Internet

We maintain a blog, we use twitter every day to give our position - We need the internet a little bit all the time, for a budget of 10 to 15 € per month.

“But how did you manage not to put half of the travel budget on the telephone?”. Here, country by country, the different ways we used to have Internet everywhere, via our telephone.

Before starting, I would like to tell you ...

BUY COUNTRY SIM CARDS! This is the first option to pay much less for your nomadic Internet access (be sure to unlock your phone Before leaving).

The second option was for us to use the "Pass destination”From Free. Unlimited phone calls, SMS and data (1) in many countries for… 0 €! (Valid mainly in Europe).

The third is to squat in all the free Wi-Fi (McDonald’s, hostels, guesthouses, city wifi), but I'm not telling you anything.

A small thank you to Going slowly who gave me the idea to make this page (go see hers, he gives other ideas!)

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France

  • September 2014
  • Free Mobile / 20€
  • We used our package Free, since we wanted to keep it to take advantage of the "Pass destination”For the following countries. Be careful, however, if you have just switched to a € 19.90 package, it takes 2 months before you can take advantage of this famous Pass… Which will mean that I have to pay for a new SIM card in Italy.

Italy

  • October 2014
  • I-WIND / € 14 + € 6 (SIM card + activation)
  • 20 € in total, but still 6 GB of Data! The network is generally of good quality (it is the one that Free uses for its customers abroad).

Croatia

  • October 2014
  • TV2
  • 50 Kuna (approximately € 6.50) for 1 GB valid for 30 days + SIM card € 1

Albania

  • October 2014
  • Vodafone
  • 30 days: 1 GB = 550 Leke (approximately € 4) or 2 GB: 750 Leke (less than € 5.50)
  • SIM Card 1 €

Greece

November 2014: Use of “Pass destination”Of our Free package!

Turkey

We no longer remember whether we bought a SIM card or not ...
But we won't leave you with nothing: for some info, go see there ! (looks pretty up to date in general)

Thailand

  • December 2014
  • Prepaid SIM cards purchased in supermarkets 7/11.
    Beware of the prices that seem tempting: the first time we bought a card from AIS, like the equivalent of 1 or 2 €; in fact there was very little Data, but unlimited Facebook. It's nice, but a bit limited in use.
  • Second test at AIS : 299 Baht (€ 7.60) - 1 GB for 1 month. On the other hand, the offers at AIS made us tear our hair out at the start… We advise you instead True Move : the offers looked simpler!

Some other info ...

  • True move : free wifi available in quite a few places with this operator (and especially in Bangkok), you just have to create an account to access it. But we often struggled to make it work.
  • Some codes which will be useful to you (English translation, check balance, etc.):
    - AIS
    – TrueMove

Cambodia

And there CAUTION: the recharges must be activated, otherwise it goes faster than your shadow! You can try to go to the phone shops in the big cities, sometimes they speak a little English… But if, in the depths of Cambodia, you ever need to recharge, you will be happy to have more information , because it is not always the salesman who will explain it to you (in the small stalls along the road, sometimes he himself does not know how to do ... So between that and the language barrier ...).

So : you buy the refill, a piece of paper with a long number on it; you activate this credit. This is where we shouldn't stop! You still have to send a code by SMS (“MI3” for example, for $ 3) so that the Data recharge is validated.

Laos

  • February 2015
  • Unitel
  • 30 days: 5 GB for 50,000 kips (11 €)
  • You can sometimes find sim cards ($ 1) at small roadside vendors, but they just take care of collecting the pennies, not being able to tell you how much data you have. After passing through Cambodia (see above), we were in good shape. A page that has served us well despite everything: a small table very useful.
    In the big cities you will find big agencies which will help you a little more.

Vietnam

This network has the best network coverage in the country because it was originally developed for the military.

Note : impossible to know your remaining plan when you buy only data: that requires the cost of an SMS, which you don't have, since you only bought Data ... No comment.

China

March 2015: In China, don't be surprised if salespeople don't even know their offers: it's normal (regardless of the operator), don't expect to speak English either ... galleys in prospect.
Come on, we'll help you!

China Unicom / 100 yuan (15 €) for the SIM card + 1GB of data - until the end of the month!

