Whats the best global roaming phone/data plan?

[B00B00 329]

Just trying to think about the best way to keep some comms going for our sailing trip from Europe to NZ. Vodafone does a good $5 per day roaming for 23 countries but we plan to visit loads of places that are not on the list so keeping that account going is probably not practical or economical.

Anyone got any good idea for the best plan of attack here. Im guessing buying prepaid sim cards at various location is probably the best deal. Will my Samsung Galaxy S7 take sim cards from any country/network?

What about google Fi? anyone tried that?

[Black Panther 1,767]

Get a new SIM card at each country you visit. You can get  a new card and $20 worth of time in Fiji for about $40 and you won't run out of credit for 4-6 weeks, using it heavily. Makes NZ prices look like a giant rip off.

[B00B00 329]

Yeah I have heard that many of the overseas providers make NZ look like a ripoff. A new sim card in every country is fine but for places like Europe and the Caribbean where we could be going between countries every week it might get painful...

Sometimes its really nice to have a Data conection before you make landfall but thats going to be pretty pricey I imagine....

[Battleship 100]

Might be cheaper to just get a budget prepaid phone when you get there, some phones will not work on all networks as they are network locked, if  your phone is locked you can get it unlocked through your provider but this is still no guarantee it will work everywhere. 

[ScottiE 174]

do a combination of both and be strict in how you use your data roaming. Some phones even enable two SIM cards for this very purpose

[Jon 412]

No one fits all solution

In Europe start with Vodafone roam $5 per day

Then if your there awhile get a Vodafone sim or similar for Europe, it will work all the way to the Cannery Is.

Caribbean is a mine field, Vodafone Antigua won't work on Vodafone Sint Maarten (Dutch) and you will need a different one in St Martin ( French) but same Island

Once you get to Central America and most of the pacific you can't get 3G so no internet or very slow

 

The up side is wifi is available cheap lots of places and generally data/phone is really cheap and often cheap enough to buy a phone and run it for a month cheaper than you are paying monthly here on a term

 

We ran an iridium Go the whole way back and we contacted marinas etc ahead of arrival via email or phone no problems plus countries don't expect you to notify arrival etc like down hear, plus if you just turn up anywhere they will find you somewhere at least temporarily

We usually just then went to a cafe for free wifi, think the Galapagos was the only place we paid for wifi and that was because it was cheap and a lot faster than the cafe next door.

[Battleship 100]

Iridium go is very good for out of mobile coverage but the data speed makes it unusable for most ordinary internet stuff.

Speed is about ten times slower than a dial up modem. Wouldn't be without ours when further offshore though.

[B00B00 329]

Yeah we were going to get the Iridium Go for the offshore stuff and run it with predict wind offshore for the routing as well as using Expedition.

I didnt think you could actually go online with the iridium Go to find email addresses and phone numbers for the marinas Jon? or is it actually OK for that or did you just in note all the contact details down when you were in Wifi coverage?

[Jean 5]

Things change so quickly so when you get there just rock up to the nearest cruiser on your dock or anchorage and ask them whats the best deal they will have it sussed. You also can get free marina guides which have ph numbers etc. But as Jon says just turn up and most of the time a space will be found. 

Read some blogs lots of cruisers write great blogs with lots of free info. Try sailblogs.com and search subjects, countries etc.

[Island Time 1,293]

In my experience the Iridium go is good for forecasts, email etc, but if you think you are going to browse the internet with it, you are deluding yourself.

Get a dual sim phone (as well as the iridium go), keep your NZ sim in one slot, then a local sim (really cheap in most places - for example Malaysia, $1 a day, all you can eat, mostly 4 G) in the 2nd slot. Make sure you learn how to ensure that you are using the right SIM for your internet.

This way, you get your NZ calls etc, and also the cheapest local connections....

[Jon 412]

No we got marina and other contacts from navionics mostly or as Jean said from other cruisers

I'll send you a list of contacts that me made up plus were given as we were going along

It looks much harder from here than it is, I promise

[Jean 5]

A great way to get to know your fellow cruisers is to ask them questions.  Dont forget when out sailing seas and oceans and isolated anchorages  your fellow cruiser is your best source of help and info if needed. So ask lots of questions and make lots of friends. 

 

As Jon says its looks hard from here but it isn't really, just lots of fun....well most of the time.

. 

A great source of information can be found in the blog written by Amanda of The NZ yacht Balvenie.

http://yachtbalvenie.blogspot.co.nz/ . They completed their circumnavigation last year and I know many many yachts have used their  information to help sort out places to go etc. Apart from the info it is a great read.

[southernman 73]

The roaming costs in Europe are now a lot lower i.e. intercountry roaming.  A new EU law was passed to prevent overcharging.  Pretty sure now just get a plan in one EU country and that's that.