Data roaming in Serbia

[Sccrrruffy]

I am in Serbia for 5 days, probably not going to use much data, just for maps, search for points of interest, quick reply to email, 1 or 2 gb should be ample. I think I am required to buy a data pack as EE data för Europe does not extend to Serbia. Correct me if I am wrong. But I looked at the data pack options for add ons, and it's not clear. There is data packs and then there are data packs for zone B. I don't know which one to choose since Zone B is not defined. I don't want to spend more if I the regular data pack will do the trick. Thanks for any feedback.

[Chris_B · Accepted solution]

@Sccrrruffy  you’ll need a data add on for the area your in the standard data pack will not work there.   Have a look at THIS and scroll to the bottom to see what you can have. 

[Sccrrruffy]

But is that a regular data pack or the data pack for zone B?

[Leanne_T]

Hi @Sccrrruffy 

Thanks for coming here. 

Our Serbia Roaming Country Page, has information on add-ons that will work in Serbia for you. 

If you have a pay monthly account, before you travel please check your My EE account to make sure roaming and call abroad is active, see our EE Roaming - Getting ready to use your phone abroad post, for help on getting set up.

Have a lovely time.

Leanne.          

[XRaySpeX]

It's a Travel Data Pass intended for over 45 countries, irrespective of EE Zone.

Dunno where you got Zone B into your head but Serbia ain't in it.

[roblex]

I recently visited Serbia for a week. It's not at all clear from the "Roaming Costs" page:

https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/roaming-costs/countries/serbia 

It is not really clear how much it actually costs for data.

For Pay Monthly EE customers, it says:

Data/internet

Buy data add-on

Then at the top, you click "Show available add-ons" and the "Travel Data Pass" is £6.86 per day for 150MB.

For Pay as you go (PAYG) EE customers, it just says this:

Data/internet

Buy data add-on when you land

With no detail or explanation of the costs for this add-on, how to add etc.

With quite a lot of rummaging around on the EE site, I found This PDF.
(Linked from the pay as you go price plans)

Open this document and scroll down to page 12:

Countries included in the Data whilst roaming Add-Ons (Pay As You Go):

Serbia is currently listed under Zone C for data.

The pricing for Zone C, listed in the table on that page is:

Roaming Data add-ons outside of EU/EEA/Switzerland countries (Inc. VAT)

So, for 7 days PAYG data is £57.10 for 110MB. (It is not entirely clear to me if the 110MB is for the entire 7 days or per day, but I suspect it's for the entire 7 days.)

So. LOL expensive and hard to find the information. (It's almost like EE do this deliberately so customers end up shelling out a lot in hidden charges!)

You probably do not just want to casually "Buy data add-on when you land" as this will cost a minimum of £5.70 to get a tiny amount of data to look up things like maps/transport, how to get to your hotel, check a few emails etc.

If your phone is unlocked and supports eSIM, then there are a few good options for data in Serbia. 
https://esimdb.com/ 

• "RedteaGO" was pretty good - Download the app, pay for the plan, add the eSIM and you're done. Also works in other countries so is quite handy. It's data only (no phone service.).
  
  
• Globaltel - 8GB data for 1000RSD, about £7.50. This was a little trickier to set up (I had to do some google translate to work out the sign-up.) Then scan a QR code to add the eSIM. I had to set the APN to the correct name for it to work. Then if you dial *100# it'll tell you your phone number, which you need to login to their app. (From there, you can see your data usage, services/addons etc, and turn off auto-renew.)  https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Serbia 
  
  I got better data service in Belgrade than I did in London!

If your phone doesn't support eSIM, then

• It's possible to pick up a Globaltel SIM (Their prepaid SIM cards can be purchased in Moj Kiosk or at any Post office).
• Get prepaid SIM from "Yettel" shop.

[roblex]

Also just to add that although RedteaGO data only, you can still use it for calls via Whatsapp etc.

I used globaltel - an MVNO hosted on A1 network. It does not block SIP, and my SIP stuff worked fine for VoIP calls.

EE does not seem to support network services such as call divert for PAYG customers, so a divert unavailable to another number is not possible.

Some time ago, I ported my number out to a VoIP provider and then just got a new PAYG SIM from EE with a number I never use. Any calls to my number go via a VoIP app over data. So for me, it didn't matter that I turned off my EE SIM and just used the eSIM data or WiFi, as my number was still available.

[XRaySpeX]

@roblex : All very correct & pertinent to this thread regarding EE's charging in Serbia.

The £57.10 roaming data PAYG add-on is for 110MB over the entire 7 days & similar for the other data add-ons.

[roblex]

Thanks. I thought as much. Either way, £57.50 is a ridiculous amount to pay.

... The other thing that made me chuckle is when I landed in the UK, Globaltel immediately roamed on to Vodafone UK.

I already have a free 1G roaming for 25 days included in the £7.50 data plan in a whole bunch of countries.

Then I get a text with this:

Enjoy 1 GB of roaming internet during 7 days for only 300 RSD.
Zone 1 includes: Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa, Liechtenstein 

300 RSD is about £2.20.

If a tiny Serbian MVNO can manage roaming for this price, I fail to understand how the mighty EE charges such ludicrous sums for roaming in the opposite direction!