four different price levels. The mid-level was $50 Australian. I opted for the $70 plan which included 1.5gb of data and about $1,400 credit for phone calls including international calls.
Swapping the SIM chip went smoothly. Initially there was no connection but going into Settings > Mobile Network > Network Mode and switching it from LTE to Global did the trick. At that point text messages arrived from Telstra and I had cellular signal bars. As instructed by Telstra I placed a call and entered an ID number to add the appropriate minutes for my package to the SIM. Data and MMS did not work while I was in Melbourne. When I arrived in Sydney I made several international calls to family and friends and the connection was clear. It was not necessary to dial + first or any country codes -- it just worked. Free Wi-fi was not as common in Sydney and I was motivated to get data working. The SIM card included a small user guide which included a web site to visit to solve data problems. Using this link prompted me to choose manufacturer and model of my phone. While the Inc4G wasn't an option, the IncS was. Essentially I had to go into Settings > Mobile Network > CDMA Options > Access Point Names > Menu > New APN to enter a bunch of settings for Telstra including username, password, server address, and port. Data started working and I would sometimes get 3G service as well as other levels like "H" which I had never seen before. Performance was not bad. Frequently the connection speed was "E" (Edge I presume) and even that had decent performance.
At this time I had both APN settings for Telstra and Verizon in my phone. Telstra was the one selected. It was great to have mobile data including navigation and Google review info while in a new city. Friends and family were surprised to receive voice calls.
Returning home there was a challenge. I swapped my Verizon SIM chip back into the phone only to find the only APN setting was Telstra. I'm not sure why, but the Verizon APN setting vanished. The result was no data on the phone when back in the USA. Ugh. Not wanting to call Verizon Wireless, I searched the Internet for solutions. Others reported no success with Verizon in similar situations and ended up having to perform the dreaded factory data reset. Nooooo! I called 611 and received a pretty good support person. His suggestion was to keep pulling and inserting the Verizon SIM and one time it would pull the Verizon settings. Apparently they are not hand-entered like they are with Australia's Telstra. No luck. Then my call with the Verizon rep dropped or he hung up. I found a friend with a Verizon HTC phone and discovered the name of the Verizon APN was VZWInternet. I created a new APN with this name, pulled the SIM and reinserted and instantly received a 4G connection. Hooray!