Travelling to Denmark? How to get access to the internet

It’s always nice to be able to be online now and then when you’re on holiday. If you are a tourist going to Denmark there are several ways to get access to the internet to check the weather for the upcoming days or simply read the latest news from your home country.

Mobile broadband

Mobile broadband gives you wireless internet access through a USB-modem. In Denmark we have three providers with their own network. TDC, 3 and Telenor/Telia. Deals withtout personal security number is becoming more and more rare though.

First of all, a very important tip: Do not use your normal mobile broadband subscription in Denmark unless you are a EU-citizen! After having used about 5 megabytes of data, it is generally cheaper to buy a Danish pre-paid sim card for 100 Danish kroner – if you are a EU-citizen you might have data for use in Denmark included in your subscription – in this case, you should not have any trouble in Denmark, though you might not have the same amount included as you do in your own country.

If you already have a USB-modem, you’ll probably only need a Danish sim-card. You will need a prepaid deal, since they are normally the only deals offered for persons without a Danish security number (CPR). You will be able to buy deals in many small shops.

You will probably pay between 0,1 and 1 Danish kroner per megabyte or more – if you buy a sim-card with 100 Danish kroner, it will be enough to check the weather and e-mail several times during your holiday, but it might not be enough if you want to read the latest news every single day – and you should definitely avoid watching videos online.

Coverage maps

It’s always a good idea to check the coverage maps before going to Denmark. If you’re not staying in one of the bigger cities, there might be big differences between the providers. However, you are somewhat limited with your choices – and in most big cities, the coverage should always be at least acceptable.

YouSee (TDC)

3 (click “Tjek din dækning her påkortet” – only subscriptions – you’ll most likely not be able to get a sim-card at 3 as a tourist)

Telia (the exact same Coverage as Telenor)

Prices

The by far best deal for mobile broadband without phone options included in Denmark, is the Oister (Oister uses 3’s network) “tank selv” deal.

Oister: 1 day, 29 kroner, 1 week 79 kroner, 1 month 199 kroner. Data cap: 10 GB for all three. Read about the offer in English on Oisters homepage.

It should be possible to use the deal in a phone, but you can also use it with USB-modem or tablet. With a phone or tablet, you should be able to share the phones datasignal through WIFI.

Oister’s deal(some small shops sells the deals too. When you’ve but the start package, you are also able to refill at all post offices.)

Apart from this, many small shops sells prepaid phone deals too. Lyca Mobile (Telia/Telenor network) and Lebara Mobile (on Telia/Telenor network) has the best deals for phones including some data. If you are only looking for calls and texts, normally the prices are quite close. Often the small shops has big signs with either Lyca or the Lebara logo.

Find the nearest store selling Lyca SIM-cards

Unfortunately most big danish providers doesn’t offer prepaid deals anymore, and they can’t sell tourists without a danish security number SIM-cards, so you won’t have luck visiting their shops. The only exception is YouSee, who offers prepaid deals (taletid).

See map of YouSee shops

YouSee Taletid (prepaid) prices (in Danish, but not too hard to “decrypt”).

Free internet access and WIFI-spots

There are also several opportunities to get free access to the internet. One of the easiest ways is the libraries (Danish: bibliotek). At most libraries you can borrow a stationary computer with internet access, and it is also very common to be able to access free WIFI connections for your own laptop.

There are libraries in most cities – you can find the nearest library on bibliotek.dk – search for the city or postal code.

There is also free WIFI access at many cafés bars and tourist bureaus, and often they’ll let you know with signs – ask at the desk if you are interested, even if you can’t see a sign they might offer free access. All Danish McDonald’s offer free WIFI access for the customers.

If you are staying at a hotel or at a campsite there might be internet possibilities too. At many hotels there’s WIFI or wired connections available, and many campsites have computers with access to the internet – and there might be WIFI access too. It might cost a fee to use the internet, though.

There’s also internet access in some trains and busses, however often it requires that you register with a Danish phone number.

More information for tourists

If you are going to Denmark, you might want to take a look at Visit Denmarks homepage(available in several languages). Visit Denmark is the official Danish tourist organization, and you’ll find a lot of useful information.