In today’s modern world staying connected is a must.
That’s why many airlines now offer paid in-flight wifi, some even offer free messaging. But what happens when you travel to Europe and need to stay connected all the time.
US cell companies will charge an arm and a leg and maybe your first born child in order to use their service abroad and often times it isn’t worth the price you paid because it doesn’t work.
I was approached by TravelSim at the end of November and offered a credit towards a sim card to take with me on my next international trip.
TravelSim is the best sim card for Europe with data and talk time.
Does TravelSim Work?
Yes!
The card was able to automatically connect to whichever cell provider was strongest in the area. I’d estimate I had signal around 90% of the time. Which is pretty good considering I was in a few really remote places for extended periods of time. So remote the roads only had room for one car and the sheep roamed freely wherever they wanted. Including on the road.
The most impressive thing is it worked in the places I wasn’t expecting to have any signal along the northern coast of Scotland. Don’t get me wrong, there were places where signal dropped off for a bit, mostly near the mountains, places with a lot of rocks, and near some lochs (also incredibly rocky), but I was connected more often than I wasn’t.
Deciding Which Sim Card To Get
TravelSim is so great because they offer six different sim cards (Zone A, Zone C, Europe+, China, Turkey, and Offers) that can work in 170+ countries around the world. The cards for Zone A and Europe+ (obviously) work within Europe. Initially, I was planning on going with the Zone A card until I saw that the one for Europe covered both the UK and the Netherlands and was cheaper than the one for Zone A.
Be sure to check out all the countries listed for each different sim, you might find a better deal than just going for the first one you see with your country listed.
I ordered two of the European sim cards with 5GB of data on each. I also added $25 of talk time to one. At first, I didn’t think I would need the talk time. I couldn’t think of anyone I needed to call that couldn’t be reached via WhatsApp. I added the time so I could properly test out all the features of the card. In the end, I had to call back to the US and a couple of places in the UK. The connection was perfect for every call I made using the talk time.
How Much Data Do You Need?
If you are planning on using a data sim for one week, 5GB should be more than enough to last the entire time. Obviously, you don’t want to stream video or anything else that eats up an insane amount of data.
I was really concerned I would run out of data because I went through A LOT of it when I spent a month in Berlin a couple of years back. I also sent a TON of videos and pictures via WhatsApp and used Google Maps all day every day when I first got to Scotland.
When I returned to the States and checked the remaining data on my card, I had over 2GB left to use! If you use it wisely and connect to wifi at your hotel in the evenings, you will have plenty!
TravelSim also offers a 2GB sim card for Europe for $30 ($20 for the data and $10 for the card). In the future, I’ll be doing the 2GB because I don’t need any more than that for a week!
What Comes With the Sim?
The sim card will come in an orange packet. Inside you will find an instruction manual with instructions on how to call the US and the UK as well as other countries. Remember to put a + in front of the country code when you dial!
You can find the sim card tucked inside the front page of the instruction manual. The sim can be punched out from the larger card into three different sizes, standard, micro, and nano to fit any phone.
Don’t throw your sim card when you get home! One nifty feature is you can keep it and top it up as you need more data or whenever you travel next.
Final Thoughts
TravelSim is the best sim card for Europe with data and talk time. You will stay connected even in the most remote places. And at $55 for 5GB that will last 30 days, it’s a fantastic deal!
One quick reminder. In order to use TravelSim you must have an unlocked phone.
Many, many thanks to TravelSim for providing me with a sim card to stay connected while in Scotland! As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you used TravelSim?
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