I doubt you will find a better deal – S$32 for 1GB of data over 30 days in 42 countries including Europe and USA. Or S$54 for 12GB. This incredible deal is offered by Three, UK, and even though it is intended for UK residents, there’s no way they can enforce it, and they won’t. For m1 subscribers in Singapore, the data passport option is also pretty good, at S$50 (plus S$2 activation fee) with 3GB and above for one month of usage in 28 countries in Europe. Update: Not wanting to be outdone, SingTel now offers a competitive package – ReadyRoam. Pricing wise, it is expensive for Asia (S$20 per 1GB) but competitive (S$35 per 1GB) for USA and Europe. It has the advantage of not being tied to your statement date unlike m1. The list of countries included is more limited though.
The problem with the m1 data passport is having to be mindful of the monthly statement rollover date. If the rollover date happens during your trip, you’ll be paying the monthly data passport subscription fee twice, which is terrible Update: m1 no longer go by billing cycle, which makes the calculation of use of local data quite complicated but can be done I guess. You could be paying for two months of subscription for 2 days of usage in the worst case.
Two caveats for the Three Feel At Home data roaming:
- You’re limited to 3G or even 2G connectivity. It is actually not stated specifically on Three’s website but other sources suggest this is the case.
- You’re not allowed to turn on Wifi hot spot from your phone. Your SIM may be blocked if you do that.
So how do you get hold of a Three SIM card you might ask? If you have a friend living in the UK, get your friend to order the the free Pay As You Go (PAYG) SIM card (PAYG is more commonly known as Prepaid outside the UK). That’s right, it’s free. Thereafter, get your friend to register for the My3 account. In order to do the registration, an SMS will be sent to the phone with the new SIM card inserted. Obviously, this can only be done in the UK.
With the My3 account registered, you can then top up the SIM card and sign up for the Feel At Home add-on (you must do so in order to use the free data roaming, otherwise you’ll incur standard roaming charges). Do so just before your trip and you’re good to go. As i have no prior experience doing this, i’m not sure if it will be a problem if you used a non-UK credit card to do the top up, but i doubt it will be an issue, because there is an eBay seller selling this SIM card, and it has to work.
So yes, you can get this SIM card from eBay if you do not have a friend living in the UK. It costs about S$18 including shipment to Singapore. The seller is selling SIM cards which he has obtained almost for free and selling it to you at US$4.55 each, but you will likely save a lot of money if you used this SIM card for your holiday in Europe.
As for me, well, my sister lives in the UK. I will give an update once i have used this SIM card some time next year.
Update 3 Feb 2017
Three Pay-as-you-go SIM card
Well, i am now in possession of the SIM card, have used them all over Europe without problem.
