Internet travel. Analysis of foreign SIM-cards

Before traveling, I simply bought a local sim card and at the end of the trip I threw it away. But then travel became more difficult, there were transplants and several countries in one trip - and each time it would not be enough to buy SIM cards neither time nor money. And then I started looking for the perfect sim card that works worldwide and for a penny). Naturally, there is no such card, but I have found several products that complement each other perfectly. The topic is relevant not only because of the summer. Recently, roaming was canceled in the EU, with the northern countries having special rights to take the roaming fee, and the southern ones changed the tariffs. Infu updated for himself, but it is useful to everyone traveling abroad.

There are three main universal products on the market: MTX Connect , DrimSim , AirBalticCard Card . Four prepaid tariffs from foreign operators, which can be bought independently on the next trip, or through intermediaries in Russia are also worthy of attention: Saunalahti from Elisa FI (Finland), Internetikaart from Elisa EE (Estonia), Mundo from Orange ES (Spain), Vodafone 25 from Vodafone IT (Italy).

The price range is decent. Below you will find a large comparative table with countries and prices, as well as a brief summary of each product.

Mini table:
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Large spreadsheet - Google Spreadsheet .

For convenience and clarity, prices are presented for 100MB and 1GB, as in these limits really meet on a smartphone and a router, respectively. Bold highlighted best prices, simple text - good prices, gray - not very favorable prices. In assessing, he proceeded from the fact that + 10-20% does not solve anything to the price, he gave preference to tariffs without packages - with payment for actually consumed traffic.

AirBalticCard Card

The leader in prices is only in 13 exotic countries where packages of € 1 / 10MB / day, € 5 / 50MB / day and more profitable are available. Good prices in 49 more countries, incl. in the EU, where the tariff is € 0.0015 / 100KB with payment only for the consumed traffic.

The main tariffs are opaque with a wide range of prices. Everything becomes transparent only if you use traffic packets that are manually connected via ussd. There is no mobile application, only a web office, you can also manage via sms / ussd. From bonuses - a sim card with a number, free incoming voice / sms in the world; works at € 0 balance. Formally, the numbers are Estonian, but they belong to a special range, calls to which are expensive from anywhere in the world. But there is a feature that allows you to call from skype and viber, it is cheap and relatively convenient. AirBaltic has been known to everyone for a long time on the market, using the travelsim.com platform from the large Estonian company Top Connect. Support is not very fast.

Delivery by regular mail (10 days to St. Petersburg). € 10 for a sim card with a balance of € 0. Payment by card from the site with a commission of € 0.5.

MTX Connect

Leader in prices in 19 countries. Good prices in 23 countries. Uniform and transparent rates. The first tariff is Pay As You Go - payment for traffic consumed is only € 0,029 / 1MB / day worldwide. The second tariff is a subscription fee of € 3.49 / 150MB / day worldwide, or € 3.49 / 250MB / day in the EU. There are more expensive and favorable tariffs.

There is a mobile application and website. Of the bonuses - “free chat” - free use of messengers for 90 days after recharging the balance ( upd. I personally did not work, maybe it does not work only in Russia, or it works well, oh, very slowly ). The sim card does not have a number, which means that voice / sms is not available. The company in the market for a long time, offices around the world, a member of GSMA. Support operational.

Delivery by regular mail (10 days to St. Petersburg). € 5 for a sim card with a balance of € 7. Deposit from € 5, payment by card or paypal without commission.

Drimsim

Leader in prices in 76 countries. Good prices back in 30 of the world, this is the maximum coverage. Opaque tariffs with a wild range of prices, but convenient - pay only for the consumed traffic ( upd. Controversial statement, because I was charged € 0.15 instead of € 0.01 for the session ). Everything becomes clear only if you use a mobile application, in which always current rates.

All control through a mobile application for iOS or Android. From bonuses - a sim card with a number, free incoming voice / sms in the world; works at € 0 balance. They give out UK mobile numbers, but they belong to a special range, calls to which are expensive from anywhere in the world. There is information that the product platform is chillisim.com. The company listed is nominal of BVI. The product has been recently launched on the market, but this is not the first project of the founder, the previous domoy.eu is also associated with sim cards. The support did not try, but the whole process is as clear as possible.

Delivery by courier is very fast (the next day in St. Petersburg). € 10 for a sim card with a balance of € 0. Deposit from € 1 through the app without a fee.

Internetikaart by Elisa EE (Estonia)

The leader in prices in 6 countries, including Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and, of course, Estonia. Good prices in 23 countries. Roaming is not all over the world.

Uniform and transparent tariffs. Payment from € 2.5 to € 10 is debited automatically when you log into the network when the “Day ticket” is activated - € 2.5 / 400MB / day in the EU, € 10 / 400MB / day in the US and € 10 / 150MB / day in some other countries.

Management from the site. Of the bonuses - a sim card with a number. Elisa is a large Scandinavian telecom operator, the quality of communications is excellent throughout Europe, almost everywhere is LTE. Classic prepaid. The card can be bought at any corner in Estonia for € 3 without documents. Recharge card from the site.

Saunalahti from Elisa FI (Finland)

Leader in price only in Finland. But good prices still in 25 countries, mainly in Europe. Roaming in a limited number of countries.

Uniform and transparent tariffs. Payment only for the consumed traffic without a monthly fee. Tariff € 1 / day maximum for home traffic + € 0.00727 / MB roaming component. Beneficial when consuming 1GB or more per day.

