whirladventures

I am looking for recommendations for a Sim card that may be used in the following countries for data and calls: Albania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania, Greece and France. I am having trouble finding one that includes North Macedonia but have no problem if there are none available for that country.
eSims are fine especially if installation is simple. I used an eSim in Asia successfully but had installation problems for the US from the same provider.

bvlenci

Except for Albania and North Macedonia, those are all EU countries, so a SIM bought for one will function in all the others, at the same price. However, the data plan may have different limits in each country.

I live in Italy, so my normal SIM card works throughout the EU. So my experience with eSIMs doesn't apply to any of the countries you're visiting.

Someone on this forum recommended an Airalo eSIM. He also mentioned Holafly and Maya, and maybe one or two others. All three seem to offer mainly data eSIMs.

For the EU countries, you could get an eSIM from a provider in that country and use it throughout the EU, for both calls and data. I don't know what to suggest for Albania and North Macedonia. North Macedonia seems to have rather spotty coverage anyway.
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J62

I use data only esims from Airalo and they work great. For voice calls I just use a voice over internet (VoIP) app like WhatsApp, or use my home phone # when connected to wifi - no issues at all.

I see on airalo a regional / europe wide data esim, but that does not include North Macedonia. There are also NM only esims. available

bvlenci

I don't know what an NM only SIM is. I've been away from the US for over 25 years and am not up to date on acronyms widely used there.

As J62 says, if you have a data-only SIM, you can use apps like WhatsApp to make calls to cell phone numbers. WhatsApp is widely used almost everywhere but not so much in France. You can also put some money in a Skype account and make very cheap calls to all types of phone anywhere in the world using a data plan.

J62

NM, North Macedonia....

Michael

This information is 5 years old, but the SIM cards I purchased in Portugal were good only for that country. I could not get a connection in France.

jeffhullinger3220

So far as I know, the EU requires that a provider not charge extra to roam in different EU countries, but it may not require that coverage be worth a toot.

whirladventures

Thanks everyone.

Roger

bvlenci

You're right, but I recently learned that some new providers that hitch a ride on another national level provider don't have this requirement. I don't remember the details, but someone I know bought a SIM card that had extra costs outside of Italy.

The requirement is that phone calls and SMS must have no extra cost and have the same limits that they have in the home country. Data services must cost the same for the basic service, but can have a lower limit.

Example, if your home plan allows 500 SMS per month, you are guaranteed that in another country. If your home plan has 10 GB per month, you may be limited to 2 GB in a different country. That is, unless you bought a SIM card that's exempt from the requirements.

Another limit is that service can be curtailed if you're mainly using the SIM card outside the country where you bought it. This is to prevent Germans, for example, from buying a SIM card in Italy, where costs are lower, with the intention of using it as their main SIM card in Germany. This limit wouldn't affect tourists, who don't stay long in any country.