How We Compare Roaming Sim Cards!

RoamingAdvisor.com is an independent service comparing mobile roaming charges from mobile operators and from roaming sim providers. We make all our conclusions and advice freely available on this website.

We collect all possible information about charges from mobile roaming providers. We then carry out specific same-level comparisons to the roaming charges from mobile operators.

• Cost of receiving a call from the UK when travelling abroad.
• Cost of calling a UK mobile number from abroad.
• Cost of making a local call when roaming.
• The price of the Roaming Sim.
• Initial Call Credit.
• The Roaming sim prefix, and international calling code.
• Mobile data roaming charges.
• Text message costs.

We have tested all Roaming Sims in the following phones for compatability, however some older phones are not supported by the sim cards, roaming sim cards often use what is called a sim toolkit and not all phone support this.

We have tested the roaming sims cards using the following phones. Nokia 6233, Nokia E61, HTC Touch Cruise, Sony Ericsson w850i, Blackberry 8707g and Nokia 3310 to cover the majority of the mobile handsets out there. The mobile phone you use for a roaming sim has to be unlocked, and you can find a way to unlock your phone here.

We review roaming sim cards according to the following specific areas:

Customer Service:
We ask the same secret question to all roamign sim operators, and look at the time it takes them to answer and if they answer the question fully. We also test if it's possible to login and check the account balance online and if it's possible to request the account balance via the mobile.

Quality of Calls:
We test the calls for connection and we make calls of more than 30 minutes to watch if we are being disconnected.

Call Connection:
We time how long it takes for the call to connect using the roaming sim, how long time before the call back happens and how often the call fails or isn’t connected at all.

Data Roaming:
We test the data connection if it's available, this is still a very rare solution to see on the roaming market. We establish whether the technology offered is GPRS, EDGE or HSDA, and in how many countries it is offered, and if it works on Push email, and Blackberry(tm)

Text Messaging:
We send a text message to a UK mobile, and reply to test what number it comes as and how easy it is to reply.

Ease of Use:
We try to take the SIM out of the package, and pretend we haven't tried a roaming sim before insert it, avoid reading the manual, then we dial, and watch what happens. As all Roaming Sims are made in different way, and some with more features than others we test how easy it is to understand, and if there is anything the user should be aware of.

Value for money:
This is pretty much self-explanatory, we check if we find the sim is value for money, is it worth buying or not.

Special Features:
Some roaming sim cards have special features, such as toll-free or 0800 access numbers, Conference calls, manual selection of call-back, SMS call back requests, and many more features, some even have currency conversion and we are waiting for one with weather forecast and flight times.

Our overall rating is the average of all the above.

Roaming For Leisure Travellers-

For the leisure traveller we compare roaming charges for a week’s travel with the following usage:

50 Minutes of outbound calls to the UK
25 Minutes of Inbound calls
35 Text messages
Click Here to compare mobile roaming rates.

In addition to the traffic charges we review the price of the sim card, including any credit you get. This, together, is the total cost.

Note that for monthly subscriptions it is necessary to add the cost of obtaining cheap roaming charges. For instance, if you are an O2 subscriber, the International Travellers Service tariffs only apply if you have a monthly contract of more than £30 per month or if you agree to pay a fee of £2.99 to have this service added to your subscription.

Based on these calculations, the sim card with the lowest total is the best roaming choice for your need.

Roaming For Business Travellers-

For Business users we compare roaming charges for a week’s travel with the following usage:

120 minutes of outbound calls
60 minutes of inbound calls
30 text messages.
Click Here to compare mobile roaming rates.

In addition to the traffic charges we review the price of the sim card, including any credit you get. This, together, is the total cost.

RoamingSims.com also offer a business service for business travellers: Let us choose the best sim card for you! We will even negotiate high volume rates for purchases of more than 10 sim cards at the time. RoamingSims.com handle accounting and invoicing for major corporate clients so contact us for more information on our business services.

Please note that we are unable to take responsibility for correctness of the prices posted. Prices posted are based on information from operators and mobile roaming providers. However, we are not always immediately informed by mobile roaming providers about price changes. Conversions from international currencies are done to the same exchange rate. All prices are calculated with VAT.