I was alerted to Europasim some time ago... so long in-fact that I've lost the original tweet. It's an interesting service that claims to offer a dedicated pre-pay roaming data SIM that charges €6 for a day's use of up to 150MB. The SIM (standard or micro) costs €29 and includes €5 credit.
That should be hugely appealing to anyone doing more than very light emailing - the same €6 would only buy around 12MB with Maxroam and Abroadband.
However, the website lacks a little polish (to put it politely) and I couldn't find any other reviews online or similarly-priced products. I contacted the owner, Blochin Cuius, for some more details and he tells me:
- Europasim runs on Vodafone's 33 European networks.
- Customer service operates by email only between 0900 to 2000 (CET) with a 1hr response time to enquiries.
- The firm has been operating since 2006 and serves about 1500 customers per year.
- A scanned copy of a passport is required to activate new SIMs. This is a requirement of the Italian service provider.
- The business operates from Germany and is subject to that country's (strict) data protection laws.
- Payment for the SIM and subsequent top-ups are processed via PayPal.
Although obviously a small firm, my email correspondence with Europasim has been quick, efficient and in fluent English. I haven't confirmed it, but the fee for top-ups (€3.90 each time) and the fact top-ups are only processed during 'working hours' suggests at least some of their processes are manual.
Until I've had the opportunity to test it I'm hesitant to recommend the service[1. Although there's little to lose as the service is entirely pre-pay so your total 'risk' need only be about €50...], but I will be testing it as soon as possible. Continue to head to Maxroam for big-operator quality, service and reputation for now.