SIM Card for France

[Paullus1959]

Morning all.
I have an " Unlimited" EE SIM on a monthly contract which I use purely for data in my mobile WiFi router when away in the caravan in the UK.
EE do something called a Roaming Pass which allows you to use your UK allowances abroad. However, after much conflicting information, despite having a a Roaming Pass, the SIM still has a 50GB monthly fair usage cap when in the EU.
I'm off to Normandy, France in September for 24 nights and I doubt that 50GB will last for the duration with the number of people connecting to it.
So, does anyone know which SIM I should get when over there, if and when my EE data runs out?
Thank you.

 

[Woodentop]

Two points:
Check that EE don't make a daily charge to use your Roaming Pass
Make sure your phone is unlocked or you won't be able to use another supplier's SIM.
The difficulty of using a French SIM (assuming PAYG) is that you need to make a call to top it up, and the call is automated in (rapidly spoken) French. Do you speak good French?

 

[otherclive]

Two points:
Check that EE don't make a daily charge to use your Roaming Pass
Make sure your phone is unlocked or you won't be able to use another supplier's SIM.
The difficulty of using a French SIM (assuming PAYG) is that you need to make a call to top it up, and the call is automated in (rapidly spoken) French. Do you speak good French?

When I last took out a French sim ( in France) the registration process was quite time consuming and whilst I could receive incoming calls, outwards calls were barred until the necessary security checks had been completed. Took 4-5 days. Then I received a text informing that the phone could be used. Not at all like here were you “ buy and use” immediately. Don’t know if it’s any less onerous now in France.

 

[Jcloughie]

Smarty is worth a look at, they are on Three.




Only a 1-month contract. And good prices. £20 for unlimited. However, the 12GB EU limit they set on call plans will probably apply. Therefore, a £9 plan would get that.

Might be a backup.

John

 

[gnomee]

You can get one of these on amazon with 100GB. Might be worth a look. I've never bought one (and I don't get paid by Amazon), but looks like a possible option.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europe-Travel-Internet-Data-100GB/dp/B09X2MXBN1/ref=sr_1_3?adgrpid=1187473456671214&hvadid=74217294793536&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&hvlocint=66&hvlocphy=41023&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=p&hvtargid=kwd-74217226295214%3Aloc-188&hydadcr=5082_2260902&keywords=france%2Bdata%2Bsim%2Bcard&qid=1690492642&sr=8-3&th=1

 

[Woodentop]

It may provide you with 100GB but I suspect the service provider will limit data use to 25GB as is usually the case.

 

[Paullus1959]

Morning and thank you for all the replies. I don't think there is a simple solution to this after doing more research.

My "Unlimited" EE SIM is just that in the UK. However, it does have a cap of 50GB in the EU.
It also allows me to gift up to 100GB of data to the other devices on my account during each billing period which is great. I've gifted 40GB each to the two phones and 20GB to the iPad on my account. I have also paid £15 for each for the unlimited SIM in my router and both phones for a roaming pass which allows me to use my data in France, otherwise it would be £2.99 per day and I'm there for 24 days which would cost £215.28!

The crunch is, that my billing period resets on the 13th of each month but I'm going from the 1st to 24th September and I can't gift data while in France. So, from the 13th of September onwards I've got 5GB between my two phones and a 50GB cap on my unlimited SIM.
Hopefully, I'm not going to use anywhere near that amount of data but if I use my ROKU streaming stick to watch a film or two and Facetime the kids, the data will be used quite quickly.
It definitely isn't as straightforward as I initially thought and it would appear that buying and using a French SIM isn't either.

***CORRECTION***
I've just spoken to EE about another matter and asked again about gifting data. Apparently, I can't gift data using the EE app but if I ring EE directly they can do it from their end.
I just wish I'd been told this the first time I asked the question.
So, hopefully sorted now and if the weather is glorious I won't be browsing the internet or watching films in the evening anyway. Here's hoping.