Best Mobile Provider for iPhone in Europe

Hello Everyone,

I love my iphone here in the US and want to make sure I can get one when I move to London but I've got a bunch of questions I"m hoping everyone can help out with.

I will be using my iphone for work which means that although I'll be based in the UK I'll be traveling in different European countries.  Now being a long time iPhone customer I've seen my fair share of HUGE data charges when I've taken my iPhone outside of the US incurring insane roaming and data charges.

I'm hoping the same thing does not exist in Europe?  If I were to get an iPhone in the UK will I be able to use it all over Europe without getting crazy charges?  I have been looking at mobile providers in the UK (Orange, O2, Vodafone) and it's not exactly clear how their plans work outside of the UK.

I'd like to hear what people have experienced in the UK.  I would need about 500 minutes a month and at least 1GB of data a month.  Of all the providers I've seen O2 looks like they offer the best data package which is big for me.

Thanks in advance everyone,

Daniel

The best UK iphone plan DH and I have ever found has been with the network Three. They advertise that they're the only network that actually provides unlimited (they call it all-you-can-eat) data. Although other networks sometimes say they provide unlimited data, check the notes for a fair usage policy. Three's the only network we've found with no fair usage policy whatsoever. They used to say unlimited but have the fair usage policy, then they were up front and said it was a 1gb allowance, and now they've gone to actually providing unlimited data.

The data element was enough for us to go with them, but then the rest of the plan just seemed to provide soooo much more than other providers as well. It's called The One Plan. For an iphone 24 month contract at £35 per month (+ vat) it includes 2000 minutes, 5000 texts, unlimited data, free voicemail, and 5000 Three-to-Three minutes.

There's an offer on until the end of June where if you take out The One Plan the iphone 4 16gb costs £69 or the 32gb costs £159.

DH and I got them over the weekend and we're adoring them. His friends in London who have iphones are almost all on Three, so we know there's good coverage there. In our local area it's even better coverage than we had when we were with Orange. And since it's actually unlimited data, we've really been able to take advantage of everything. Most major free tv channels (like BBC, ITV, etc) stream their tv for free on their websites or through TV Catchup, so we've been able to watch that when travelling without worrying about hitting our data limit. We'll also never get close to using up our minutes and texts anyway, but will use even less of them because of the unlimited data. DH and I mostly text over whatsapp, or skype, or messenger, and all that data's unlimited. My sister from the US even skype video called with me on my phone for free! Seriously couldn't be happier with them.

Sorry I don't know about travelling out of the UK though...

It is still like that even in Europe, I'm afraid.  The easiest thing would be to turn off data roaming and just use WiFi.  If you still have an American credit card, sign up for AT&T WiFi Premier.  It's $20 a month for unlimited WiFi good on nearly every commercial WiFi network on the planet.  Also, the WiFi coverage is much denser in European cities than it is in the US.  Nearly every public space has a connection to one of the major networks (Boingo, T-Mobile, iPass, The Cloud, Openzone, etc.)

When in the UK, I definitely use Three for my iPhone.  500MB of data on pay-as-you-go is only 5 quid a month, or you could do a 50p per day for 150MB daily.

Thanks for the update ianp.  That's too bad about the data charges outside of the UK.

Do you have any experience with using your iphone in say France?  Assuming that you turn off the roaming charges are the additional fees crazy high or not that bad?

Thanks Rue, that BBC app sounds pretty awesome, I'm going to definitely need unlimited data!

I haven't had the opportunity, I just did all the research when choosing which carrier to go with.

With regard to calls and texts, a few of the companies have a roaming top-up you can buy.  With that it's a couple of quid for a handful of minutes and texts on the continent.  Unfortunately, Three do not have that kind of offer.

http://www.three.co.uk/Help_Support/International

Dvpetta

Unfortunately, there's no 'cheap' access to data whilst roaming on another country's mobile networks, it's very expensive in fact. I'd suggest restricting data usage to the bare minimum whilst you are away. One way around it is to search out free wi-fi hotspots and do the bulk of your online activities when you are using one - no idea if McDonalds in other countries offer free wi-fi access.

in the UK the network operator 3 do indeed advertise 'all you can eat' data, and that does look to be good if you are constantly requiring data access. In reality, there will indeed be some sort of 'cap' in place to prevent you from downloading GB's of data etc day in and day out, quite what the limit is, you'll need to press 3 staff to tell you. This of course is a fair use policy.

Cheers, DtM!

in the UK the network operator 3 do indeed advertise 'all you can eat' data, and that does look to be good if you are constantly requiring data access. In reality, there will indeed be some sort of 'cap' in place to prevent you from downloading GB's of data etc day in and day out, quite what the limit is, you'll need to press 3 staff to tell you. This of course is a fair use policy.

I see you'll probably be as amazed as DH and I were, but there honestly is no fair usage policy or cap on Three's all-you-can-eat data. And they're the only UK mobile provider we've ever found where that's the case.

Here are links to their press releases for when they first announced all-you-can-eat data and when they first brought it to PAYG. The first article has this quote from them explaining it:

"From now on, we’ll be removing the 1GB data allowance currently available on The One Plan and replacing it with something completely different.

We’re calling it All-you-can-eat Data, and it’s not like anything you’ll see from anyone else. Unlike other data plans, there are no restrictions and no crafty ‘fair usage’ policies containing hidden data caps. We’re leaving behind the ‘old mobile’ world of limits and allowances in favour of a new world that gives you the freedom to use your smartphone to do everything it was designed for without the worry of cost.

Our new world has no data restrictions, you can use as much as you want and we’ll never charge you a penny more.

If you’ve been to all-you-can-eat restaurants before, you’ll already be familiar how this works. You pay once, you get as much as you want the first time round, and you can still keep coming back for more. And yes, if you want to use your phone as a dongle (also known as tethering) then you absolutely can."

http://blog.three.co.uk/2010/12/15/new-all-you-can-eat-data-on-the-one-plan/
http://blog.three.co.uk/2011/03/07/all-you-can-eat-data-comes-to-pay-as-you-go/

Hi

Interesting indeed! not that I need to, but there's always going to be other's who'll use the service and start downloading data constantly. Whilst this would fall within the usage terms and conditions, if more and more people start doing that, then I can see some sort of cap being introduced. For now, and if it remains untouched by the file sharers etc that's great for those like me, who like to 'fix costs' as much as possible!

Cheers, DtM!

Thanks for the updates everyone, sounds like 3 is the way to go.  I also think that the wife may only need pay as you go initially since she might not need all the minutes/data that a plan will provide.

Does anyone have experience using an iPhone in Europe outside of the UK?  Are the charges outrageous if you turn off roaming?