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I'm new to MHF and have been looking through this forum for ideas on ways to go online during a planned trip around western Europe next Summer. The Vodaphone package seems simplest, but pricy at £95 per month. I've therefore gone and bought the 3 USB modem, so that's Italy, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and a few other countries covered for just £10/month. For Germany, an 'Aldi-talk' Sim card would seem the answer for Germany. I found that on:
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The main gaps I'm having trouble filling are Spain and France.
For Spain, I've come accross the following Sim card:
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Has anyone anyone any experience of one of these?
For France, I can't find anything. The cheapest option would appear to be to roam on a non-3 network using the 3 modem (at £3 per MB). Any alternative ideas?
Campsites with WiFi might help fill in some gaps, but has anyone come across any websites where you can specifically search for sites in Europe with this facility. I know the recommendations on MHF include 'Internet access', but this could mean used of a shared PC rather than WiFi.
Thanks for any help which is forthcoming.
The following members of MHF thanked philwaring for this posting
Hi Phil & welcome to MHF.
RE the Aldi card- do you just replace the "3" simcard in the usb modem with the aldi card?
I went on the link you gave for germany buit couldnt find the aldi card.
Have you tried the fonera community at
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______________________________________________________________ I DO belong here- and I joined before May 2005- and I´m one of the very few ever to have been resurrected!
Chez soi-C´est ou on se stationne!!
The following members of MHF thanked Telbell for this posting
Campsites with WiFi might help fill in some gaps, but has anyone come across any websites where you can specifically search for sites in Europe with this facility. .
This is useful
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I put some wifi enabled European sites in the MHF database. France and Slovenia in particular seem to be working hard towards more sites.
G
The following members of MHF thanked Grizzly for this posting
The UK T-Mobile cards work fine in Germany at £1 a day unlimited providing you are using T-Mobile.de as your connection (which will be most of the time in Germany as they're the main network provider).
France can be expensive for internet cafes . but you can use Internet in touriste offices or local bibliotheque (library) they charge, Spain lots of long term campsites have wifi, and internet cafes are cheap. we only use internet about once a week or so , to check bank and pick up mail send off emails when on the road. Do you need so much Internet, you will be far to busy seeing France or Spain
The following members of MHF thanked silversurfa for this posting
Gosh - so many replies in less than 24 hours! Thanks folks.
I should explain that, after I upgraded to an N95 phone earlier this year, I got Orange (for £20) to unlock my previous smartphone - a Nokia 6680 which, on previous UK holidays, I have used to go online. This should now accept 'local' Sim cards such as the Spanish data card and the Aldi Talk card I mentioned. I assume that the 3 USB Sim is locked, so wouldn't accept them. Incidentally (for TelBell) the direct link for the Aldi card is:
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I didn't think that T-Mobile was a solution for Germany for me, as I had originally assumed that I would need a contract (and I'm already signed up with both Orange and 3!). Re-visiting the T-Mobile website however, i'm now beginning to think I could buy a UK pre-paid Sim from them (for 50p apparently) and still use the Web'n'Walk £1 max per day tariff - both in the UK and Germany. Can anyone confirm this is possible on pre-paid?
Liked the fon idea, but realistically don't think there's yet enough coverage to be a viable solution (and I suspect you might have to sit outside a stranger's house with your laptop perched on your knees!)
JiWire was exactly the sort of website I had been thinking of. Thanks Grizzly. I'll also make sure to check out the sites you have entered into MHF. Wondered if it was worth suggesting making a change to the way campsite details are captured on MHF, so that the 'Internet Access' option was changed to read 'WiFi Access'. Or add it as a seperate option?
I'd still be interested in hearing from anyone who has heard anything about or has used the Spanish data prepaid Sim card. I believe it's on the Vodaphone network and, according to the website (link in original post) €60 gets you 1GB. I've calculated that being online for a minute or two (checking the weather forecast and downloading e-mails via Outlook) takes between 1MB and 3MB. Longer sessions (for example zooming into the next campsite on Google Earth and Virtual Earth, to check it's not situated next to an oil refinery!) can take 15MB or more, so 1GB should be plenty for a month in Spain.
The following members of MHF thanked philwaring for this posting
In France we found you can buy an Orange WiFi card (3hr card for 10euro), which lasts us about a week (and we are heavy users....we run a business via email and download/send at least a few times a day). The trick is to connect, download, disconnect, type replies, reconnect, send, disconnect.
There are Orange wireless zones all over France.....they are easy to find...and very fast....you just punch in Ibis Hotel in whatever city you reach, park in the parking, and wham, your laptop finds the wireless signal and you are up and running in seconds. We have done this all over France without any problems. France is also COVERED with free wireless networks. We found them without even looking for them....
Dean
The following members of MHF thanked deansquire for this posting
The other day, my wife was driving and I had my laptop on. I conducted an experiment as to what wi-fi connections could be found. As we drove through built-up areas, loads of private networks appeared on the laptop's radar, to then disappear as we travelled out of range. Despite all the warnings to users, a percentage of these networks were open. Waiting in a traffic queue or at lights, there was often enough time to log onto one of these open networks and do a quick send/receive for email or find an important web page.
For the return journey home, I was armed with my daughter's Xmas present - an iPod Touch. This also picked up all the available networks but, better still than the laptop, it instantly showed which ones were locked (thus requiring a network password to enter) or were open with easy access. The iPod Touch is a little beauty which fits in the pocket.
Stuck in the middle of the countryside, such surfing wouldn't be possible, but in towns - presumably here or abroad - piggybacking of an open network could save a bob or two.
Shaun
The following members of MHF thanked Shark for this posting
I didn't think that T-Mobile was a solution for Germany for me, as I had originally assumed that I would need a contract (and I'm already signed up with both Orange and 3!). Re-visiting the T-Mobile website however, i'm now beginning to think I could buy a UK pre-paid Sim from them (for 50p apparently) and still use the Web'n'Walk £1 max per day tariff - both in the UK and Germany. Can anyone confirm this is possible on pre-paid?
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