Truphone makes Apple SIM-based iPad data plans available in Ireland and Portugal

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in iPad
Truphone has brought its iPad data plans to two more markets, with customers in Ireland and Portugal now able to sign up and enable their iPad's Apple SIM to work with the carrier, and use their iPad to roam in 40 countries as part of the price plan.




Ireland and Portugal joins six other countries where the Truphone iPad data plan is already available, including Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. TruPhone also intends to roll out its iPad data plans to an additional 31 countries by the end of 2017, bringing the total to 39 countries.

The data plan's main feature is that customers can roam in 40 countries without enduring any additional roaming charges. The plan is attractive to those traveling between multiple countries, who do not wish to go through the process of changing to local carriers at each location, or paying the roaming fees for their home carrier.

Truphone uses the Apple SIM, technology included in later cellular-capable models of iPad and iPad Pro, saving the need to change a physical SIM card. The Apple SIM also simplifies the sign-up process, with users needing to go to the Mobile Data section of the Settings app and selecting "Set Up Mobile Data," before choosing the carrier.




The Apple SIM is included in all cellular iPad Pro models, as well as cellular versions of the iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 3 and newer.

As a non-contract, pre-paid plan, the service costs 6 ($7) for 500 megabytes of data for 30 days, rising to 12 ($14) for 1 gigabyte and 29 ($34) for 3 gigabytes, with 4G data transfers included as part of the plan. Truphone also offers a 100 megabyte free trial, which lasts for 30 days.

The rollout to two new countries coincides with the launch of two features to the service, including the ability to top up anytime without waiting for the plan to expire. It is also possible to set up the service to automatically renew, with the purchase of more data when the current plan expires or is consumed.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    thats not cheap... sim based carriers offer cheaper plans than that with free EU roaming including uk eg i'm paying €19 for 25Gb a month
  • Reply 2 of 4
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    thats not cheap... sim based carriers offer cheaper plans than that with free EU roaming including uk eg i'm paying €19 for 25Gb a month
    That's cheaper  than most data only plans in Canada... So, hey, for me it would be fine.
  • Reply 3 of 4
    neilmneilm Posts: 987member
    thats not cheap... sim based carriers offer cheaper plans than that with free EU roaming including uk eg i'm paying €19 for 25Gb a month
    However it's well in line with other short term options for travelers. For instance I paid roughly the equivalent of $15 for a 1GB/30 day data SIM from EE while in the UK last week. And that required my going to their phone store and picking up a physical SIM, which furthermore can't be topped up online without a locally billed credit card, something a traveller likely isn't going to have. While I was in France the previous week the phone store near me was out of data SIMs, so I had to do without. The TruPhone plan would have worked very nicely for me.

    (Edit: Or it would have if my iPad Air supported the Apple SIM, which as it turns out isn't the case. Compatible models are shown here: https://www.apple.com/ipad/apple-sim/)

    I'd guess that your 19 Euro plan cited above is a contract rate?
    edited October 2017
  • Reply 4 of 4
    i suppose if i was going to the states or somewhere outside the eu it might make sense... and nope that the prepay non contract rate, some providers are even cheaper and some more expensive.. but yep you do have to pickup a sim. 
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