Phones and data home and abroad. (1 Viewer)

[Mr porky]

I'm sure this has been covered a lot as the providers of data and phone sims keep moving the goal posts when it comes to travelling abroad.

We currently have in my Samsung tablet a smarty unlimited sim which works very well for us to stream TV whilst in the uk but drops to 12gb when in mainland europe.
We both have a phone with RWG we use for uk and abroad and have had very little issues however now they have dropped our allowance from 200gb then to 100gb then to to 20gb a month in Europe, so its pointless staying with RWG.
We do usually end up in mainland Europe up to 3 months at time.

We use esims if travelling to Asia as it works perfect over there but Europe doesn't seem to have cost effective esims.

So do we go back to a mainstream provider or is there an independent company that works in giving decent service at home and abroad.

Thank you in advance for any advice or recommendations you have.

 

[starquake]

Been using ID for about 8 months not had any problems. It works better than any other 3 sim I have had when roaming shame about the 30GB limit when roaming.

I suspect ID and 3 business contracts have similar prioritisation... ie, it's prioritised above Smarty and 3 retail. As said, I've tested smarty versus 3 business before in same device one test after another, and found 3 business to outperform it every time, despite 3 business "costing less" per month.. I suspect (but can't prove) it's becuase Smarty is quite popular, and gets its own form of bandwidth "alocation" when a tower is busy, rather than it all being equally shared.. When a tower is not all that busy (ie, you're getting > 40Mbit) theres not much difference, it's down when 3 business is getting 10Mbit, and Smarty 2 is the point I'm making...

 

[Sideshow Bob]

It's because Tesco is not a data sim it's a phone, as includes calls, so the data is using technically a "phone grade" path. (When you use your iphone as a hotspot, under hood it's using a different APN ususally).

If Lebara includes phone calls, it is unlikely to work for same reason, if it's just data, it should work is my experierence on sims as a whole.

It's why for van we only buy data only products for same reason.

That’s interesting
I notice that Smarty do an unlimited data phone SIM for £16/month but the unlimited data only SIM is £20/month
I currently pay £20 for the RWG SIM but it gives me 200GB in UK but as it only gives me 20GB in Europe now it’s not as attractive
So maybe I will switch to the Smarty data only SIM for the UK and just use my IQ GO SIM when I go to Europe

 

[starquake]

That’s interesting
I notice that Smarty do an unlimited data phone SIM for £16/month but the unlimited data only SIM is £20/month
I currently pay £20 for the RWG SIM but it gives me 200GB in UK but as it only gives me 20GB in Europe now it’s not as attractive
So maybe I will switch to the Smarty data only SIM for the UK and just use my IQ GO SIM when I go to Europe

If you want advice on that, I'd not use smarty in UK. Scancom offer a package via Amazon for Three UK at moment if 80Gb a month until 2027 for a one off payment of £75 on Three, so what £2 a month (self declare you as a self employed business on your behalf!).. Unlimited Three contracts (we have one) via Three business (direct) are £5/mo ish if you buy several from my experience... (we're still payign that now, almost 3 years later, so £60/year).. Smarty is overpriced and less prioritised than Three via the above two routes on actual "full data" business sims. We've been using Scancom and Three business direct respectively for over 4 years now, and if you buy via Amazon if it stops working you at least have a route to reclaim.

 

[Mr porky]

Just to let you know rwg has cut me off after 20gb even though they never informed me of a change in the policy. Definitely will be changing provider when we get back to the UK in June.
I did quite well though lasted 21 days on 20gb. Calling into Sitges today to see if I can get a payg sim from a shop.

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[Sideshow Bob]

Just to let you know rwg has cut me off after 20gb even though they never informed me of a change in the policy. Definitely will be changing provider when we get back to the UK in June.
I did quite well though lasted 21 days on 20gb. Calling into Sitges today to see if I can get a payg sim from a shop.

I am shortly going to bin RWG, it worked for me when I purchased it because 200GB in the UK and also roaming worked great however after reducing the roaming to just 20GB it’s a waste of space, will take out a Tiekom SIM for the 3 months in Spain at 400GB then put it on hold when I return to UK for €3 per month

 

[gus-lopez]

Sitges

Get a Digi sim .works everywhere including the Uk with same usage. What is included in spain is the same everywhere.

 

[Sideshow Bob]

Get a Digi sim .works everywhere including the Uk with same usage. What is included in spain is the same everywhere.

Do you have any more detail please?

 

[starquake]

Do you have any more detail please?

Reading digi.es it's 16 euro per month for 200 gb and can work on a prepay basis. And thats with my rubbish spanish.
Doesn't sound a bad deal, same as the French free.fr prepay deal pretty much.

Tarjeta SIM Prepago Móvil | DIGI, las ventajas de ir por libre

En DIGI preferimos hacer las cosas de otra manera, sin recurrir a trucos, y centrándonos en ofrecerte todas las ventajas que tiene ir por libre.

www.digimobil.es

And to explain if I'm right gus can help you can activate/deactivate the bundles on when you need the data or not.

 

[Bolti]

Digi do have data roaming limits outside Spain. On the 200 GB deal it is 20 Gb.

Edit ; blooming auto correct.

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[Bolti]

This is the list

Producto	Volumen máximo de datos en roaming (UE/EEE)
DIGI ILIMITADO - 15 GB	8 GB
DIGI ILIMITADO - 30 GB	12 GB
DIGI ILIMITADO - 100 GB	15 GB
DIGI ILIMITADO - 200 GB	20 GB
DIGI COMBO - 8 GB	6 GB
DIGI COMBO - 30 GB	12 GB
DIGI COMBO - 100 GB	15 GB
DIGI COMBO - 200 GB	20 GB
Ilimitodo - GB ilimitados	24 GB

 

[Bolti]

Digi are excellent, operate on the movistar network. Once you have your sim it can be kept as a PAYG , €5 need to be added every six months to keep it active they text to remind you it is due. Just use the app to switch to a plan with data when needed. The credit built up can be used against the cost.

 

[gus-lopez]

Do you have any more detail please?

As Bolti has posted .

it's 16 euro per month for 200 gb and can work on a prepay basis.

Best one is ilimitodo/GB Ilimitados. for 20€ = 24gb when travelling.
When I am in the Uk I make calls to uk landlines & mobiles all free of charge as it is the same as 'at home' in spain. All included.
As said you can download Digi app & set up an account then swop between plans as & when required.