Features:

  • 20GB of Internet in Europe on 4G networks - Data tethering and use in hotspots allowed
  • 2 hours and 1000 texts from Europe to worldwide
  • Credit valid 14 days after 1st use ( first call, first text, first internet connection). Top-up online on topup.orange.com with international credit cards
  • Triple cut SIM card (standard/micro/nano). No activation, easy to use. Work on any unlocked device
  • Covers 30 countries in Europe: Andorra, Azores, Aland islands, Germany, Austria, Balearic islands, Belgium, Canary islands , Cyprus, Corfu, Crete, the Cyclades, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France mainland, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Rhodes, Romania, United Kingdom, Sardinia, Sicily, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden
A little hassle but worth it and a big money saver

I think this option is MUCH preferable to the data caps / slow speed and to paying $10/day to AT&T or Verizon for their data plans. Obviously if you will be in Europe only for a short trip, it doesn't make any sense, but you can do the math. Here are my pros and cons: PROS: Reliable, high speed (4G / LTE) almost everywhere in Europe. 10 GB so no need to worry about data limits unless you're streaming. I was a heavy user of Google maps and other services and never had an issue. Check the Orange website if you want coverage details but it covers most countries in Europe. I started in Switzerland, also went to several cities in Belgium, Portugal, France and Spain and it worked great. Also topped off (since I was there more than three weeks) online with no problem. Sometimes it might take a couple of minutes to connect when I went to a new country. - Two hours of calls - 1000 texts - Can be used as hotspot for your other devices (or your friends') CONS - You need an unlocked phone. (Your carrier can tell you how to do this and whether you are eligible. If you're under a plan that subsidizes your phone purchases, your phone is probably not unlocked.) - Biggest drawback -- you will have a French phone number, so if you call or text people and they don't know that you have a different number, they won't recognize you. Basically while using the SIM Card you no longer have a US phone -- you have a French phone. You also won't receive texts at your US number but if you use WhatsApp or some other service that isn't a problem. ALSO -- I created a contact named "[my name] Europe" and sent it to all of my friends so they'd have my info. You also need to add +1 to all of your US telephone numbers in your contacts that you plan to call from Europe, or your calls and texts usually won't go through. Sometimes they did though for me. You can check your US voicemail from your French phone -- so check it once a day if you think you are missing calls. - You have to register the SIM Card but this is easily done online and takes about five minutes. The site is in English. Despite this you will still get texts and emails for a week stating that you need to register but eventually you should get an email or text saying you're registered (or at least I did). You MUST do this and you need the SIM Card phone number to do it, so you have to wait until you receive the card to do it. Much easier to do before you go on a laptop or desktop. - You have to be comfortable with taking out the old SIM Card and putting a new one in. There are lots of YouTube videos that show how for every model (that's how I learned). - As others have said, you'll receive texts in French but you can ignore them. Most of them are wrong anyway. When you go to a new country you get a text in French telling you the data rates, but they're wrong because your card gives you a much better deal. Just ignore them. I cut and pasted them into Google translate to confirm what they were telling me, and then I realized I didn't need to read them.

Seamless phone solution for France or Europe.

Just got back from our France trip (Paris and Nice plus the Cote D'Azur area) and this SIM card worked for me really well. I did not pre-register since I was only going to use it for 12 days. I popped in the SIM card into an unlocked GSM phone prior to landing in Paris and the phone was working before entering the Immigration and Customs area. I got 4G coverage everywhere we went, with just a few spots where it would go to 3G. Tethering was great, I had 2 other devices tethered with no problems. Data was fast but not as fast as LTE speeds in the USA but very usable nonetheless. I just wished its validity was longer than 2 weeks. In our earlier trip to Europe late last year, I ended up using a different brand SIM since that trip was longer than 2 weeks. However that SIM card did not allow tethering which I would have wanted.

