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It is when you roam with your phone across Europe that you realise how much data an iPhone gets through. In the space of a week I burned through almost 3 gigabytes and 7 more gigabytes before controlling which apps could use data. At the same time I reset the data counters and looked at the option of using dual esims at once.
With the iPhone it is possible to have one sim active for your normal phone use, and a second sim that can be used for data while roaming. In so doing you save money as we will explore shorty.
iCloud Backup
When I saw that I had burned through gigabytes of data without using my phone while out, other than for podcasts and news sites I felt that there was an issue so I reset the counters, and restricted iCloud Drive as well as iCloud Backup and I believe that iCloud backup was the problem. As soon as you take photos, and more, iCloud backup and the photos app back up these files.
When you have an unlimited plan, that’s fine, but when you’re roaming this is an issue.
The 29 CHF European Plan
Galaxus has a 29 CHF option for unlimited roaming in Europe but the issue with this plan, when I experimented with it, is that you have to have the plan for three months so it costs an extra 30 CHF for the duration. That’s great if you roam into Europe for weeks at a time, every month, and use plenty of data, but it’s expensive if you’re in France for a few hours, for bike rides or hikes. I don’t tend to use my phone when cycling and hiking, except to check maps. Usually I download maps ahead of time.
39 CHF for 10 Gigs with Galaxus
For 39 CHF you can get a 10 Gigabyte plan with Galaxus that lasts for a month from the day you buy it. I expected that this plan would be fine, until I saw how much data iPhones get through via the backup tool. I burned through the 3 gigabytes that are included with the 19 CHF plan with the drive, as well as on the first two or three days.
33 CHF for 50 Gigs with Maya
With Maya a 10 gigabyte plan costs 14 CHF, compared to 39 CHF with Galaxus, and for 33 CHF you get 50 gigabytes of data. I bought the larger plan, because, in my experience, when I buy smaller plans, and given how much data I was burning through it was the right decision.
I used about ten gigabytes with the Galaxus plan and eleven gigabytes with Maya for a total of about twenty one gigabytes.
Experimenting With a Personal Hotspot
On two or three nights I used more data because I was experimenting with the personal hotspot. If I had done this then I would easily have spent less than 20 gigabytes of data. I wanted to test whether a Mac Book Pro running Ubuntu would play nicely with an iPhone 14 working as a hotspot. It did.
Geeky Info
When I was in Spain Maya used Movistar and Vodafone and when I was in France it switched to SFR. In Switzerland it has used Salt, so far. This is useful for two reasons. The first is that I have found that Sunrise coverage, which Galaxus uses, can be quite poor in certain coffee shops and bars. As I have data left over for a few days I can keep the roaming sim active. When Sunrise coverage is weak I can see whether Salt or Sunrise are used.
And Finally
My automatic response was to buy data from Galaxus rather than shop around for esims online. For 14 CHF I would have had 10 gigabytes, and for 33 CHF I could get 50 gigabytes. In the era of dual esim mobile phones getting an esim ahead of a trip takes minutes, and you can get a data deal that covers the entirety of Europe, including Switzerland.
When you’re roaming turn off iCloud backup because this wastes data. I doubt that we require data to be backed up as soon as it is altered, except for photos.
Finally, I have allowed “mobile data switching until the Maya plan runs out in a few days. I’m curious to see whether Salt has better coverage in specific places. The one weakness of Maya is that it is US based. I’d like to find an EU solution.
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