Mobile and internet plans for students in Europe

The one rule that saves you money

All nine countries we work with are in the EU, and EU roaming rules mean a SIM bought in one of them works in the others at the same domestic price, subject to fair-use limits on very heavy data. So you do not buy a new SIM when you travel to a conference in Vienna or visit a friend in Milan. You buy one SIM, in the country you live in, and keep it.

That also means a Bangladeshi roaming pack is never the right answer beyond the first day. Get through the airport on airport wifi or a cheap eSIM, then buy a local prepaid SIM in the first week.

What a student plan costs

Prices move, and every operator runs promotions aimed at new arrivals in September. Treat these as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Prepaid or contract

Prepaid needs nothing but a passport, has no exit penalty, and is what you should buy in your first week. In Italy the low-cost operators are genuinely cheap; in Finland unlimited data for around EUR 20 is standard.

Contract is usually a little cheaper per gigabyte and sometimes bundles a handset — but it needs a local bank account for direct debit, and in Sweden and Denmark it needs your personal identity number, which you will not have on day one. See personal and tax numbers in Europe and opening a bank account before your residence card.

⚠️ Do not sign a 24-month contract in your first month. A student residence permit is often shorter than the contract, and leaving early means paying out the remaining months or the subsidised handset. If your course is one year, a contract that runs two is a bad trade whatever the monthly price says.

Home internet

In a university hall or dormitory, internet is almost always included — check before you buy anything. In a private flat you are looking at roughly EUR 20-35 a month for fibre, usually on a 12 to 24 month contract, plus an installation fee and often a router deposit.

If you share a flat, put the contract in one name and split it, and agree in writing who pays the exit fee when someone leaves. This is a routine source of arguments in shared student housing.

For a single person in a studio, a mobile plan with a large data allowance and tethering is often cheaper than a fixed line. Check whether your plan allows tethering before you rely on it.

Two things people get wrong

1. 1Buying a handset in Bangladesh for the European market. Check the bands your phone supports before you fly. Most recent phones are fine, but an older model sold only in South Asia can miss the bands a European operator uses, and you find out after you land.
2. 2Number portability. Once you have a number, keep it. Changing operators while keeping the number is a free right in the EU and takes a few days; starting a new number after you have given it to your university, your bank and the immigration office is a small nightmare.

Your first week

1. 1Land, use airport or campus wifi, tell home you have arrived.
2. 2Buy a prepaid SIM with your passport. Registration is a legal requirement in several of these countries, so expect to show ID.
3. 3Give that number to the university, the immigration office and your bank as you complete each step.
4. 4Revisit the plan after three months, when you know how much data you actually use and have the documents a contract needs.

The rest of the arrival checklist is in the first month budget and what to do after you land.