You might have noticed that I am blogging a bit less at the moment than normal. Among other things it’s got something to do with that I am currently on vacation traveling through Europe. Staying connected has become much easier in recent years but still requires a fair amount of self organization, a bag full of SIM cards and willingness to spend a certain amount of money. So how much do I spend for Internet connectivity during my 3 weeks vacation?
Things are complicated since I spend my vacation in four countries: Austria, Italy, southern France and Spain. For Austria I’ve bought a prepaid SIM from ‘3’ for eMail and Web access via my Nokia N93. Works well and details will follow in a seperate blog entry. Cost: 20 Euros for the SIM card and credit which lasted me for the time I spent in Austria. During 3 days I required full Internet access so in addition I used two Vodafone Web Sessions for 15 Euros each. Total amount spent in Austria: 50 Euros.
Next stop Italy. Here, things are simple. I already have a TIM prepaid SIM and use it for notebook and phone web access. 20 Euros buy me 500 MB. That’s good enough for the 5 days I am staying in ‘Bella Italia’.
Next, the south of France is on my agenda for about 10 days. I’ll use Orange’s prepaid SIM for eMail and web access via the mobile phone. That’s 6 euros. In addition I will probably need full Internet access during 4 days. That’s four Vodafone Websessions that add up to 60 Euros.
Final Stop: Spain. Just a weekend but it’s unlikely that I want to spend them disconnected. Maybe I will find enough open Wifi Access Points in the street. An alternative is a Yoigo prepaid SIM with web access for a euro a day. The SIM will cost a couple of Euros, too. Well, we’ll see.
Altogether, that’s going to be around 150 Euros. Definitely not on the cheap side. I wished ‘3’ would be present in all countries I (live and) travel to since they don’t charge extra for data roaming in their networks.
For the details on the prepaid SIMs I use, take a look on the left side on the blog for the link to the Prepaid SIM Internet Access Wiki.
Curious, you mention “3”, but don’t use it in Italy. I too wish “3” had better data coverage in Europe, as their roaming voice rates are really rather good compared to other networks. Only their data ‘black holes’ prevent me from porting to them. Even token GPRS data coverage in those would suffice. But tech support say “none available”.
Hi Martin. Nice site.
Just curious though, with the bag-full of SIMs, each time you put a new SIM card in, you have a new public identity (MSISDN). So people that want to contact you would have to know each phone number (MSISDN) associated with your bagful of SIMs.
Do you have any creative solu tions for that?
Thanks,
Do you know FON? It´s a network of shared hotspots where you gain access to it by allowing other FON members to use you broadband.
By the way… Great post… But not so great prices… 😉
Hello Eduardo,
yes, I know FON but I am never near one when I need connectivity. A long way to go…
Cheers,
Martin
The last two weeks i spent in spain/catalonia. But i found no place to buy the yoigo-prepaid-card. How can i find out dealers before traveling whithout knowing spanish or catalan?
Hi,
Good question, language is always a bit of a problem.
Yoigo is sold by ‘Fhe Phonehouse’ in Spain. Not sure how many shops they have but one can find out the closest one on their website.
Details on the wiki: http://tinyurl.com/25gd73
Cheers,
Martin