The wonders of modern technology

To enable us to keep in touch with the world, our banks and our blog, we decided that having some form of mobile internet access wasn’t a bad call. Although we want to be off grid in one sense (not having to hook up everywhere we go), in this day and age, going completely off grid and without internet access, is a bit less realistic; at least for us right now.
After doing a little research, we found what we thought was the perfect solution, through Adam and Sophie at www.motorhomewifi.com

A matter of days later, we were equipped with a Toggle SIM card for cheaper calls throughout Europe, an iBoost WiFi system to increase free WiFi access when it’s available and a Europasim card and Mifi device to enable wireless internet access for the occasions when WiFi isn’t available. I’m not a techie kind of person so to avoid me getting the jargon wrong, it’s probably safer if you use the link above to find out more about how everything works. Needless to say, it suited our needs to a tee and we were pleasantly surprised at how easy the equipment was to use and at the quality of the signal we’ve been able to obtain so far. Our plans for internet access were complete and with 6 weeks until we leave Germany, we thought we were home and dry...until last night...

We don’t use the Europasim every day as there’s a daily charge of £3 to consider, so we’ve tried to make alternative arrangements for internet access when we’re not in Dora. However, last night, I needed to use the Europasim but try as I might, I couldn’t get online. To cut a long story short, it appears that Europasim have lost the backing of Vodafone. As the Sim card itself is a Vodafone Sim, this means that we can no longer access the internet. It would appear that only recently purchased Sims are affected so it’s likely that if you purchased one prior to April this year, you’ll probably still be able to gain access. Unfortunately for us, we can’t.

All of this has happened, we believe, as a result of the EU vote to ban roaming charges, which is due to come into effect on 15 December 2015; ultimately, this is great news for us, but in the interim (14 months of it!), it means we need to find an alternative to the times we can’t access free WiFi. Either that or we’ll have to spend the next year and a bit parking as close to MacDonald’s as possible – I hear they have WiFi hotspots, but have yet to make use of the service. I don’t like burgers that much though, so it’s not too realistic a prospect.

It’s a bit of a minefield but we’re currently looking into alternatives to the wondersim that was Europa. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thoroughly researched. In the meantime, when in Rome (Germany), Nettokom is the winner for us!