What staying online abroad will cost
Enter the prices your network quotes for the country you are going to — not the ones on this page, because they change and differ by destination. The tool totals each route over the same trip.
- Daily add-on
- £14.00
- Pay as you go
- £36.00
- Local SIM or eSIM
- £15.00
Cheapest on your figures: your network's daily add-on at £14.00 for the trip.
Check what the add-on actually includes before you rely on it: many charge every day you are away whether you use the phone or not, cap data at a fair-use limit, and charge separately for calls and texts. If your phone supports eSIM, a local plan is often far cheaper — but you will lose your usual number for calls unless the plan includes them.
Free EU roaming is not guaranteed after Brexit: some UK networks charge in Europe and some do not, and the terms change. Read your network's roaming page for the country you are visiting, and turn data roaming off until you have a plan in place.
The three ways to get online abroad
Most UK networks sell a daily or weekly roaming add-on that gives you a set amount of data for a fixed price per day. It is the simplest option and keeps your usual number working, but read the terms: you are charged for every day you are away whether you use the phone or not, and the data allowance is often capped by a fair-use limit that is far smaller than the headline figure.
Pay-as-you-go roaming means paying your network's per-megabyte rate for whatever you use. It is the most expensive route for anything beyond light use — one map refresh or photo upload can cost more than a day of an add-on — but it suits a short trip where you only check a few messages.
A local SIM or eSIM is usually the cheapest way to get real data abroad. If your phone is unlocked and supports eSIM, you can often buy a plan before you fly and it is live the moment you land. The trade-off is that your UK number is not answering calls unless the plan includes them or you use internet calling, and you need to set it up correctly before you rely on it.
What the add-on often leaves out
Roaming add-ons usually cover data, and charge calls and texts separately. Check whether the price rises outside the EU, whether the daily charge stops after a fair-use ceiling, and whether the network caps your speed once you have used a certain amount. Turning data roaming off on your phone until you have a plan in place is the cheapest habit of all: phones quietly update apps and email in the background, which is exactly what a pay-as-you-go rate punishes.
Free roaming in Europe is not the automatic right it once was. Some UK networks still include EU usage, others charge a daily fee, and the terms change, so read your own network's page for the country you are visiting rather than relying on what was true last year.
Coverage information comes from each network's own checker and from Ofcom's Map Your Mobile. Contract and roaming rules follow Ofcom's guidance for phone customers. CompareDirect does not sell phones, SIMs or contracts, and takes no commission from the buyers listed here.
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