There’s always lots of questions regarding purchase of local SIM cards for voice and data use when conferences and LUGs are taking place. For example, despite years of looking I’ve never really found a cost-effective means of sourcing a data plan for the occasional trip to the USA – Lotusphere etc.
However, I have made a couple of real finds during 2012 that might help others.
For example, I buy my teenagers the £10 goodybag every month (you can set this up to automatically recur if you wish) – this gives them 250 minutes of calls to UK numbers, plus unlimited texts and unlimited data.
To request a SIM, head to the Giff Gaff site and choose either a full-sized or micro-SIM (this is an affiliate link – I will get a small credit to my account when the SIM is activated). Else, if you’d rather get one shipped directly to you at short notice, I have a pack of them here – just contact me and I’ll put one in the post for you.
[For the first time ever, I had full 3G access for the whole trip, costing about £80 in total. Suddenly checkins, status updates and even maps were available the whole time – it revolutionised the experience for me. Actually, it also saved us in a couple of situations. First, when planning the day’s drive from Berlin into the Czech Republic, I suddenly realised that my Tomtom Western Europe satnav app did not cover the country. Whilst the route wasn’t complicated, finding the apartment in the centre of Prague was! The new maps in iOS 6 came to the rescue – only accessible via 3G, of course. Second, when an apartment in the Alsace wasn’t suitable (long story, ask me in Orlando!), we had to find a hotel for six of us at 8pm one night. Having unlimited data on hand was a blessing!].
So, hopefully these options might help you. Yell if you have any questions!