Right, scenario is. Cuz is coming over from Aus, with an unlocked phone.
She wants a sim she can stuff in her phone, top up and use. Then dump it.
I want a sim that costs peanuts or nothing monthly, but one I can top up with a huge chunk of data when needed so I can stuff it in a wireless 4g modem/hub in the base camp.
Which one shall I get her, that I can take over when she leaves?
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Smarty - brilliant service, pay by pay-pal, one month contracts, shares network with 3.
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I was looking at a 12 month deal yesterday which with redemption and cashback came to IIRC £3.50 a month for a lot of data and unlimited minutes and texts.
I'll have a hunt for it again.
EDIT: here it is. tinyurl.com/4m7du75x with 3.
Won't last long at that price and I doubt you will find anything comparable anywhere near as cheap.
Redemption is really easy, usually you have to download your bill at 3, 6 and 9 months and send it onto the provider and get a cheque for the money. It's usually been a window of weeks so difficult to miss it, if you diarise it. Been doing it for years now with different providers and never yet had a problem. I'm currently on a 24m one with ID (thru one of these deals) and have 100Gb for £7, unused data rolls over for a month so I start most months with 200Gb :-) . Even on a bad month the worst I've done is about 10Gb.
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 25 Sep 22 at 18:07
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3 still do bog standard PAYG.
We got them originally for use in the US where they could roam.
They are however excellent for extra GB if we're out in the 'van, using the phone as a hotspot and knocking the data limits for our Plusnet contracts.
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"3 still do bog standard PAYG."
They do indeed, but have massively ramped up their prices over the last few months. SWMBO and I switched a couple of weeks ago from Three to PAYG on 1pMobile, which seems to be excellent value - 1p per minute calls, 1p per text, 1p per MB data. Runs on the EE network. If you recommend someone they and you get £5 free credit.
Last edited by: James Loveless on Sun 25 Sep 22 at 23:48
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I use 1p mobile. It's very good. But I recommended someone, they took it up, we pressed all the buttons but no £5 free credit ever materialised.
Other than that, works well for us.
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>> I use 1p mobile. It's very good. But I recommended someone, they took it up,
>> we pressed all the buttons but no £5 free credit ever materialised.
>>
>> Other than that, works well for us.
So £5 gets you 0.5GB of mobile data unless I have misplaced a decimal point.
On Giffgaff I have a recurring £10 golden goodybag which as well as unlimited calls and texts gives 15GB mobile data. Up to 5GB of that can be used for international roaming along with calls and texts.
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That’s a deal but I’m not sure I could take a company called Giff Gaff selling me golden goody bags seriously :-)
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Mon 26 Sep 22 at 16:09
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>> That’s a deal but I’m not sure I could take a company called Giff Gaff
>> selling me golden goody bags seriously :-)
>>
Purely practical. 4g is flaky here, the best two networks are Voda and O2. Currently one can use the allowance for roaming, in most of Europe at least, which is handy not least for navigation
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>> Purely practical. 4g is flaky here, the best two networks are Voda and O2.
How can Giff Gaff be flaky, when it uses the O2 network, which by your own admission say is one of the best networks?
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Was I not clear? Coverage is weak here especially 4g and indoors. The least bad networks are Voda and O2. So I only look at those. I use Giffgaff because it is O2 and I can usually make and receive calls at home. That said I mostly use headphones and park the phone on a window sill.
I don't need the 4g in the house but I do go to other points in the village.
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Re 1p, I think £10 gets you 10GB and unlimited texts and calls, but upping that to £15 gets you 50GB and unlimited t and c.
I just chuck in a tenner two or three times a year, as needed. Data for me is just a bit of Waze, and now my car has a suitable SIM and WiFi built in, that's almost nothing via the 1p SIM
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I think I'd separate the requirements.
Giffgaff, Smarty and others would quite happily fulfil the requirements of a no-commitment dumpable general purpose sim. I'd prefer EE or O2 to Three as the underlying network in the UK, but that's down to personal experience of network coverage in more remote areas.
A dedicated data-only SIM is likely to be better value for mifi usage, but the best depends on usage pattern.
I'm currently using an EE 120GB/12 month preloaded data only SIM bought (and still available) from Argos for £50 in my mifi. The original 12 months has expired, but monthly add-ons aren't extortionate - I put 15GB on for £10 just before heading to the Continent (where I currently am). You can buy more, and the price per GB gets better the more you buy. I'm simply buying chunks when I want to use the mifi, and leaving it fallow in between (though, as with many Sims, it needs using or topping up at 6 monthly intervals to keep it alive)
Being Paygo, the terms and conditions seemed to imply that all of such purchase was also available for roaming, and so it seems - it has worked perfectly throughout France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. On an EE contract, as opposed to Paygo, there are additional roaming conditions (thank you Brexit).
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All the main companies were going to stop free roaming abroad but they seem to have backtracked to varying degrees. But some still charge something, or they have a cheap range of SIM only plans which do, or which impose some kind of restriction.
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Roaming is not a factor and not to be considered.
>> A dedicated data-only SIM is likely to be better value for mifi usage, but the
>> best depends on usage pattern.
Very rarely is a data only sim the best and cheapest option, its a very much smaller and less competitive market. And its certainly of no use to me with a very fragmented useage pattern.
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... it's certainly a smaller market, but if you intend using a non-data only SIM in a mifi, be careful with your choice.
The motorhome forums are full of reports from mifi users who have found that (despite being led to believe otherwise) their general purpose SIM simply does not work with their device.
Oddly enough, the results can vary even with the same network or MVNO. Tesco is the latest people have had issues with.
I thought you'd got the crossover camping vehicle booked for France next year, where roaming would be/is certainly of interest to me.
My own usage is also a very variable pattern. The 120GB original load allowed me to vary my pattern throughout the initial 12 months up to an aggregate of 120GB. I now buy required capacity as and when I need it in 30 day chunks, and none when I don't.
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Last edited by: Zero on Sun 25 Sep 22 at 18:39
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Was the 3 one too expensive at £3.50 for 100Gb?
Or are you like my mate - prevaricate for so long that the deal has disappeared by the time he goes to it. :-)
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I dont do cashbacks. They are usually a pile of agro to get.
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They aren't, as explained earlier. but suit yourself :-)
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My experience of cashbacks via one of the sites I won't name in case I get sued rather tallies with Zero's. Pain in the hoop, they don't pay for ever, you nag, they prevaricate, it gets magically "stuck" and then it's not what they offered anyway, but you give up.
I don't bother any more, and lost interest in trying another cashback provider.
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Mobile Sim Advice. - R.P.