BFF is SO HAPPY and WORKS PERFECTLY in Spain

Gave one to my BFF, currently on a trip to Spain (Barcelona, as of this writing) & Portugal. She told me it worked right out of the box (and she's not even a techie, FAR from it). She was so glad for this Orange Holiday EU SIM card, since the typical free WiFis on ANY hotels are notoriously SLOW as molasses. On a recent ride from her hotel to a tapas food tour, she realized that the driver "misled" her to a longer route (she found out, using Google Maps on her iPhone 6). She repeatedly thanked me for this EU SIM service, that if it weren't for this reliable prepaid 4G LTE SIM ..she'd be stuck and dependent on her usual reliance on said free but slow hotel WiFi data, to surf the interwebs and post pics in social media (and won't realize the tour driver's "run-around"). She was also glad to make calls and text her sister in Cleveland, to me here in Los Angeles and in and around Barcelona.. Incidentally, I bought another Orange Holiday SIM kit (still in orig packaging) but this time, it will be for my use for an upcoming trip to Orange home base France (Paris), Switzerland (Luzern) and Italy (Milan, Florence & Rome) in two weeks time. Knowing that my BFF is quite satisfied and confirmed the performance of this Orange SIM, I feel very confident, that this will work for me without a hitch. Btw, I will be testing the 4G LTE speeds via the Ookla Speedtest app (on my brand new Halo Gray Amazon Edition Essential PH-1, running on Android Pie) in each cities (and in between, via SNCF TGV and TrenItalia high speed trains) and countries I will be in, and will be posting the results here for everyone. Tip: To confirm if your smartphones frequency bands will effectively work on the country/ies you plan to visit in Europe, using the Orange Holiday Europe SIM...first of all, it helps to double check your phone's antennae, by visiting the FrequencyCheck*com website (I checked my BFFs phone and mine..prior to purchasing this prepaid Euro SIM service).

Great and easy to use product!!!

This worked perfectly for my month-long holiday to Europe! I went to the UK, Germany, Croatia, and Greece; the service was great overall. Remember, you just have an unlocked phone (i used an iPhone 8, my sister used iPhone 7s) in order for this to work. I inserted the Orange sim and it connected immediately. You have to make sure cellular roaming is turned on as well. The cell provider changes as you are in different countries. The product tells you this is ONLY good and valid for 14 days from the first connection, text, phone call, etc. if you plan to use it beyond that, you must register it on their website. After that, they will send a text confirmation that your number has been registered by in about 2-3 business days. I was able to top off my phone for an additional 14 days for €20. I had some trouble receiving a confirmation text but I emailed the customer service and received a response within a few hours; they had to reset my account and I re-registered and was able to receive the confirmation text in order to top off. All in all, there can be some difficulties but it went fine overall. I was never without service so please keep all of this in mind and watch the timing of when you activated the sim. I would recommend this product!!! It saved me the trouble of finding a mobile vendor.

Your Phone's Best Friend

This was a life saver! I was able to travel last summer all across Europe and use this for 2 and a half weeks! You don't even need to register like the directions tell you to, if you're traveling for less than a month (the direction are a bit confusing, but it isn't too hard to figure out, especially when you don't have to deal with the phone registration-not recommended for trips less than a month The directions ask for travel plans and passport info-FYI not needed)! I was able to use my phone 24/7 and have texting as well as internet capabilities in Iceland, The Netherlands, and France! It is completely worth your money. I was able to use google maps, social media, and even text.

A good affordable all around solution for mobile communication while in Europe.

After a few hiccups, the SIM worked great, I had adequate 3G service while traveling abroad. I made more than several international calls, texts and emails, but mostly used it for Web based services like WhatsApp as well as Google Maps. While in Ireland I visited Dublin, Belfast, Bushmills (Giant's Causeway), Donegal, Galway, and Shannon, I had decent service in all locations. While in England I visited London and also made a trip to a remote area of Devon, and again had no issues with service. The SIM seamlessly connect to different network providers as I hopped around Ireland via car. I barely put a dent in the 10GB of data and I used it a ton to search, download and used the GPS via Google maps for hours on end. The Hiccup: I learned that the SIM actually activated when I hastily put it in my spare iPhone while I was in the states 12 days before my departure, so when I was in Dublin on day 2, the SIM expired and I had to top-up for 25 Euro. A little frustrating given that Orange USA said it should not activate until it is used in Europe. Orange USA did acknowledge the problem I encountered and offered me a refund for my troubles. So just beware that this could happen to you. It is stated numerous times by many folks in the Q&A that the SIM will not activate until you text or call while abroad, this is clearly false, so I suggest that you avoid putting the SIM in your phone until you arrive in the country that you intend to start using it. My phone was on WiFi when I inserted the SIM and I assume this is how it activated, but I cannot be certain; although, I do know that I did not try to call, text or email from the phone. Also, a few tidbits here to save you from other unforeseen trouble: 1.) If you are installing the SIM in a spare iPhone like I did, be sure to install all your apps that you will need and update your new French SIM phone number within the apps such as Uber, Lyft and any other apps that may need to communicate with you either by text or a phone call...I learned that the hard way...remember many apps use two-factor authentication and may need to be able to text you a code for access, they can't do this if they don't have your number! 2.) If you are not familiar with it, dialing and texting international phone numbers, can be a daunting task, I suggest downloading a tutorial on how to dial international phone numbers as well as a list of country codes for mobile and local #s. 3) Using apps like WhatsApp makes communicating with others much easier.