Management from the site. Sim card number. The quality of the connection is excellent, almost everywhere is LTE. Classic prepaid. The card can be purchased at any corner in Finland for € 6 with a balance of € 5 without documents. Replenishment by a card from a site from € 5 without commission.

Mundo from Orange ES (Spain)

Leader in prices in the EU, Romania and Morocco. Roaming in a limited number of countries.

Uniform and understandable tariffs, but traffic packages are only available with a subscription fee, change of tariffs with and without subscription fees costs € 3.65. Payment for traffic packages € 7 / 1GB / month, € 10 / 2GB / month and more profitable. With the free “Everywhere” option, € 5 / 100MB packages are available in a number of exotic countries.

Control from the site or from the mobile application. Of the bonuses - a sim card with a number. Orange company needs no introduction, the quality of communication is excellent throughout Europe (and also in Morocco and Tunisia).

The card can be bought only at the offices of Orange in Spain, it will take an international passport and half an hour of time. You can also buy from an intermediary in Russia - ₽2700 with a balance of € 20. Topup.orange.com card replenishment from € 5 with a commission of € 0.65.

Vodafone 25 from Vodafone IT (Italy)

The leader in prices in the EU, along with Orange ES, but the number of roaming countries is much smaller. Uniform and clear tariffs without a monthly fee. Payment for a package of traffic € 6 / 1GB / month. Control from the site or from the mobile application. Of the bonuses - a sim card with a number.

The card can be purchased at the offices of Vodafone in Italy. You can also buy from an intermediary in Russia - $ 3400 with a balance of € 15. Recharging the card from ricarica.vodafone.it from € 5.

What I use myself ...

• AirBaltic - for voice on the go worldwide, via viber / skype .
• Saunalahti - for trips to Finland and installation in a router in the EU.
• DrimSim + MTX Connect - together they cover 90% of the countries worldwide for traffic, ordered, I will try both.
• from Orange ES I will refuse.
• A megaphone with the Corporate Unlimited tariff gives you free EU members and the ability to connect the World Online option with a particularly urgent need.

Recommendations

• Ideally, to have two international sim-cards, and that with at least one it was possible to make an outgoing call with a voice. A bunch of DreamSim + MTX Connect Pay As You Go is a great option at the moment.
  
  
• Before each trip (or on the way to the airport) check the best fares in the countries of destination, because for products like DrimSim and AirBaltic Card, they are constantly changing, and home operators release interesting options like World Online (Megaphone) and Zabugorishte (MTS).
  
  
• If you need a lot of traffic for a mobile router in Europe, but without buying packages and subscription fees - Saunalahti from Elisa FI, or any other local sim card with similar nishtyak.
  
  
• At least once a year, you need to replenish the balance of SIM cards with a minimum amount and take some kind of paid action, for example, sending sms.
  
  
• It is better to disable autopayments and use a separate bank card in product currency (EUR) for replenishment. AirBalticCard and DrimSim store the card data on your account, and MTX Connect creates a pre-approved payment when you pay with PayPal. I use USD and EUR cards from Rocket Bank or Tinkoff for payments, the products are free and very convenient!
  
  
• Considering that in daytime packages in the daytime it is usually considered time until 00:00, and for Elisa EE it will be Estonian time, Elisa FI - Finnish ... You need to be ready for double write-off, and keep the necessary amount of money on the balance in order not to be left without traffic.

A productive and vibrant journey!

upd v.1 - Orange & Vodafon . There is information, confirmed by some comments, that the products from Orange and Vodafon have two significant drawbacks.

Firstly, it is impossible to replenish the balance with a card of another country (for example, Russia) through the native cabinet. Because of this, you have to resort to the services of intermediaries and pay a commission, or somehow through friends in these countries to replenish the account. Personally, I always replenished Orange ES through topup.orange.com with a commission.

Secondly, these guys can block SIM cards, which they spend most of their time not in their home country. I can neither confirm nor deny the information regarding Elisa, but the last Finnish sim from Elisa FI lived with me for over a year until it broke through my fault.

upd v.2 - DrimSim vs. MTX . Having both sims on my hands, I can say that MTX out of the box has no messengers for free, and DrimSim has a strange SMS rating for activating Apple FaceTime.
Finally, the sim came from MTX and after a few dances with a tambourine earned. It should be noted that the support is fast, trying to help.

The cost of traffic .
DrimSim charged me € 0.15 for SMS. Judging by the info from the support, this is an SMS from Apple to activate FaceTime. However, nowhere in the tariffs I found € 0.15 per SMS in UK.

MTX did not write off a cent, as stated - they are redirecting to their website to activate the tariff. However, there are no free messengers either. Telegram seems to be writing Connecting ... , then Updating ... , but nothing works. Whatsapp is constantly in Connected state .... After contacting the support free messengers promised to connect.


Search network .
DrimSIM - iPhone does not need to be turned off, the network catches instantly immediately after inserting the sim and starts to work. MTX is capricious, you need to turn off the phone and wait a long time until it catches the network; but even after that the network is unstable and constantly falls off by the first time, although the reception level is normal (-90dB). Perhaps the whole thing in Tele2, which is a partner of DrimSIM.
When inserted into MiFi (Huawei E5776), both sim are picked up only after about 3 minutes.

Shipping
DrimSim - the next day by courier in St. Petersburg. MTX - 10 days by registered mail of Russia, tracking sent on request.