# Mobile sim re EU roaming charge new rules



## The Bond (Mar 4, 2017)

Hi Everyone,
I now have an apartment in larnaka and we hope to retire in cyprus within the next few years, meanwhile we will be stopping just for 3 or 4 months intermittently until then. I consider internet to be very expensive but have a solution, given the new EU regulations coming into force this year re EU mobile phone roaming charges to be stopped and your contract to be valid in any other EU country I have in mind to use my Romanian paygo sim in cyprus, the cost for 5gb per month + calls roughly being 5 euro. Being something of a techi geek I will buy from the UK a moble sim hotspot station for about 8 euro and have internet in my apartment for about 5 or 6 euro a month, not bothered about streaming etc just internet browsing,viber etc. Now can anyone see a flaw in my plan, any obstacles welcome, being from Yorkshire I love a challenge where money is concerned 

Re

John

PPs once you have imported your car and registered it can you keep the original number plate or do do have to buy a new one cheers


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## madmum54 (Apr 24, 2016)

The Bond said:


> Hi Everyone,
> I now have an apartment in larnaka and we hope to retire in cyprus within the next few years, meanwhile we will be stopping just for 3 or 4 months intermittently until then. I consider internet to be very expensive but have a solution, given the new EU regulations coming into force this year re EU mobile phone roaming charges to be stopped and your contract to be valid in any other EU country I have in mind to use my Romanian paygo sim in cyprus, the cost for 5gb per month + calls roughly being 5 euro. Being something of a techi geek I will buy from the UK a moble sim hotspot station for about 8 euro and have internet in my apartment for about 5 or 6 euro a month, not bothered about streaming etc just internet browsing,viber etc. Now can anyone see a flaw in my plan, any obstacles welcome, being from Yorkshire I love a challenge where money is concerned
> 
> Re
> ...




when does this regulation come in?? but will it still affect uk mobiles when we leave the EU. my contract ends soon so was getting a cyprus sim. then realised with santander online banking i have phone registered & get codes by text when making payments. obviously cant change to cyprus number as banks close accounts if not got a uk address so given sons address


pretty sure you get new cypriot reg no when register car here


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
Make sure the mobile hotspot unit is "unlocked" - most are network locked to whichever network supplied the unit and sim.
Cheers
Steve


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

madmum54 said:


> obviously cant change to cyprus number as banks close accounts if not got a uk address so given sons address


Not true of all banks/accounts. I have accounts using my Cyprus PO Box address as well as accounts that use my daughter's UK address.

But it is always useful keeping a UK SIM/phone for convenience when visiting the UK.

Pete


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## The Bond (Mar 4, 2017)

Hi
Notice I said a Romanian sim, Romania is a member of the EU and are staying in the EU, anyway yes for the time being a UK sim will work within the EU rules, but what happens after Brexit who knows, the sim will still work but maybe not under the good deal, so on the safe side am using a non UK sim, in my case Romanian.Also many of the uk providers say they will limit the data available in for use when abroad eg in a uk deal you might have 4gb available in your contract but they will limit it to 2gb when roaming outside the UK. I notice that many providers are noticeable silent on the subject, they dont like it. The ruling comes in around June/July, yes you can use a cyprus sim but they dont have a good a deal as the rest of europe, but as far as I know they must comply with the EU ruling, so whatever contract you have with a cyprus sim applies when you are roaming, hope this explains clearly for you


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## madmum54 (Apr 24, 2016)

Stevesolar said:


> Hi,
> Make sure the mobile hotspot unit is "unlocked" - most are network locked to whichever network supplied the unit and sim.
> Cheers
> Steve



whats a hotspot?? both mine & daughters o2 phones were unlocked before we came. idea was when contract up in may i was getting an iphone 7 but so expensive here i'm not sure now. never paid for a phone as always free with contract a few months after came out. 

her iphone 4 now has a primetel PAYG sim & works ok. but as she will use a fivers credit in a day i've put watsap on it. so only uses that or internet. she was hoping to have my iphone 6 i dont mind swapping if just having as an english phone in fact her 4 works better than my 6. but got to pay mega money to get a new phone. surprised how on contract its not a lot cheaper than buying it on payg


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## madmum54 (Apr 24, 2016)

The Bond said:


> Hi
> Notice I said a Romanian sim, Romania is a member of the EU and are staying in the EU, anyway yes for the time being a UK sim will work within the EU rules, but what happens after Brexit who knows, the sim will still work but maybe not under the good deal, so on the safe side am using a non UK sim, in my case Romanian.Also many of the uk providers say they will limit the data available in for use when abroad eg in a uk deal you might have 4gb available in your contract but they will limit it to 2gb when roaming outside the UK. I notice that many providers are noticeable silent on the subject, they dont like it. The ruling comes in around June/July, yes you can use a cyprus sim but they dont have a good a deal as the rest of europe, but as far as I know they must comply with the EU ruling, so whatever contract you have with a cyprus sim applies when you are roaming, hope this explains clearly for you



Thanks. got the o2 travel bolt on £1.99 a day includes lots of calls & texts & says unlimited data but if use a lot its very slow. but if only spare phone if change it to sim only contract at £10 a day should be fine.


