Navigating your way through the mad world of Mobile Phone Plans in Europe and tethering to your laptop, tablet and other phone.

Deciding what sort of plan you are going to use and how to get it set up can be daunting when you are travelling outside of your own country

I trawled so many websites looking for the best mobile service provider, and all I found was nothing. I didn’t find anything helpful, just the same blah blah blah with a link to each service provider, while the writer sits and waits for you to click a link so they can get their cut.

We learned very quickly that what worked for us while we were on holidays was not going to work for us while we travelled full-time through Europe and the UK.

We didn’t want to be sharing the one service because we needed to be able to contact each other if we were separated. This happens often in a supermarket, and if you have been shopping in e`Leclerc, Super March or Carrefour, you would know that while this may sound funny, it can be a real problem if you and your other half get separated. Supermarkets in Europe can be very large. They make Woolies and Coles look like a corner store in comparison.

So, what have we learned about service providers.

Firstly you need to consider what you are going to use your internet for? If it’s just your mobile, you have more options.

If you want to tether your phone to another phone, laptop, iPad or tablet, you have to be very careful with what plan you chose.

Below is our experience through trial and error.

Holafly is easy to set up and uses esim. Holafly only lets you tether a couple of gigabytes a day (if your lucky) and if you tether everyday they will stop it for 24 hours. We found it expensive and because of the tethering restrictions it just didn’t work for us. We purchased 3 months unlimited and didn’t realise you couldn’t tether, so it was a massive waste of money.

We didn’t need to use their support so I can’t speak for that. I have read that the support at Holafly is good. We didn’t find the network service great with Holafly. Your data is for regions so there is no limit on data usage if you stay within the chosen region.

Airalo is easy to set up and uses esim. I have used this many times and I set it up from home before I leave, and it just starts when I land in a country and turn the phone on. Tethering is allowed so that is great. For full-time travel it’s quite an expensive service to use.

I had a problem with the set-up (which I have never had before) so I contacted support and I have to say that even though it was done by email (Which I hate because I like to talk to someone. Get used to that over here most support is done online), they were brilliant and they had me working in no time. The network service was great and you can buy your network service for regions, so when you go from country to country there is no limit on data usage if you stay within the chosen region.

Lyca is quite inexpensive, they have different deals all the time. We have had a 10 euro and 15 euro a month plan which is very easy on the pocket.

I had a problem in Ireland and for some unknown reason my esim wasn’t coming through to my email address to activate, but Tony had no problem getting his. Support was extremely slow and in the end they gave me a refund and I went to Vodafone.

Lyca at the moment only offers 3G to iPhones in France and Ireland (I'm not sure about other countries), so the service can be slow and pretty poor at times. You can tether unlimited and you do get a phone number. When you go to another country you do have limited data.

Vodafone is in Ireland and UK and some parts of Europe, you can check where they are using this link https://www.vodafone.com/about-vodafone/where-we-operate. I got a great plan in Ireland towards the end of our trip for 20 euro for the month and the service was great, for the rest of our time in Ireland using other providers the phone service was so bad our kids wouldn’t even take our calls. I couldn’t setup Vodafone online, because I didn’t have an address in Ireland, so I went into a store and they sorted everything for me. The lovely lady in the store was great, and I didn’t have any problems after that. I could tether unlimited. When you go to another country you do have limited data.

Things to take into consideration

• How long you will be in a country for?

• How much data you get when you are still on a plan and you leave the country, and is the country you are going to covered?

• Will there be any charges for roaming?

• If your phone takes esim (please check this or you will be throwing your money away if it doesn’t) this is the way to go, it’s easy, quick and uncomplicated. You also get to keep your sim from Australia so when you go home, you land and everyone still has your number.

We keep our Australian sim active while we are away. We have an Aldi mobile plan in Australia. I just pay for a PAYG plan for $15 and this lasts for a year. I have my phone on roaming and I block all unknown callers. This means I can still receive calls from back home, but no-one calls as everyone rings us through other platforms, and this ensures I still get SMS notifications from Australia. Important ones like, “There is an election - You have to vote” or from your doctor "You are due for a test", I can also send a text to someone who doesn’t have an iPhone if I need to talk and they aren’t using one of the other platforms I use to communicate.

What we needed:

• Lots of data - 300GB was enough, we didn’t need unlimited

• Phone number comes in handy

• Unlimited tethering is a must

• Keeping the cost down

Good service is important but when service is not great it forces us away from the net. I think that is a good thing. We have a phone number so we aren’t concerned about getting into trouble because we can ring someone if we need to.

So who do we use? Call me cheap, I’m okay with it. If I was only going to be in a country for a week or two then I would use Airalo, 3 weeks or longer and I’m using Lyca. However, if I was in a country that had Vodafone and I could get a 20euro deal again, I would use Vodafone.

Everyone's specific needs are different and this may not work for you and you may find yourself, like us, wasting a bit of money until you find what works for you