Inexpensive Internet: SIM cards and WLAN hotspots for the EU and the whole world Anyone traveling in Europe uses convenient data roaming. Outside the EU, SIM cards, eSIMs and mobile hotspots provide cheap access to the Internet. 4:00 p.m. tech stage

Thanks to the EU roaming regulation ( link to the Federal Network Agency ), users with a German mobile phone tariff can also make calls abroad, surf the Internet on their mobile devices or write SMS messages – generally without additional costs. However, there are also some limitations. Many providers refer to the “Fair Use Policy” when it comes to EU roaming. This is based on an appropriate use of data volume. What is appropriate is interpreted differently from provider to provider. With most of them you can also use the full included data volume in other EU countries. We have found exceptions, among other things, with unlimited tariffs such as Freenet Funk. In other EU countries, only 1 GB is available instead of unlimited data volume per day.

In other cases, Switzerland is included in EU roaming. Means: You can also use telephony, data volume and SMS there under the conditions booked in Germany.

If you are looking for a tariff with EU roaming for little money as quickly as possible, you should take a look at our top 3 tariffs with the best price-performance ratio . There, for example, Simon has a monthly terminable tariff with 8 GB for 9 euros per month in the Vodafone network. And in the O2 network, the Freenet tariff is available with 20 GB for 17 euros ; also cancellable on a monthly basis.

Outside the EU, on the other hand, little has happened. For example, 1 MB of data outside the EU costs 19 cents instead of 99 cents at 1&1 in the O2 network, and 49 cents instead of 79 cents at Telekom in typical travel countries such as Egypt, the USA or Thailand. After all, the big providers usually have international packages in their program. Telekom, for example, offers a day pass with 100 MB for 5 euros or a day pass with unlimited data volume for 15 euros. You can get by with that and that’s enough for navigation and messaging. If you have to work on the go, stream videos or want to send your family holiday photos and videos, you will quickly reach your limits.

If you often travel outside the EU, you should make sure when concluding the contract that the chosen provider offers a flat rate for the typical travel countries. However, this is usually only available with the expensive tariffs of the large providers, pure prepaid providers and cheap homeowners prefer to use their customers’ stay abroad to make big bucks.

Bargain foxes buy a prepaid SIM card on site. In some countries it works well, is simple and makes sense – Taiwan or the USA, for example. In other countries, language hurdles, official requirements and the jungle of tariffs are so big that you would have to sacrifice a whole day of vacation to get a SIM card. In Egypt, you can get a SIM card quickly – but instead of the promised 15 GB, in practice there is often just under one and a half GB. This rip-off is well known and can be found in numerous holiday forums.

And then you have to think about whether to pack a second smartphone, take out your German SIM card or use an eSIM-capable smartphone; such as an iPhone from XR or a Samsung Galaxy from S20. The latter option is very relaxed insofar as you book the respective tariff in advance like a digital service via app or website and do not have to do anything else. Providers such as Airalo offer unlimited data volume for 5 days in China or 10 GB for 30 days in the USA – costs between 13 and 22 euros.

In the following table we have compared the offers from three providers for popular travel destinations outside the EU. We show the best deal with data volume in the 4G network for each provider and country:

Airalo in particular can convince in terms of price-performance ratio compared to many providers such as eSIM2Fly or Surfroam .

An alternative are mobile hotspots with battery operation and integrated global SIM card. You can book daily or weekly packages for almost any country in the world directly via the hotspot display or a web interface that you can access via cell phone or computer. Fees are higher than local prepaid SIM cards, but significantly cheaper than roaming with your own tariff or most eSIM offers. This is particularly useful for holidaymakers who want to stream, surf or make video calls on multiple devices without restrictions.

These hotspots have also been available for rent for a number of years. You order them online before you travel, they are sent by post to your private address or the first hotel in the destination country – and at the end of the trip you simply hand them in or send them back. This also works in countries where foreigners find it difficult to get a SIM card at all, such as China. For a week of unlimited data volume, the costs are between 49 and 69 euros, depending on the country. The French company Mywebspot is a central provider for a wide variety of destinations worldwide. Depending on the country, there are of course countless other providers who have special rental offers for their own market. The search term “mobile hotspot” and then the respective country helps here. But the same applies here: who, especially on Asian sites, can quickly be overwhelmed by the language barrier. Therefore, the Mywebspot offer is not only interesting in terms of price, but can also be used by everyone thanks to the German website.