I have never heard of SimCorner until my friend recommended its sim card for my 2 months trip in Europe. That’s because I was looking for a sim card that allows me to use mobile data in many countries in Europe, so I can use GPS/ browse the webs/ contact family and friends at any time. I also wanted a European number to make or receive urgent calls.

SimCorner offers many sim card options for different regions/ countries. I chose Go Europe Sim Card (Orange) which was perfect for my Europe trip. So far I have used it in over 15 European countries and want to share my personal experience with this product.

Getting the Sim Card

SimCorner is an Australian company. You can buy the sim card at Melbourne/ Sydney International airport, or buy online (allow at least 2-3 weeks for international shipping). I bought the Simcorner Go Europe prepaid sim card for AUD$24.99 online and received the product after 10 working days in Malaysia. Below is the instruction that I received:

The instruction for using the sim card – click to enlarge the image

The sim card comes with a Spanish phone number. I need to activate the sim card before going to Europe and unlock the sim card when I reach Europe. It was very easy as the instructions were written well. By the way, I was using iPhone SE without jailbreak and never encountered any problem. When I ran out of phone credit, I can reload online easily. There are some pros and cons of this sim card.

Pros:

• Can be used in many countries in Europe. The sim card supports more than 30 countries in Europe: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Slovakia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Guernsey, Netherlands, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Martinique, Norway, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Republic Czech, Reunion, Romania, San Marino, Slovenia and Sweden. If the European countries that you are visiting are not on the list (e.g. Switzerland), you still can use the mobile data but would be very expensive.
• Cheaper than many other options. It only costs €1 per 100mb. The usage is charged on daily basis, e.g. if you use 101mb today you will be charged €2.
• Reasonably fast and stable internet connection. I have not had any trouble so far. Sometimes I need to restart my phone when the internet disconnected, but it only happens once in a while. I did not use the mobile data to watch any video (as it will consume a lot of data).
• Excellent customer service. They always respond my emails within a few hours (later I realised the answer for most of the questions can be found on their FAQ page, sorry guys!). This is important as you really want a responsive service especially when you are travelling.

Cons:

• Difficult to check phone balance in some countries. I received unknown errors when trying to check credit balance in some European countries. The SimCorner customer service cannot resolve this for me. Luckily they helped me to check balance by responding to my emails promptly, so it was not a big deal (though I still prefer to check the balance on my own).
• Terrible exchange rate. I have totally no idea how they come out with the ridiculous conversion of the exchange rate. For example, according to SimCorner’s website the credit of €10 is equivalent to AUD$21 which means €0.48 to AUD$1, however, the trusted xe.com shows the current rate should be €0.69 to AUD$1 at the time of writing (the credit card will charge you the bad rate, i.e. AUD$21). I lost about 50% of the money just for the conversion! I wonder how long they didn’t update their exchange rate.

Summary

Overall the SimCorner Go Europe prepaid sim card is one of the best things that I have bought for my trip in Europe. It makes my life easier because the internet is so important especially when travelling in unknown countries.

It also saves me some money since it is cheaper than other options (despite the ridiculous conversion rate as mentioned above). I usually used the mobile data for GPS, web browser, Whatsapp, iMessage, and post photos on Facebook occasionally – and only costs me €1 credit per day for most of the days. Now I am still keeping my sim card for my next visit to Europe.

Related posts about travelling in Europe:

• Europe Is My Dream & Why It Is Worth Pursuing
• The Ultimate Guide To Enriching Your First Trip To Europe
• Europe: by Destination