Majestic glaciers and snow-capped mountains, deep fjords and sprawling forests, Norway is easily one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
It’s also one of the most expensive, with everything from food and activities to transport and accommodation likely to set you back far more than you’re used to.
Free Wi-Fi is common, including on trains, but it’s not everywhere. Fortunately, given the eye-watering costs of everything else, Norwegian mobile costs are relatively affordable.
It’d be quite a stretch to call them a bargain, but in the land of the $28 burrito, staying connected is one of the few things that isn’t going to make your bank balance cry out in horror.
Like almost everything else in the country, it’s also a simple, straightforward process.
Companies
There are three cell networks in Norway, operated by Telenor, Telia, and ice.net. Telenor has the best network speeds, while Telia has the widest coverage, but there isn’t much in it either way. Ice doesn’t offer prepaid service.
A few companies resell service from one of those providers. I opted to go with Lycamobile, which uses the Telia network, since it had the best combination of cost and coverage.
How to Buy a Prepaid SIM Card in Norway
Purchasing was very easy, not least because there was a little foreign exchange store that also sold SIM cards a few metres from my hostel in Oslo.
The vendor spoke good English, and after showing my passport and providing my hostel address, I had a new SIM card in a few minutes. There were no forms to fill out.
Since the card came with no credit, I purchased a top-up card at the same time. The instructions to activate it were in Norwegian, but easy enough to follow, and I received a confirmation SMS immediately.
Activating the data package I wanted required me to send a code shown on the in-store brochure.
The only challenge was finding the correct APN settings. I didn’t get a data connection with the standard settings, and the vendor didn’t know the details. In the end I was able to use my hostel’s Wi-Fi to track the information down, which was:
APN: data.lyca-mobile.no
Username: lmno
Password: plus
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Prepaid SIM Costs
The card itself was free, and 99 NOK (~$13) buys a small data allowance of 600MB, valid for thirty days.
If that won’t be enough to last your time in the country, Lyca also offers 1GB for 129 NOK, 1.75GB for 199 NOK, and 15GB for 299 NOK.
If you need to make calls and send SMS as well, you may want to buy the 99.50 NOK “Smart M” bundle. It includes 250 minutes of calls to several other EU/EEC countries, 500 domestic minutes, 2500 texts, and 500MB of data. Just add an extra data package when you need it. That pricing is only valid for the first month, though — it doubles after that.
Lycamobile’s site has more details on all of its current plans.
Topping Up
You can buy top-ups almost anywhere you see a sign for Lycamobile. In Oslo, at least, that seemed to be every other block.
Just as when making the initial purchase, you’ll receive a card with a top-up code. First load the credit onto your SIM with the included instructions, and then send the code to renew or activate whichever package you need.
Coverage and Data Speeds
HSPA+ speed and coverage were both very impressive. Download speeds in Oslo were among the fastest I’ve seen on a 3G (HSPA+) connection, and didn’t change much in Bergen. Although uploads were far slower, they were still quick enough to make a video Skype call without a problem.
The coverage area was far better than expected. I often had full signal even in mountains with no sign of habitation during a cross-country train trip, or on a boat trip through the fjords around Bergen.
Note that 3G networks are planned to be switched off in Norway by the end of 2020. You’ll need to make sure your phone supports LTE bands 1,7, and/or 20 if you want to use mobile data in Norway after this time.
EU Roaming
Norway is part of the European Economic Area, so EU/EEA roaming regulations apply. These “roam like at home” rules ended roaming charges across much of Europe in 2017, letting you use a SIM card from any EU or EEA country across all the others at no extra charge.
There are some limits with large data packages, however, where not all of the data allowance is valid when roaming. Double-check the exact details at time of purchase.
Check out our guides to buying SIM cards in many other countries here.
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Comments
I live in Oslo, so I just opt for a payment plan, but this is very handy info for when traveling friends are coming to town.
But $28 burrito? Where the heck did you go? 😛
Hahaha — to be fair, the $28 burrito isn’t my story, it’s one I heard from Anthony (another writer on this site). Given that I’d walked past TGI Friday’s about an hour before writing this and seen a $30 chicken burger on the menu, though, it didn’t seem much of a stretch. 🙂
woah, $30 chicken burger!? shite, no wonder tourists think Oslo is expensive! Best burger in town is half that price and beef!
Yeah, there were so many better alternatives, especially in Oslo. It was a bit tougher to find affordable, decent food in Bergen, but we discovered a couple of places.
i think is quite realistic statement, between 25-50$ is normal to spend in Oslo (even for burito) if you go to a restaurant… for fast food between 10-20$… so yeah eating out is expencive in norway (2-3x more than in eu) and its not considered best practice for everyday. I eat and cook at home and same quality food if i go to restaurant is above 30$, rest is crap… now do the math 🙂
Thanks for writing this post. I am going to Norway in a few months and plan to get a SIM card (and data) as well.
Hey Dave,
Thanks for this short, but helpful article.
My friend and I are traveling to Norway and taking a roadtrip to fjord-land for 7 days. Super stoked! However, we’re looking into getting a SIM card with data so we don’t get completely lost while driving through Norway.
Do you have a suggestion on how much data we would need? We’ll only be using it for directions. All the airbnbs we’re staying at have wifi so we can do the heavier stuff when we get there.
Thanks for any feedback!
I’d highly recommend using the offline features of both Google Maps and Here Maps, where you download some or all of the map data for the country ahead of time over Wifi. They both now support driving directions even while offline.
If you do that, you’ll be able to reduce your data use a lot. You might even be able to get away with no SIM, but if you want one just in case, a few hundred MB of data will be enough for your week if you leave the data connection turned off when you don’t need it.
Hi Jhan,
How did your mobile phone/navigation work? Did you have enough coverage and data? I’m about to do the same thing (4 days around the Sognefjord). I’m planning on following Dave’s advice and getting one SIM card in Norway, and on our other phone using Google Maps offline.
Tom
What were some of the places to eat in Bergen that you liked? We will be there next week.
I love how this SIM card article has gone off on a food tangent! In Bergen I liked Hot Work (Asian fusion meals, inexpensive by Norwegian standards) and a few of the food stalls at the weekend market beside the harbour.
What is the speed in Tromso and Alta? I am planning to visit these two places in November.
Can I use Whatsapp once I get a SIM card for my phone after I arrive in Norway?
Yes, you can. Once you have a data connection, it should work straight away.
Where was the place you bought the lyca sim card? I’m in Norway ad can’t find it anywhere! ?
The foreign exchange store I mentioned was a few doors down from the Anker Hostel in Oslo.
Thank you so much for your informative post! Landing in Bergen and was wondering if we can get a SIM card at the airport in Bergen? Thinking of renting a car and heading straight to Stavanger. Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
I don’t think there’s a mobile phone store at Bergen airport. There may be a kiosk/convenience store that sells SIMs, but I don’t know for sure that there is (or which ones they’d sell). Sorry!
I don’t recommend Lycamobile if you are not a Norwegian citizen. They take over 24 hours to set up your card because they require you to fill out a form and sent a copy of your passport by email. They also only operate in-between 10 and 7. They are almost impossible to contact. You’re best bet is to go into a store and get help setting a SIM card up with a different company. If you are arriving on a Sunday or outside of your hours you won’t have access to a card for a few days.
Maybe things have changed since I was there, but this wasn’t my experience — I’m not a Norwegian citizen, but had a working SIM immediately after purchasing it and adding the data bundle mentioned in the post. The form was filled out and submitted by the person in the shop I bought it from.