How to pick the best roaming SIM card

So, you’ve made your plans for an overseas trip. You’ve already come up with great ideas and you’ve decided on which landmarks you want to see, what activities you want to do and what kind of food you want to taste. Additionally, you would like to share all these nice moments with your friends and family. That’s when the headache starts. International roaming is going to cost you a fortune. Buying a travel SIM card is probably the best option. However, which travel SIM card is the best one for you? Here’s a short guidance to get you to your best roaming SIM card quickly, respectively travel SIM card for traveling.

Offer

The most important thing is that you understand the offer. The sheer size of offers makes it nearly impossible to oversee everything. Many offers seem to be attractive but once you’ve read the small print, you realize that it’s not going to remain cheap. So, it is vital that the offer is easy to understand, transparent and doesn’t have any hidden traps. In order to keep your cost under control you should rather go for something that doesn’t have any traps and where you know what it’s going to cost you.

An easy way to understand the offer is key.

Coverage

Check if the offer is also working in the country you want to go to. Nothing is more frustrating than buying a traveller SIM card and finding out that it doesn’t work. However, besides checking the coverage, you should also check the available services (e.g. do you have data services available?) and the price that you’re going to pay for it.

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Can you use the SIM card in different devices?

You might have several devices you would like to use the roaming SIM card with. Just ensure the service provider does allow you to use a roaming SIM card or a travel SIM card in the device which you want to use.

Can you use the SIM card with personal hotspot functionality?

It is very handy to use a smartphone, especially as you can setup a personal hotspot allowing other people or devices to use your smartphone as a WiFi hotspot. But not all roaming SIM cards or travel SIM cards allow you to do this. Ensure that this function is not blocked for any reason prior to buying.

Is there a SIM card expiry?

You might use your travel SIM card occasionally throughout the year, whenever you go for a trip for pleasure or for business reasons. Worst case, you’re on a trip and realize that your travel SIM card has just expired a few days ago. What a nightmare. Just ensure that there’s no expiry date for the SIM, which is not very common, or know what you have to do in order for the SIM card not to expire.

Support

Cellular roaming depends on a lot of rather complex building bricks. Therefore, things might go wrong. Ensure that you can get support for your travel SIM card whenever you need it.

SIM Form Factor

SIM cards are usually available in 3 form factors:

1FF 85.6mm × 53.98mm × 0.76 mm – no longer used in modern day devices
2FF 25mm x 15mm x 0.76mm – called Mini SIM
3FF 15mm x 12mm x 0.76mm – called Micro SIM
4FF 12.3mm × 8.8mm × 0.67mm – called Nano SIM

best roaming SIM card

Different devices need different form factors. So it is vital that the roaming SIM card supports all form factors. In addition, it should also come with an adaptor so that you can easily move between the form factors.

What about Voice?

Most people would say that this is rather important. However, be aware that in a roaming situation a standard voice call can become very expensive easily and cost wise get out of control quickly. That does not only count for outgoing calls, but also for incoming calls.

In a roaming situation you are better off using Skype, WhatsApp, Facetime or any other VoIP Client anyways.

Is it easy to buy additional Top ups?

A good offer is vital, but as soon as the purchase of additional volume turns out to be tricky, you’re annoyed and frustrated quickly. Just imagine that you would like to post a few pictures on Facebook and therefore need to buy an additional data package. If you first have to login somewhere and have to register your credit card, then the complications begin. You should look for a simple way to buy additional volume.

Where can you get it?

At last but not least, keep an eye on where to get the offer. Is it available on the Internet? Do they deliver worldwide? Can I order a replacement SIM whilst I’m traveling? Keep that in mind. And don’t forget what they charge you for sending the travel SIM card. Keep this cost in mind as well.

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