Mobile Data Abroad: How to Avoid a Roaming Bill
Inside the EU your plan works at home prices; outside it, roaming can cost tens of euros. When you need an eSIM, and how to get online cheaply on your trip.
Mobile data abroad is as essential as your passport: maps, taxis, boarding passes and messages home all need a connection. What it costs depends mostly on one thing: whether you travel inside the EU or outside it.
Inside the EU: roam like at home
In EU countries and in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, "roam like at home" applies: calls, texts and data cost the same as at home. On unlimited data plans, operators may apply a fair-use limit when roaming, so check your plan if you use a lot. In Spain, Greece or Italy you usually don't need a separate eSIM.
Outside the EU, roaming is expensive
Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, the USA and the UAE, but also Montenegro, Albania, Switzerland and the UK, are outside the EU roaming rules. There your operator charges data by its own roaming price list, per megabyte or as day and week passes. Your operator's price list has the exact rates.
The euro doesn't mean EU roaming: Montenegro uses the euro, but EU roaming doesn't apply there.
Three ways to get online outside the EU
1. Your operator's roaming pass
Convenient, because there is nothing to install. But the price is usually higher and the data smaller than with the destination's own plans.
2. A local SIM card
Often cheap, but you need to find a shop, queue and in many countries show your passport. The new card goes into your phone, and unless your phone takes two SIMs, your own number is out for the trip.
3. A travel eSIM
You buy the eSIM online and install it at home. When you arrive, you switch it on and you're online. Your own SIM stays in the phone, so calls and texts still reach you. The price is known in advance, with no extra charges.
How much data will you use?
- Maps and navigation: a few tens of megabytes an hour (you can also download maps in advance).
- Messages and voice calls (WhatsApp, Messenger): tens of megabytes a day.
- Social media and photos: hundreds of megabytes a day.
- Video calls: about 0.3–0.5 GB an hour.
- Watching video: 1–3 GB an hour, depending on quality.
On a typical holiday with maps, messages and social media, 1 GB a day is usually enough. If you share your connection or watch video, choose a bigger plan.
On ships and planes
A ship's or plane's onboard network isn't covered by EU roaming and can be very expensive, including on ferries between Tallinn and Helsinki or Stockholm. Turn data roaming off at sea or use the onboard Wi-Fi.
Checklist before you go
- Check that your phone supports eSIM: dial *#06# and look for an EID.
- Buy the eSIM for your destination and install it at home over Wi-Fi.
- On arrival, turn on mobile data and data roaming for the SkyeSIM line.
- Turn off data roaming on your home SIM so it doesn't run up a bill.
- Download maps in advance if you're heading to mountains, desert or sea.
