[NPV]

I had posted this question on the International travel thread, maybe this thread is better suited, so cross posting here as well.

Looking for suggestions on where and which mobile service provider's SIM to get for a ~10 day visit to London. Need UK local calls, 3-5GB Data and international calls mostly to India.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by NPV

I had posted this question on the International travel thread, maybe this thread is better suited, so cross posting here as well.

Looking for suggestions on where and which mobile service provider's SIM to get for a ~10 day visit to London. Need UK local calls, 3-5GB Data and international calls mostly to India.

For less than 14 days travel just go with Airtel international roaming. The rates are pretty competent and more than anything will keep your Indian number active for all messages and incoming calls while you can use the data and outgoing calls for your use there. These days there is wifi almost everywhere and for data intensive needs you can always use it so the amount of data use is not really high on mobile data.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by audioholic

For less than 14 days travel just go with Airtel international roaming. The rates are pretty competent and more than anything will keep your Indian number active for all messages and incoming calls while you can use the data and outgoing calls for your use there.

Thanks!
I'm assuming you have first hand experience

A friend told me that Airtel was a rip off and asked me to go for a local provider instead, like Lebara, Lyca? etc that's why I asked here.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by NPV

Looking for suggestions on where and which mobile service provider's SIM to get for a ~10 day visit to London. Need UK local calls, 3-5GB Data and international calls mostly to India.

Just get anything and don't worry about provider. At airport you'll have minimal choices like Lebara. You should find local providers in train stations or nearby where you stay.

For a 10 day stay I won't get too worked up on provider quality. Pretty sure you want to use for local transit and walking directions and the occasional call(s)

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Just get anything and don't worry about provider. ... For a 10 day stay I won't get too worked up on provider quality.

But, of course, you need coverage! You can check with Android app Open Signal.

I have used EE in UK, because it seemed (from that app) to be the only one that would give me good 4G when visiting friends in a remote place. It did, but the downside was that the coverage was not so good at the place I was staying, close to Hampstead Heath, in Central London! It was a compromise. Just to say: don't assume that, just because London, coverage will be great everywhere!

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by NPV

I had posted this question on the International travel thread, maybe this thread is better suited, so cross posting here as well.

Looking for suggestions on where and which mobile service provider's SIM to get for a ~10 day visit to London. Need UK local calls, 3-5GB Data and international calls mostly to India.

Just enable your own international roaming on Jio or Voda or Airtel. They work pretty well across the world in my experience. Mobile connectivity is quite seamless.
Around Rs 3000-3500 gets you a months roaming with lots of free air time and data as well. And the best thing is that it is your own number.
If you dont want to do this then go for Lebara which I have found to be both good as well as cheap.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by audioholic

These days there is wifi almost everywhere and for data intensive needs you can always use it so the amount of data use is not really high on mobile data.

So true! Also, deactivate all software updates, media and streaming refresh
/ download (including WA) except when on WiFi and you're good to go.

In my many foreign trips, I have never bothered with a foreign SIM; in my humble opinion, net net it is not worth losing your India number for those days.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by NPV

Thanks!
I'm assuming you have first hand experience

A friend told me that Airtel was a rip off and asked me to go for a local provider instead, like Lebara, Lyca? etc that's why I asked here.

In 2013 when I came to the UK I used Lyca and it was quite good. Then the next time I came in 2018 I got an EE SIM from a vending machine at the airport and it was very good. I switched to EE post paid after using pre-paid for a couple of months. I would recommend to go for EE as it has very good network. But the flip side is that calls to India are not cheap like Lyca/Lebara. So get EE only if you plan to use it for calls in UK/Europe.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by NPV

I had posted this question on the International travel thread, maybe this thread is better suited, so cross posting here as well.

Looking for suggestions on where and which mobile service provider's SIM to get for a ~10 day visit to London. Need UK local calls, 3-5GB Data and international calls mostly to India.

Which service provider are you using? I had a very bad experience with Vodafone in Germany. The network was pathetic and all I used was some 5kb of data. but they billed me a couple of thousand saying there was data usage. Customer care wouldn't agree that their services didn't work.

If you don't need your India number, just enable international SMS to receive OTPs and get a local SIM.

[adimicra]

I heard from a friend that the visa situation is bad for many European countries.
If anyone has any recent experience, please do share?
I am specifically interested in Spain and France.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by adimicra

I heard from a friend that the visa situation is bad for many European countries.
If anyone has any recent experience, please do share?
I am specifically interested in Spain and France.

Surprising! In BLR at least, Spain, France (and Sweden I think) are the countries where there is some chance of getting appointments. Rest are crazy!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

... ... So get EE only if you plan to use it for calls in UK/Europe.

Whatsapp goes on working, even without your Indian SIM.

We are very spoilt when it comes to telephone and data services: at least in UK, they, especially mobile, are expensive.

Aside: I find that Tamil-speaking Brits have never thought of translating ee into English. Good way to get a "Doh!" face-palm out of them.

[explorer09]

Originally Posted by NPV

I had posted this question on the International travel thread, maybe this thread is better suited, so cross posting here as well.

Looking for suggestions on where and which mobile service provider's SIM to get for a ~10 day visit to London. Need UK local calls, 3-5GB Data and international calls mostly to India.

Airtel worked perfectly fine for me in the UK - just enable international roaming and you are good to go if you are already on Airtel. Worked fine even on the Scottish highlands.

[ece2k2]

I am applying for a French tourist visa and have got an appointment with VFS next week. On the VFS documents checklist, it says "Please carry your original insurance for verification at the time of submission of visa application form" and "Please note that original insurance will be seen by the submission officer at the time of submission of visa application form. Online insurance should be certified by the insurance company". While I have purchased the travel insurance from Reliance General Insurance company, I was wondering if it is really necessary to get it certified. Please share your experience. Thank you!

[LordSpymaster]

Originally Posted by ece2k2

While I have purchased the travel insurance from Reliance General Insurance company, I was wondering if it is really necessary to get it certified. Please share your experience. Thank you!

Went to Europe via the France visa process last year. I just took a printout of the insurance PDFs I got on email after buying it. They didn't ask for any special certification of the insurance.
Printout should be fine IMO.