If you’ve been stung by roaming charges in the past when using a U.S. cellphone abroad and you’ve recently heard about new, supposedly fair roaming caps in Europe, beware: It’s not what it seems. As of July 2013, European-carrier SIM card roaming rates are capped in Europe at 0.45 euros, or about $0.60, per megabyte for data and 0.24 euros, or about $0.32, for one minute of voice. You’d think that should mean that if you buy a SIM card in one EU country for use in an unlocked phone, you would get the same super rates as you travel around Europe.
Purchase a Country-Specific SIM Card seems like the cheapest option. I bought 500 MB Vodafone SIM for 15EUR last trip. I mean 1MB costs only 0.03EUR. The only problem is that you loose your number when changing SIM. Recently, a new solution appeared - Roamer. Roamer linked my "home number"to Spain SIM and allowed me not to miss any call from home. Instead of 0.25 euros per minute I paid only 0.05 euros in Roamer. Rates may differ from country, so check them on http://roamerapp.com. Anyway mobile calls and data cost me 30 euros this vacation. I saved 500 euros.
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How to Avoid Excessive Phone Charges When Traveling in Europe
Posted by: Patrick Nelson October 3, 2013 05:00 AMIf you’ve been stung by roaming charges in the past when using a U.S. cellphone abroad and you’ve recently heard about new, supposedly fair roaming caps in Europe, beware: It’s not what it seems. As of July 2013, European-carrier SIM card roaming rates are capped in Europe at 0.45 euros, or about $0.60, per megabyte for data and 0.24 euros, or about $0.32, for one minute of voice. You’d think that should mean that if you buy a SIM card in one EU country for use in an unlocked phone, you would get the same super rates as you travel around Europe.