Perfect!

I have a bit of experience with SIM cards while traveling but was skeptical about this one because of some poor reviews stating there was an inability to use it at all. Since there seem to be some problems getting a SIM in Germany (our first landing), I decided to go ahead and risk the $50. I did register on the Orange Holiday site online before I left for holiday even though I would only be using the card for 2 weeks. This eliminated all the messages that others were getting (in French). I installed the SIM on the plane, turn on my phone when we arrived in Germany andI was immediately online. We travelled to the Netherlands and Belgium as well. I had 4G throughout my visit. I did receive texts when I crossed into another country but the connection to the networks happened without a hitch. So not sure what the issues were with the other users, but I had none. I was able to tether my iPad as well. Of course, 10 GB is way too much. I used only 2 GB. If you need a SIM, I recommend this one.

Easy and Effective

I'm glad I bought this sim card! I research & read a huge percentage of reviews before I purchase anything from Amazon, and will say reviews of this product deterred me. I went ahead and gave this card a chance anyway out of sheer desperation of timing for my Europe trip. I received it with Prime two day shipping and decided not to register it before the flight. I had no time to register it ( they suggest registering it online or mailing a passport photo weeks before) and I was only going to be in Europe for 9 Days, so the 14 day cut off for expiration did not worry me. It comes with a little packet with instructions in English and a sticky card for the old sim so you don't misplace it. I used a paper clip to push my sim card slot out of my unlocked iPhone and inserted this and within a minute it activated. I had 4g services and a text to notify me about my number. It did text me a few times say to update my carrier, but I just ignored it. Traveled to France and Italy. I used my phone basically all day google maps, snap,fb, face time and still had data left over. I will use it again! I used cellhire sim last trip and I constantly had to top it off again. Orange Holiday is worth the money.

Works better than I had hoped for!

I have Verizon and have used their international roaming with mixed results. For everyday I would log on via Verizon when in Europe, I would be charged $10.00. Not terrible if you’re only using it occasionally, but quite expensive if you are using it daily for several weeks. I purchased the Orange Sim Card after reading the positive reviews, thinking the worst that could happen is that I’ll end up using Verizon. After carefully following the instructions, I anticipated that there would be problems. Boy was I wrong!!! This worked PERFECTLY from the minute I installed the SIM card! I had great coverage throughout our trip in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and the UK! Out of the group I was traveling with, I was the only one that had consistent coverage. My wife was using her TMobile phone and that work pretty well, and our friends used Verizon and they were often without service. For our entire trip of 15 days, I only used 3 gigs of the allotted 10 gigs provided. I hope I can re-use this sim on my next trip, but for the cost, buying a new one isn’t a deal breaker.

Worked flawlessly, saves time and hassle.

This sim card worked flawlessly and is highly recommended. I just took a trip to Paris, connecting through London and could not have asked for better service. So easy to use, my assessment of the reviews where the sim didn't work is that they must have had a misunderstanding of how to use this sim only in an unlocked phone. I keep a sim eject/removal tool on my keyring - when I landed in London, I took my second sim card out of slot 2 and place this one in. It automatically loaded as advertised and sent me a message telling me the sim was activated. Great coverage in London and in/around Paris. This same sim in Europe will cost you about 4-5 USD less, however the 4-5 USD was worth the time and hassle of finding the right store saved me. Will buy again if travelling to Europe!

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