We had a bad experience with this company, the seller did not let us know that he had chosen a package for us that resets at the end of the month (you must return to the branch to pay for your month). When you limit yourself to 6 to 8 weeks with 1 GB and you realize after 15 days that the account has been siphoned off, it's not very pleasant. Take another operator you will say. Impossible ! It's the only compatible with non-Chinese phones (voir ce wiki très bien fait à ce sujet). Génial.

Utiliser Facebook, Twitter et youtube en Chine :

J’ai galéré pendant une semaine pour arriver à trouver une solution qui marche pour mon PC et pour le téléphone. Sans plus attendre :

  • Pour les téléphones Android : téléchargez Fqrouter2. Il est aussi dispo sur le PlayStore, mais n’attendez pas d’être en Chine pour l’installer : PlayStore est bien évidemment bloqué 🙂
  • Pour les PC/MAC : Demandez à un de vos copains disposant d’une freebox (ou d’un NAS) de vous créer un VPN PPTP (other technologies surely work, but I have not been able to make them work). Note: sometimes you have to force the encryption to 128bits, 40 bits are not enough all the time (blocked pages).

If you don't have any friends, you can either try a free VPN or get a paid VPN.

For more info on constraints in China, go to our page “11 things to know before coming to China”

Mongolia

  • May 2015
  • Mobicom
  • We were in Mongolia in May 2015. At the time, the prices offered were: 14,000 Tugrik (€ 7) for 1 GB valid for 30 days Or: 10,000 Tugrik (€ 5) for 500MB valid for 7 days. (SIM included)
    Today the prices seem to have changed and on their site you can find these prices:
    -> 4,500 Tg - 500Mo valid for 7 days
    -> 10,000 Tg - 1Go valid for 30 days
  • Check balance : *592#

Network quality: going by bike through the Mongolian steppes, we had no idea if we could regularly tweet. We have been surprised ! We found EDGE in the villages and 3G in the cities (Karkhorin, Tsetserleg…). To get an idea of ​​the network coverage at Mobicom: Coverage.

Russia

  • June 2015
  • MTC (says MTS)
  • SIM card 50 rubles (0.70 €)
  • In June 2015: SMART rate = 400 rubles (5.80 €) for 1 GB. But the formulas change every year. On their website, I noticed that the formulas indicated were not the same in the English version that in the russian version. Instead, use the russian version, with the Chrome browser which will automatically translate this for you!
  • Remember to take your ID to be able to create your account.

Network quality: not bad ! On the Trans-Siberian we did not have continuous internet, but quite oftenEdge in the countryside and H+ in the towns. Good network also around Lake Baikal. Small map of the operator's network: Coverage.

Estonia

Network quality: the country is at the forefront of new technologies, it is the birthplace of Skype. Besides, it's all flat! So network of quite exceptional quality, H + everywhere, right down to the countryside.

Latvia

  • July 2015
  • TV2 also exists here
  • But on entering the country, we found prepaid Internet SIM cards from home in the supermarket. LMT.
  • € 3 per week for 1.5 GB

Network quality : Like Estonia, Latvia is a very flat country. You can find H + everywhere.

Lithuania

  • July 2015
  • Fill in (depends on Télé2)
  • € 2 for 1 GB valid for 30 days - activation by calling 1520: that's it!
  • Purchased in supermarket

Poland

  • August 2015
  • Heyah
  • Purchased in the press office. At Heyah in August 2015, the formula Smart L :
  • 20 Zloti (5 €) for 3 GB, valid for 30 days + SIM card 5 Zloty (1 €)

For info:

Germany

  • September 2015
  • Vodafone : 20 € for 1 GB (credit of 15 € + SIM 5 €)
  • Tmobile: 20 € for 200Mb…

The most expensive country for travel on the Internet! And on the open wifi side, it's not better! The system Hadopi German being very strict, bars no longer dare to open their Wi-Fi to their customers ... At McDonald's, rest assured, it remains open!


(1) Data: for those who do not know the term: it is synonymous with a data volume on the Internet. Ok that's a nice anglicism but it's still much shorter and that's the term you will hear in general.