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## madmum54 (Apr 24, 2016)

PeteandSylv said:


> Not true of all banks/accounts. I have accounts using my Cyprus PO Box address as well as accounts that use my daughter's UK address.
> 
> But it is always useful keeping a UK SIM/phone for convenience when visiting the UK.
> 
> Pete



Not 100% sure about my santander account but have a joint account with barclays & read elsewhere people had accounts closed when gave non uk address.

trouble is its the kind of question that if you ask & not allowed then cant really then come up with a uk address instead would know you are lying


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## JonandGaynor (Jun 8, 2009)

madmum54 said:


> Not 100% sure about my santander account but have a joint account with barclays & read elsewhere people had accounts closed when gave non uk address.
> 
> trouble is its the kind of question that if you ask & not allowed then cant really then come up with a uk address instead would know you are lying


Barclays do allow you to have an account whilst living abroad however you have to maintain a minimum of £100k credit otherwise they will close the account. 
My son has a Santander current account and when he moved here he notified them of his change of address giving them his Cypriot details and receives monthly statements and banking info by post so no problem with them.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

madmum54 said:


> Thanks. got the o2 travel bolt on £1.99 a day includes lots of calls & texts & says unlimited data but if use a lot its very slow. but if only spare phone if change it to sim only contract at £10 a day should be fine.


Could you explain, with some proper punctuation, what is fine about £10 per day? It seems incredibly high to me.

Pete


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## madmum54 (Apr 24, 2016)

PeteandSylv said:


> Could you explain, with some proper punctuation, what is fine about £10 per day? It seems incredibly high to me.
> 
> Pete



should have said £10 a month. this is the cheapest sim only deal on website. but changed husbands to 1 last week for £5 a month. did on the chat contract thingy think depends who you get to speak to. he was already on the £10 a month one & was told then was the cheapest. did ask for it to change to payg but would need new sim & would only activate in uk. so said cancel it then as contract run out. magically came up with the fiver option


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## madmum54 (Apr 24, 2016)

JonandGaynor said:


> Barclays do allow you to have an account whilst living abroad however you have to maintain a minimum of £100k credit otherwise they will close the account.
> My son has a Santander current account and when he moved here he notified them of his change of address giving them his Cypriot details and receives monthly statements and banking info by post so no problem with them.




Think was told barclays ok with the £100k but after bought house here, cars & other things wont be more than that and wanted to keep some in bank of cyprus and split rest between the 2 uk banks


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## The Bond (Mar 4, 2017)

Mobile Hotspot - will try not to get too technical, so, most phone have the option hotspot, then they become a router like you had in your home and radiate a signal name whatever your phone is called as given when you bought it e.g. samsung g7 or iPhone 7. Then any other phone can connect to your pretend router. Now try to understand please by default it does not need a password to connect so anyone can connect, 2nd your provider can detect you have more than 1 phone connected, so some providers block this function working, this is a facility I look for that works when I buy a sim.
IF your not sure it's simple to test, switch the function on, on your phone, use another phone to connect to yours, if Google works on the other phone, then they havnt blocked it.
The word hotspot is used for example when u find a signal in a cafe or maybe in a restaurant, finally u can set a password on your router/phone and other stuff like how many connect, unfortunately this is done differently depending on your phone. I don't if I am good enough to describe by writing.

The other thing is imagine if u had a little white box that u put your sim in , u can' t make calls with the box however it uses your sim and transmits the signal as described with password, so u have wireless internet in your house. You then connect your iPhone and others to this device and away u go , WhatsApp, Viber eye but remember it's wireless so if u don't have a signal on your phone when in normal mode neither will your little white box if u put a SIM in it. Forgive me if it all sounds confusing , am much better showing ppl than describing, 

And finally finally again in my opinion hotspots are not secure, keep this in mind if using bank apps on your phone in cafes 
etc
Re

John


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

I have a Huawei mobile hot spot which I used to use when in the UK at mums as she didn't have internet.

It could have up to 10 devices used with at once.

It only works in the UK but I suppose with a Cyprus sim it would work here too.


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## The Bond (Mar 4, 2017)

It might work, depends if its been locked to a particular provider, if not then should work fine 👍


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## Davetheeagle (Jun 5, 2014)

Santander send texts to my German mobile with no Problems and have confirmed they will text to Cyprus number, account has been registered in Cyprus for 12 months with no issues.


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