I'll be traveling to France, Spain and Italy. My phone is unlocked. I am less concerned about phone calls but would just like to be able to use my apps, internet etc. while I'm on vacation.
I realize I may need one for each of these countries.
Are there unlimited data plans out there (that don't require long contracts)?
Thanks.Can I buy a sim card with an UNLIMITED data plan in Europe?
Contracts are 2 years over here. Buying a sim card without a phone is normal over here, unlike in America. I was in the US a couple years ago for 3 months and was surprised I couldn't just pick up a pre-paid sim. (I assume you are from the US)
You are looking for a pre-paid sim card with unlimited data. That simply doesn't exist because it's a pre-pay and when the card runs out of money, you can't surf anymore.
Expect to pay at least 24cents per megabyte with the pre-pay.
The pre-paid cards are really convenient. I don't know if you can use a credit card, but with one of my sim cards, I can refill the minutes directly from the phone and they debit my bank account, and the phone warns me when I get low on minutes so I don't have to keep checking how many I have.
Here in Germany, the cards usually cost 9.99Euros to buy, but often come with a credit of 10 (or more), so essentially free. And you can refill your minutes everywhere, even at vending machines.
Roaming is a killer.Can I buy a sim card with an UNLIMITED data plan in Europe?
my aunt is lives in switzerland so she faces a similar dilemma when she comes here to vist us in the usa. do what we do.
1. jailbreak/unlock phone - this allows you to use any carrier as some phones on factory settings only work with certain carriers
2. purchase a data plan on a european carrier that uses SIM cards PER country because you automatically using your sim card switch over to a new carrier once you cross borders and the charges you rack up are not fun...(it happened when i visited her in switzerland and we use swisscom but once we went into france to visit some friends it auto switched over to orange sa (that is a phone carrier on france) and one text cost me 5euroes... thats it almost 9 us dollars... so yeah buy a new plan per country