PrePaidGSM.net Forum (Archived) - View Single Post - New EU roaming rules from May 2016

dchs · 07-05-2016, 20:31

Many thanks for the detailed and helpful reply. lover08 sent me a private message with links to their sim cards on different network and hence offered a pretty biased advise suggesting passport requirement,etc for the alternatives.
Anyway,as you noted some merchants on ebay offer the starter packs(including 10EUR credit covering the first month fee) and the price is well below 10,most around 2EUR,there's even one for 1EUR and it states 500MB as opposed to 750MB,which I assume is some older offer.I don't know what the deal is-whether they want a referral bonus or expect to get a commission on future top ups but it was unclear when the cards are activated. IT's pretty clear that 1 or 2 EUR can hardly cover the postage and ebay fees,but EE for example sell sim cards for 0.99GBP which has 5GBP in it loaded .I sent messages to some ebay sellers in English asking if they can activate the cards at a later stage so the countdown starts when I need the card but only one replied vaguely to buy when I need it.There are offers on amazon but the buyers there complain that the starter packs have low credit(1eur or pennies)not enough to activate the first month.I have no problem with postage as I have a forwarding address in Germany I can use and postage upto 1kg will be delivered to my country for 1.70EUR,but I can only buy online.I think people might be able to use shipito like services but I'm not sure if it's viable.
As far as I know there's no easy option to top up if you don't have a German bank account/credit(debit) card?
Hence,I decided to go for starter packs on ebay as they are cheaper and if I manage to get a couple I won't need to top up ever(will just bin them after package expires)but I'm still unclear if the starter packs on ebay are pre-activated by sellers for some reason.

	(#18)
dchs (Offline) Junior Member Newbie Posts: 4 Join Date: 03 May 2016 Country:	07-05-2016, 20:31 Many thanks for the detailed and helpful reply. lover08 sent me a private message with links to their sim cards on different network and hence offered a pretty biased advise suggesting passport requirement,etc for the alternatives. Anyway,as you noted some merchants on ebay offer the starter packs(including 10EUR credit covering the first month fee) and the price is well below 10,most around 2EUR,there's even one for 1EUR and it states 500MB as opposed to 750MB,which I assume is some older offer.I don't know what the deal is-whether they want a referral bonus or expect to get a commission on future top ups but it was unclear when the cards are activated. IT's pretty clear that 1 or 2 EUR can hardly cover the postage and ebay fees,but EE for example sell sim cards for 0.99GBP which has 5GBP in it loaded .I sent messages to some ebay sellers in English asking if they can activate the cards at a later stage so the countdown starts when I need the card but only one replied vaguely to buy when I need it.There are offers on amazon but the buyers there complain that the starter packs have low credit(1eur or pennies)not enough to activate the first month.I have no problem with postage as I have a forwarding address in Germany I can use and postage upto 1kg will be delivered to my country for 1.70EUR,but I can only buy online.I think people might be able to use shipito like services but I'm not sure if it's viable. As far as I know there's no easy option to top up if you don't have a German bank account/credit(debit) card? Hence,I decided to go for starter packs on ebay as they are cheaper and if I manage to get a couple I won't need to top up ever(will just bin them after package expires)but I'm still unclear if the starter packs on ebay are pre-activated by sellers for some reason.