Is Up3 the best way to roam in Europe?

eSIMs are amazing, but most eSIM prepaid plans don’t include talk or text, which becomes a problem when you have to call somebody in Europe. If you want to get a local phone number, you usually have to waste time going to a shop, buying a SIM card, swapping it from your phone, etc.

But there’s good news. Gone are the days you need to buy a prepaid plan with a new SIM card. Finally, there’s a way to do this conveniently all from the palm of your hands.

Drei Austria (or 3 Austria) offers a super flexible set of prepaid plans managed directly from your phone called Up3. You can get an Austrian phone number within 10-15 minutes outside of the country through Up3, all for less than 20€ a month. The cheapest plans start at just 5€ per month. You can also pause plans for up to 12 months.

And thanks to recent EU legislation requiring all EU mobile carriers to provide “roam like home” capabilities, these plans all include a generous talk, text, and data allowance in all EU and EEA countries except Switzerland. (This also excludes the UK.)

That makes Up3 a pretty tantalizing option for short-term use in the European Union!

How does it work?

In a nutshell, you’ll sign up on their app and get an eSIM to install, just like any other eSIM provider.

First, download the Up3 app on either iOS or Android. The app is highly rated and I can attest it works very well without noticeable bugs.

Then, create an account, put in your biographical information, register a payment method, and proceed to identity verification from your phone. The ID verification might take a while to get right because you have to wait for it to load and then you have to position your ID and face in the right way. But eventually you’ll get it to work.

Once all that’s done, your eSIM will be generated for you within minutes and you’ll be able to begin using your plan almost immediately.

Requirements for foreigners

• An unlocked phone that has cameras and eSIM support
• Valid passport, of any nationality

Plans

Units of talk and text are charged by the minute for calls and by the message for texting.

For instance, if you called for 35 minutes and made 65 texts, you consume 100 units.

Individual plan name	Price per month	Data included	Talk and text included
Up3 Start	5€	10 GB (of which 5.3 GB can be used in other EU countries and 4.7 GB is only for Austria)	1,000 units
Up3 Smart	10€	60 GB (of which 11 GB can be used in other EU countries and 49 GB is only for Austria)	1,000 units
Up3 Unlimited	20€	Unlimited	Unlimited
Up3 Under 27	15€	Unlimited	Unlimited

The Under 27 plan is only for individuals between the ages of 18 and 26.

The maximum data speeds vary by plan; technically Up3 Unlimited plans get higher bandwidth and prioritization on the network compared to Up3 Under 27, Up3 Smart, and Up3 Start.

The tariff breakdown document provides the full overview of the plans: https://www.drei.at/media/common/pdf/tarife/up-eb.pdf

The landing page on their main website provides a good overview: https://www.drei.at/de/privat/produkte-und-services/up/up-english.html

Pitfalls

I’ve found the website a bit limited in terms of what’s available, as the app is supposed to be your primary go-to resource. There’s not an easily accessible breakdown of how international calls and texts are handled, both made from within Austria/the EU and from outside. However, the tariff breakdown document provides the full overview: https://www.drei.at/media/common/pdf/tarife/up-eb.pdf

To change your plan, you have to use live chat during the hours of 8am to 6pm Central European Time.

This is not a plan for people who are living predominantly in another EU country. There are penalties for long-term roaming outside of Austria in the EU: https://www.drei.at/de/info/roaming/roaming-ab-01-07-2022/faire-nutzung/