Roaming Europe with a Popit Data SIM – There’s a Catch Folks!
We’ve just used a Popit Mobile Data SIM for internet access throughout a month-long motorhome tour of Europe. We have no affiliation with Popit, we’re not trying to sell you anything (maybe the opposite in this case). We just to pass on our experience of using this SIM.
Popit SIMs
Popit Mobile SIMs are all on 30 day contracts, and auto-renew unless you cancel them. They all include unlimited calls and texts, but with varying amounts of data. Whichever SIM you order, you can use all of the data abroad. We bought the largest amount of monthly data – 100GB, which costs £25 a month.
If you need more data you can buy ‘bolt ons’, but these are very expensive at £5 for 1GB (at that rate the 100GB SIM would be £500 a month, nasty). If you know you’ll need 200GB say, you’d be better off buying a couple of their SIMs instead.
How Much Data We Actually Needed
We had the SIM in a 4G router in our motorhome, and mainly used it via our mobile phones (tethering). We hardly streamed any video, so only got through about 35GB across the entire month. When we have watched a few hours of TV or YouTube a night, we’ve used the full 100GB in the past. We don’t work from the van, other than blogging, so didn’t need video calls or to move large files.
We have 1p Mobile SIMs in our phones and mostly had mobile data roaming turned off, relying on the WiFi network created by our 4G router instead. We did buy 1GB data add-ons for the 1p mobile SIMs, so could use data while out and about if we forgot to take the router with us.
The Catch: Popit’s *somewhat sneaky* Roaming Policy
Popit’s roaming policy is here: www.popitmobile.co.uk/roaming. The key points for us were:
- They allow us to use all 100GB in the EU without additional charges
- They allow roaming for up to 6 months at a time
Sounds great, but! Be careful, as Popit have some additional roaming stipulations buried in their fair use policy, notably:
- They don’t allow you to cancel your contract if you don’t meet their Roaming Compliance
- In practice this means you have to use the same amount of data in the UK as you’ve used abroad, as far as I can tell
- Which in turn means you can’t just buy a SIM the day before you leave, roam with it then cancel it as soon as you get home
- Or, you can, but Popit will charge you £75 before they’ll let you cancel the SIM
This is the text from their web page:
“Roaming compliance is determined by calculating the average data usage at a rate of 1 gigabyte (GB) per month. For instance, if a user engages in roaming for a period of 6 months and wishes to initiate place on hold or cancellation, their data usage in the United Kingdom (UK) should fall within the range of 6GB to 8GB to be considered compliant with roaming requirements.”
So if you’ve used 100GB a month for 6 months, you’d need to use 100GB a month for 6 months in the UK before you could cancel the contract, or pay a £75 penalty.
This second stipulation means our month’s roaming will cost us £50 (we don’t need the SIM in the UK).
Our Experience with the Popit SIM
We enabled the SIM in the UK a couple of days before we left and checked it worked. We didn’t need to change any APN settings, and our router was already enabled for roaming, so it just worked.
We visited France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It worked everywhere. Here in the UK the SIM connects to the EE network, and abroad it automatically connected to EE’s partner networks, no problem.
We didn’t do speed tests, and hardly streamed video, so can’t comment on bandwidth. We stayed in aires and campsites which ranged from city centre to in-the-sticks, so we’d expect signal strength and data speed to vary anyway. The SIM supports 5G networks, but we only have 4G kit too, so it might have been faster with a 5G router.
Back home in the UK we’ve had to pay for a second month’s use as we’re not in Popit’s Roaming Compliance. We’ll use the 30 to 40GB we need to use this month, then cancel the SIM.
What Alternatives are There to Popit?
Yep. You could use another pay as you go or contract UK SIM, checking this Money Saving Expert article for any restrictions on use abroad.
For example, we could have had 100GB of data with Tesco Mobile on a 30 day SIM for £30, with no cap on data use abroad and a 2 month allowance for use abroad (which anecdotally isn’t strictly enforced).
Or if you plan to spend the majority of your time in one country, buy a local pay as you go SIM. We’ve done this in many countries, and the process tends to work OK with some patience and use of Google Translate! You’ll likely get far more data for your money if you do this in most EU countries, compared with roaming with a UK SIM.
Be aware a SIM bought in France will probably have a data cap if you take it into Spain though, for example. This website has a lot of useful information for buying local SIM cards: prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data.
Several long-term travelers have also suggested Spain’s Tiekom provider is very good . They offer a local Spanish SIM which includes 200GB of EU roaming for €43.90 (about £38) on a pay as you go basis.
In Conclusion
Popit’s SIM worked fine for us, but we’re a little disappointed with the well-hidden roaming compliance small print. We can recommend this SIM in terms of simplicity and the fact it seemed quick enough, offered sufficient data for us and switched between countries OK. But be aware of the fact they’ll refuse to let you cancel a SIM which has predominantly been used abroad, unless you hand over £75 for the privilege.
Any Thoughts?
Which PAYG SIM cards do you guys use in the EU? Have any of your found a better deal than the PopIt Mobile ones? Drop us a line in the comments below – we’re hoping to get off again later in the year and any info would be gratefully received.
Cheers, Jay
We have 3 EE unlimited sims in uk because we have EE full fiber. We have the roaming add on. We should only get 50gb fair use for 2 months away. We had 5 months away last year. No problem. Even used over 100 Gb on one sim. Never had a problem. Only purchased local sim for Bosnia. .
Good deal that John 👍
We had the same issue this winter and what makes it even harder for us is that Jersey isn’t classified as being in the UK for them so nearly had to pay the £75. Fortunately our daughter was over from NZ for Xmas and then going to the UK to visit family and friends so she used the sim.
