Roaming in Greece

I usually blog about my roaming experiences when I travel abroad. Sometimes I have issues, but more recently things have gone very smoothly. This year I did personal day trips to Venice, Madrid and Copenhagen. My roaming experience in these three cities was all fine, so much so, I forgot to blog about them.

Last week I was in Greece for a conference, which followed my extended visit to Sweden the week before. I was planning to be in Sweden from Sunday to Tuesday in Luleå, but because of the Nats issue at Heathrow, my connecting flight from Stockholm was cancelled. The earliest flight I could then be booked onto was three days later. I then spent three days in Stockholm.

That was the first international trip I had taken with my new iPhone 17 Pro Max and the roaming experience was seamless. However with my extended trip I did use 7GB of my fair use limit of 12GB. This is even with decent hotel wifi, and eduroam at my conference venue and in the Swedish airports.

So, last week, going off to Thessaloniki in Greece for five days for a conference I was expecting to run out of data. I have been to Greece before, visiting Zante and Kefalonia on holidays in the 2000s. However, I had not visited the Greek mainland before. This was also my first experience of using my Three account in Greece.

As with recent experiences all was fine when I landed at Thessaloniki airport. I think I was lucky in that both the hotel and the conference venue had really good wifi, so I had less need for falling back on roaming. The conference was at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and they had excellent eduroam coverage. The airport also had good wifi, so while waiting for my flight home, could use that.

In the end I only used about 1GB of roaming data across the five days in Greece.

Roaming in Sweden

I usually blog about my roaming experiences when I travel abroad. Sometimes I have issues, but more recently things have gone very smoothly. This year I did personal day trips to Venice, Madrid and Copenhagen. My roaming experience in these three cities was all fine, so much so, I forgot to blog about them.

This week I was on an extended visit to Sweden. I was planning to be there from Sunday to Tuesday in Luleå, but because of the Nats issue at Heathrow, my connecting flight from Stockholm was cancelled. The earliest flight I could then be booked onto was three days later. I then spent three days in Stockholm.

This was the first international trip I had taken with my new iPhone 17 Pro Max and the roaming experience was seamless.

Before when I would go abroad the process I would use with my phone, was  to go into Settings -> Mobile Data and turn off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data.  I would turn off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal. This time, as with my recent trip to Netherlands, I only turned off mobile data for iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup.

However with my extended trip I did use 7GB of my fair use limit of 12GB. This is even with decent hotel wifi, and eduroam at my conference venue and in the Swedish airports.

Roaming in the Netherlands

Amsterdam canal

I usually blog about my roaming experiences when I travel abroad. Sometimes I have issues, but more recently things have gone very smoothly.

I had visited Amsterdam nearly two years ago, back in October 2023, then I had no issues with roaming. I was visiting the Netherlands again, though this time I was attending a conference in Delft.

When I go abroad the process I use is go into Settings -> Mobile Data and turn off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data.  I would turn off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal. This time, as with my recent trip to France, I only turned off mobile data for iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup and a few data heavy apps.

The hotel I was staying at had good wifi, and the conference venue at TU Delft had eduroam. Having said that I did make use of mobile data when I was in coffee shops, on the train, and walking around various Dutch places. I was impressed with the mobile data speeds that were available.

I was there for five days and when I landed back in Bristol, I had not used up all my data.

Roaming in France, oh and Belgium

Following issues with using data in Portugal a few years ago with excessive data usage on my iPhone, I did wonder if I should follow the  same process I had used in October 2023 when I went to Amsterdam, last year when I went to Europe, and when I went to Helsinki in February.

The process I would use is go into Settings -> Mobile Data and turn off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data.  I would turn off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal. This time I only turned off mobile data for iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup.

This trip was a six day trip to France, with a one day excursion to Bruges in Belgium.

However on my final day I ran out of data, having used the 12GB of fair use data. I had to spend £6 adding a single day of unlimited roaming data. Always a challenge to work out what app or process was the culprit, but I think it may have been Photos and iCloud. I also used the phone extensively for CarPlay.

On the side trip to Belgium, my phone did automatically switch to the Belgium mobile network, and switched back when we returned to France.

One interesting thing that did happen when we visited Cap Gris-Nez which is the bit of France closest to the UK was that my phone did switch to the UK network before switching back to a French network when we moved away from the cliff edge.

Roaming in Belgium, oh and France

Following issues with using data in Portugal a few years ago with excessive data usage on my iPhone, I did wonder if I should follow the  same process I had used in October 2023 when I went to Amsterdam, last year when I went to Europe, and when I went to Helsinki in February.

The process I would use is go into Settings -> Mobile Data and turn off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data.  I would turn off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal. This time (as an experiment) and as I was away only for a short time, I only turned off mobile data for iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup.

This trip I was taking the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Brussels. Obviously the train would have to travel through France before before arriving in Brussels in Belgium. 

After travelling through the tunnel, when I arrived in France, my phone automatically connected to the correct network and I was able to use 5G (and I guess make phone calls, but I didn’t make any calls). As I  crossed the border into Belgium I was switched automatically to a different network in Belgium.

I had no problems with data, texts and calls in Belgium and on my return visit there was another short stint with a French provider before entering the tunnel and rejoining Three when I was back in the UK.

Roaming in France

Following issues with using data in Portugal a few years ago with excessive data usage on my iPhone, I did wonder if I should follow the  same process I had used in October 2023 when I went to Amsterdam, last year when I went to Europe, and when I went to Helsinki in February.

The process I would use is go into Settings -> Mobile Data and turn off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data.  I would turn off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal.

However this time I was heading to Calais and Dunkerque just for the day, though I was expecting to use my phone, I didn’t think I would go overboard on the data (even using iCloud for my photos) and I didn’t think I would exceed the 12Gb Fair Use limit.

