Hi Paul, > I'm currently travelling around Europe, and I've been buying pre-paid sim > cards > for internet access in almost every country I've spent more than a few days > in. > > I've been using both my phone (Nokia N85) tethered via a usb cable, and my > Huawei E169 USB 3G adaptor which I bought through Optus. One thing to note: > I would avoid any adaptor sold by Telstra, if you intend to use it in Europe. > > This is because, for 3G data, telstra uses 2100MHz and 850Mhz (in regional > areas), whereas Europe (and Optus/Vodafone Australia) use 2100MHz and 900MHz. > So if you're going to buy an adaptor, get it from an Optus or Vodafone > affiliated store, and make sure that it's not sim-locked. > > The prepaid deals available vary from country to country. In the UK, Ireland > and Sweden, for example, there's quite a bit of competition and you can get > some good deals (I rather liked 3's free sim and 10pound/1Gb, 15pound/3Gb for > a > month offer in the UK, and here in Sweden, 90 krona got me 5Gb for a month). > In other places, it can be quite poor (Vodafone in the Netherlands was a > rip-off - max data is 50Mb per day on their so-called unlimited BloX plan).
You have provided the very information I have been looking for - thanks. I have to exclude free wifi at Macca's and the like because these tours don't stop at coffee shops and the like so I need something that can operate from a boat, bus or hotel room. I also have servers here in Oz that I have to look after and, while I could tether my iPhone, I don't want to be swapping sim cards in that in case I get a call from home that a server needs attention. I will be off to see Optus and Vodafone dealers to see what I can do. Thanks again. Rick -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
