Dear Lifehacker, I will be in Spain, France and Italy for five weeks starting May 1 with my iPad Air (iOS 9.3 ). My iPad has no sim installed but can take one. What do you recommend as to a sim to buy? I need to access email, and suss out local info maps, timetables etc as we go around. NO Skype or movie music downloads.

Dear Lifehacker, I'm about to head to Europe on a short term exchange with my university from Australia, and will be there for two months. What travel sim would you recommend? Or does it make more sense to purchase a SIM in each country? I'll be spending time in Denmark, Uk, Madrid, and then a Contiki tour throughout Europe!

Dear Lifehacker, I am travelling to France for a couple of weeks, then getting on a cruise moving from France to Italy, Spain and then Malta. I have my phone with Telstra and I really only require data. Would you please advise which SIM card you would recommend please?

The ACMA International Mobile Roaming Standard was originally introduced in June 2013 as a consumer protection measure, preventing global roamers from being hit by surprise charges. Now, in response to a shift in the technology and services by which global roaming is offered, and a government initiative to minimise red tape, ACMA has relaxed its standards.

Telstra is slugging customers with higher international roaming rates in the lead-up to the holiday season. From this week, the telco's International Casual Traveller Data Packs will be replaced with costlier Travel Passes. Meanwhile Telstra's excess data fees have more than tripled. Let's take a look at the damage.

I'm going on a trip to Europe for two months. I'll be backpacking through a number of countries and I'll need to do a lot of research on the road to resolve everyday travel hiccups (even with months worth of advanced travel planning). As a Gen-Y I have a serious internet substance dependency and feel I'll need to be connected beyond the hostel hotspot, which is sketchy at best.

Dear LH, My partner and I are heading to Europe for three weeks – we’ll be in Germany first, then Austria and finally the Netherlands. We're normally happy to hit up wi-fi when it’s available, but we’re going to be cycling for a large part of the trip and want to make sure we’re connected, with plenty of data. Happy to grab a local sim when we get there, but unsure whether we need to do that in each country or the best provider to go with for coverage in all three?

Over the past two years, Globalgig has swiftly become the go-to MVNO for cheap mobile broadband while travelling abroad. Originally only offering Wi-Fi hotspots, the service now provides SIM-only packages that are compatible with a wide range of tablets and smartphones in 40 countries (and counting). We recently tested Globalgig's Home & Abroad pack during a sight-seeing tour of London. Read on for our hands-on verdict.

Global roaming rates are a rort. That's news to nobody. But if you were desperate to keep hold of your Australian phone number while travelling overseas, what's the best way to cap your costs?

Vodafone has dropped the price of its prepaid international call rates by as much as 90 per cent in 12 countries including Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq and Germany. In addition, prepaid customers will receive 250MB of data for all international recharges $20 and above from now until 3 March.

Globalgig is now offering flat global roaming data fees starting at $19 per gigabyte, per month. The deal is currently available in ten international destinations, including the USA, UK, Hong Kong, Italy and Ireland.

We all know that mobile data usage can lead to eye-watering bills while travelling overseas -- but what about when you haven't set foot outside Australia? An Optus customer was recently slugged with $360 in roaming data charges after briefly stepping onto a docked cruise ship. No really.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is introducing new rules to make it less likely Australian travellers will suffer a horrendous case of bill shock when they return from an overseas holiday and discover a massive global roaming bill. Here's how the new system will work (and why anyone using a carrier other than the big three won't notice changes for a long time).

If you're planning a trip to the UK in the coming months, Woolworths has a limited-edition Mobile Global Roaming SIM card offer that's worth checking out. The UK Lite Double Bundle Offer gives you 200MBs of data, 400 minutes of calls and 600 texts for $34, which isn't too shabby.

Telstra has announced it will now send automatic data usage alerts via SMS to customers roaming overseas. Alerts will be sent to the user every time they pass 20 megabytes of data. Do you think the alerts go far enough?