When I arrived in France, my phone automatically connected to the correct network and I was able to use 5G (and I guess make phone calls, but I didn’t make any calls).

I did turn off data when I was on the ferry though (as recommended by DFDS) and connected to the Ferry WiFi.

Roaming in Finland

I was flying off to Finland and would be using my iPhone out there.

Following issues with using data in Portugal a few years ago with excessive data usage on my iPhone, I followed the same process I had used in October 2023 when I went to Amsterdam and last year when I went to Europe.

When I was on the plane at Heathrow, I went into Settings -> Mobile Data and turned off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data. Took me a while as there were a fair few. I turned off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Driveand iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal.

As and when I needed to use apps, I either used the hotel wifi, or switched on mobile data for specific apps.

I didn’t  run out of data this visit, it was a shorter visit, just a few days. All worked fine.

I was also impressed with the mobile data speeds in Finland, which to be honest knowing their history (you know Nokia) wasn’t too surprising.

Roaming across Europe

This summer I travelled to Germany, taking the ferry to France, travelling to just outside Paris for a few days before then setting off through Belgium and Luxembourg to Germany.

Following issues with using data in Portugal last summer with excessive data usage on my iPhone, I followed the same process I had used last October when I went to Amsterdam.

So before we boarded the ferry at Newhaven, I went into Settings -> Mobile Data and turned off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data. Took me a while as there were a fair few. I turned off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Portugal.

As and when I needed to use apps, I either used the campsite wifi, or switched on mobile data for specific apps.

Arriving in France I was able to roam without any issues, of course as I travelled across Europe I switched networks, first in Belgium, then in Luxembourg and finally in Germany. In the end I used four different country networks. Each time I switched over without issue as I crossed the border.

In Portugal I reached 80% of my 12GB limit within the first twenty four hours. I did wonder if I would reach the fair usage limit on this holiday. As it happens I did six days into the trip, with two days left. It was relatively easy to purchase a 1-day Data Passport for £6 for the two remaining days of our holiday rather than pay silly prices for data on a pay as you go basis.

Though difficult to tell, I think the main data culprits were Waze and Amazon Music, which were used extensively as we drove across the continent.

Roaming in Amsterdam

I was off to Amsterdam for a few days for a conference at the RAI conference centre.

Following some issues with roaming in Spain in 2022 I have been a little concerned about travelling abroad and if I would have connectivity issues. After Spain though, I had travelled to Ireland and Germany and both times everything just worked. However the last time I went abroad, in the summer to Portugal, I had a few issues when roaming with excessive data usage on my iPhone.

I have a Three contract with unlimited calls, unlimited texts, and unlimited data. As this is a pre-October 2021 contract I am able to use all those allowances when roaming, but there is a 12GB fair use limit. On all my previous visits abroad, before Portugal, I have never come close to reaching that limit.

In Portugal I reached 80% of my 12GB limit within the first twenty four hours. Back then, I turned off mobile data and then I went into Settings -> Mobile Data and turned off all the apps which could use mobile data. There were a lot of apps.

So when I flew to Amsterdam last week, whilst I was on the plane went into Settings -> Mobile Data and turned off virtually all the apps which could use mobile data. Took me a while as there were a fair few. I turned off mobile data for virtually all my apps and also specifically iCloud Drive and iCloud Backup. I am pretty sure they were the culprits for my excessive data usage whilst in Spain.

I then reset the mobile data usage statistics. So when I came back to the UK I could check how much data I had used.

Schiphol Airport had free WiFi, so I could use that in the airport whilst I had a ninety minute wait to get through passport control.

Now I was lucky that the hotel and conference venue had good WiFi, and even Schiphol Airport’s WiFi was good. So there was less reliance on using my mobile data. 

When I was walking around Amsterdam away from the hotel and the conference venue, I did turn on mobile data for specific apps that I wanted to use, finance and travel apps for example.

After arriving back in the UK I checked the mobile data usage statistics I had used whilst roaming in the Netherlands from Tuesday to Friday.

It was 1.4GB and 1.4GB is a lot less than the 12GB fair use allowance I have.  So was pleased with that. I never felt I was limited in how I used mobile data abroad, as when I did need to use an app, I just turned on mobile data for it. I was lucky in having decent WiFi, so that did make a difference.

Problems with roaming in Portugal

Following some issues with roaming in Spain in 2022 I have been a little concerned about travelling abroad and if I would have connectivity issues. After Spain though, I had travelled to Ireland and Germany and both times everything just worked.

When I arrived at Faro Airport, my phone connected without issue to the MEO network and I was connected.

However what I wasn’t expecting was that twenty four hours later I would get a text from Three that I had used 80%of my data allowance of 12GB.

I have a Three contract with unlimited calls, unlimited texts, and unlimited data. As this is a pre-October 2021 contract I am able to use all those allowances when roaming, but there is a 12GB fair use limit. On all my previous visits abroad, I have never come close to reaching that limit.

So I was somewhat surprised to find that I had used it nearly all up within a day.

I am not sure why, but my suspicion was that iCloud Photos was the culprit, or iCloud Backup.

So first I turned off mobile data and then I went into Settings -> Mobile Data and turned off all the apps which could use mobile data. There were a lot. 

Of course with unlimited data back in the UK, I never need to worry about apps using data.

Alas the hotel doesn’t have free Wi-Fi (well it does in reception) but in the rooms there is a charged for service.

Once in the plane (and in flight mode) I enabled mobile data for all my apps so when I landed back in the UK I would be back where I was when I left.

Towards the end of the week I felt more confident in using mobile data. In the end I never used all the 12GB allowance, but it did make me think about how I will be using a phone if and when I go abroad again.