Travel review: KnowRoaming Global SIM Sticker

How to reduce roaming costs with KnowRoaming and promo code

In the digital age that we live in, we are always ready to reach for our smartphone to find something out. Whether it be where we’re going, what to eat, to check the news or use social media, smartphones are the ‘go to’ device whether at home or away. They are just a little bit addictive.

This behaviour becomes a problem when you travel abroad. Start looking things up online when you’re out and about, and you could soon rack up huge roaming charges. Fortunately, there are a number of services that now provide affordable roaming packages for when you travel abroad, allowing you to stay connected and in the know.

On our recent trip to Washington DC – blog on that to come – we tried out the Global SIM Sticker from KnowRoaming, a Toronto based telecommunications company. The idea is simple, affix the sticker to your usual SIM card and you’ll be able to connect to local networks when travelling in over 200 countries. This allows you to save up to 85% on calls, text and data when abroad.

Applying the KnowRoaming Sticker

The sticker comes in a little box with an applicator and detailed instructions. Attaching the sticker to your SIM card is probably the most daunting part, but the applicator makes it very easy. You can view our unboxing video below (or on YouTube here) to see how it works:

KnowRoaming works with any sized SIM card and is compatible with iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile, but your phone must be unlocked. You can use it with iPads and Android tablets too.

It’s worth noting that the sticker has no effect on the use of your SIM card or phone whilst you are at home. You forget it’s even there.

The KnowRoaming App

Downloading the app and loading your account with prepaid credit is your next step. Once abroad the SIM Sticker automatically takes over and connects you to a local mobile network and the app helps you to set up your data connection and purchase unlimited data packages if you wish too. We found this relatively easy to use, once we got used to it.

KnowRoaming directions Google Maps — A combination of KnowRoaming and Google Maps stopped us from getting lost on the streets of Washington DC!

Our KnowRoaming Review

So what did we think? In short – it was great. It worked well and the advantage of the sticker is that you don’t have to worry about carrying spare SIM cards with you. Once that sticker is on you can travel almost anywhere and any leftover credit stays in your account ready for your next trip. We used the app to switch over to a local provider as soon as we got off the plane. You do have to learn to trust that the sticker is doing its thing though!

KnowRoaming communications — KnowRoaming kept us in the loop about our activities, whether it was an email about our package purchase (left), or a text message about our account balance (right).

Perhaps most importantly it allowed us to find decent places to eat and avoided us getting ‘hangry’ or ending up somewhere awful! It can be fun to get lost and discover lesser known places, but when we only have a few days in a new place we want to feel like we’ve seen the best of it and that’s where the internet comes in!

KnowRoaming Tripadvisor somewhere to eat — Our KnowRoaming package allowed us to look up on Tripadvisor places where we could grab some lunch. Sweet Green looked great, but when we got there, we found it was closed for renovations. So back onto Tripadvisor to find somewhere else!

On our last day we did run into problems with our network connection, which given we had purchased an unlimited data package, was frustrating. Hats off to KnowRoaming though as they fixed the problem within a few minutes of us getting in touch. We also ran into problems when coming back into Canada and switching back to our home SIM, but again KnowRoaming had us up and running again almost instantly.

KnowRoaming issues — Whilst our overall KnowRoaming experience was great, we did experience a couple of issues during our trip. On our last day, neither of our phones were able to pick up a network (left), but KnowRoaming quickly resolved our issue when we contacted them. When purchasing a package, there were occasions when we were left stuck on a ‘Processing’ screen (right), and unsure whether our package purchase was successful. We found that closing down the app, and reopening it, showed that the ‘Processing’ screen was gone and that the purchase had gone through fine.

How much does it cost?

The initial sticker costs $29.99 USD but comes with $10 of free credit. You can get 30% off the KnowRoaming SIM Sticker and an additional $5 credit by using our KnowRoaming referral code: EMMLA15 at knowroaming.com.

Rates then vary depending on the county you are visiting. If you’re planning to use a lot of data we would recommend getting a data package. We got one of these between us each day for $7.99 USD and it was worth it.

KnowRoaming package purchase — You can purchase various packages through the KnowRoaming app depending on the length of your trip. We found that this approach, with the unlimited data that comes with a package, was the best. The app also shows you if you have a package activated, and how much time it has left.

Emma and Stewart

Disclaimer: We were gifted our Global SIM Stickers for review purposes but as always, our opinions are entirely our own and we would highly recommend KnowRoaming.

2 thoughts on “Travel review: KnowRoaming Global SIM Sticker”

Mixam says:

November 24, 2016 at 03:16

I’m curious as to how you contacted knowroaming when your internet wasn’t working? Did you call or text them?

LikeLike

1. Emma and Stewart says:
  
  November 24, 2016 at 10:02
  
  We actually emailed them using the hotel’s wifi, they have 24/7 support so got back to us pretty quick. You can also call them at any time of day too.
  
  LikeLike