We have used popit for 3 years and found it great. We schengen shuffle usually spending 3-6 months in Europe with a few months in UK. When we are back in the UK, we use it for a month and then you can pause it for £1 a month until we reactivate it when we go away again. I wasn’t aware of the hefty exit penalty as we’ve never left!
Ouch that’s an outrageous and pretty disingenuous set of terms. I’d pop into a French supermarket if France and buy a reglo sim which you can cancel straight away.
We have given up trying to juggle various uk sims with all their tiresome small print and restrictions. Like someone above mentioned, we have a popit 100gb which we have never tried to leave, just put on hold for £1.00. This year we bought a Lobster sim in Spain – all English service, delivered to a campsite, worked well, 18.99 for 100 gigs on spain and 10 roaming out of Spain. We needed to change one name in the APN on the mifi but full guidance in English. Then in France for a month we got a lebara sim. Similar deal and worked well.
Tiresome is a good word for it Robina! Thanks for the info and happy travels, cheers, Jay 👍
When we were in Spain and then France last year, I went with RWG. I had 200GB per month for £20 pcm. We were away for 7 weeks, following the Rugby World Cup, so I paid £40 for 2 months. It worked brilliantly. I had a small unlocked router which it went into, although I could’ve put it in my phone, but it made it easier to use the laptop (watching any rugby matches we weren’t going to!) on WiFi. I just took the little router with me whenever we went out.
Sadly, they don’t offer USA, otherwise I’d go with them again!!! If anyone has any recommendations for there and Canada, I’d be grateful!
Thanks Fiona – we’ll definitely have a look at RWG later this year – https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/pay-monthly/unlimited-mins-sms-200gb-data-%C2%A320-month/. Cheers, Jay
Update: just looked more carefully at their website and it says the 200GB SIM is limited to 20GB when roaming;
“Our £20 SIM gives you a combination of unlimited mins, unlimited SMS & 200GB per month. This will renew each month until cancelled. This product includes EU Roaming which is restricted to 20GB when roaming.”
Maybe they don’t enforce the limit?
I had this sim and it was perfect until they reduced the roaming limit. Very disappointed!
Have a look at IQ mobile. They have a sim called IQ Go which is designed for Mifi use. You pay a £20 annual fee to keep it active and then buy data as needed. You can use all the data abroad but this limited to 3 months in any 12. The data lasts for a month but you can add more at any point. Hope this helps.
Looks a good option, thanks David 👍
Lebara 30gb plan for £20 isn’t quite matching the Popit data, but to my knowledge, they don’t have any strange restrictions.
For lebara you have to sign up to automatic renewal which is cancellable before the next payment due. However, you cannot cancel within five days of the renewal date. So you do need to remember the date! Since I wanted it for only one month I was tempted to cancel the very next day but worried that would cancel the whole thing. I have learnt to be very sceptical of all internet deals!
We use IQ Mobile in our Netgear wifi router. They use the EE network in the UK. Each data package is valid for 30 days (10Gb, 30Gb, 100Gb) and the whole data allowance can be used throughout the EU (but see below). If we run out within the 30 days we just buy another bolt-on. It’s worked really well for us and meets our EU travel needs. Top ups are bought via their website but you need to plan ahead, as it takes 24 hours to activate the top-up. I’ve contacted them a couple of times via WhatsApp and their customer service is very good.
However, they’ve recently changed their T&Cs, such that the SIM can only be used in the EU for a total of 90 days in a 12 month period. It used to be that it could be used for up to 90 days in the EU before returning to the UK, which would then reset the 90 day period for future trips within the same 12 month period. Their website states: “We do not have a “Fair use policy” when abroad which is pretty unique. If you order 100GB, you get 100GB in UK or EU at full speed. However, you can only roam within the EU for 3 months out of 12 in the year. We don’t mind how you split that time up.”
This change doesn’t matter to us as we generally only spend about 6-8 weeks in the EU per year, but for others it will be a constraint.
Great information, thanks Paul 👍
I switched to Smarty, which gives me unlimited EU calls/texts plus 12gb data – including 5g – and have been paying £7 per month for over 2 years with no increase. If I want more data I buy an add-on, no time limit, £9 for 10gb though others are available. Best mobile company I’ve ever dealt with by a long way. As others have said, in Spain Lobster are pretty good.
Thank Patti 👍
Hi Jason,
I am a real cheapskate because funds are limited. My wife and I both use ID Mobile, which has a 30Gb monthly roaming allowance. Effectively giving us 60Gb per month. I pay £8:00 per month which gives me 100Gb in UK (any unused Data rolls over) and my wife pays £4:00 for 50Gb ( which also rolls over any unused Data)so quite good value. Have travelled extensively through France, Spain, Portugal and Italy without any issues. Although coverage in rural Portugal is poor. Only downside we found was in Switzerland which is NOT within their EU roaming allowance. So many different options but we are happy with our current selection. In fact we only use our Mobiles “hotspotting” them as required. No home Internet or landlines phone.
Sounds like a good solution that Carl, thanks, Jay 🤜💥
Jason,
If you do go for the ID Mobile option, get the SIM card through mobiles.co.uk for a cash back allowance.
Will do, thanks Carl ✊
Hi Jay
Once you have reached 100% compliance you can Pause the Popit SIM card for £1pm then resurrect it when you need to go travelling again. Works well for us.
That sucks! Some friends of ours found this out last year when looking into popit! Like you said though it’s well hidden – sneaky!
We’ve used super drug mobile for the last couple of years. It’s also a pause system, but now it limits you to 12gb overseas! We have ID mobile Sims in our phones which allow 30gb each overseas so those trip we just used those. We have also used Lobster in Spain which also worked in Spain & Portugal.