And so it begins

[Speve]

You will have to have a look at the exact wording but ID mobile part of car phone warehouse using the 3 network as is Smarty, claim that their roaming is unlimited providing you do not use more data abroad than you do when at home over a four month period.
Both Smarty and ID mobile have good deals.

Our problem is that we have Vodafone broadband at home so hardly use any data on our phone as it always uses the home router to connect via WiFi as the actual phone signal is pretty crap, so my data usage is never going to be less abroad than at home? Don’t quite know how that’s going to work?

 

[Sapper520]

Our problem is that we have Vodafone broadband at home so hardly use any data on our phone as it always uses the home router to connect via WiFi as the actual phone signal is pretty crap, so my data usage is never going to be less abroad than at home? Don’t quite know how that’s going to work?

I’ve got 30gb on my phone and my wife has got 12gb (plus unlimited calls and texts), for a total of £18 per month.

We don’t use 1gb each, per month, as we use the house wifi......but it will come in handy when we need to use it on our travels, and we can’t use any more than 19gb of our 30gb on the MiFi.

 

[barsteward]

Our problem is that we have Vodafone broadband at home so hardly use any data on our phone as it always uses the home router to connect via WiFi as the actual phone signal is pretty crap, so my data usage is never going to be less abroad than at home? Don’t quite know how that’s going to work?

I have 2 home routers, one in the M/home one at home when I go abroad I put the sim in the motorhome. I have 3 sims in total with both Smarty and ID mobile on various rolling contracts. If I travel abroad and my wife is at home the 20g Smarty card goes in the home router. If both traveling abroad why not just move the router into the M/Home. By the way the 3 sim cards that I have combined cost me far less than BT used to and I can cancel any one or change the amount of data within 30days.

 

[peterc10]

Smarty do a Sim only unlimited data, month by month, contract for £20.

At the moment our contract is £10 for 30gb. Turn off the auto renew and only credit when you want to. You have 180 days to put some credit on.

Yes but the £10, £15 and £20 plans are limited to 20GB in Europe

 

[barsteward]

Yes but the £10, £15 and £20 plans are limited to 20GB in Europe

So you buy several different plans each give you 20gb

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[peterc10]

So you buy several different plans each give you 20gb

Only 1 plan per SIM per month AFAIK. But you can top up in advance during the month at £1 per GB.

If you are going abroad and want more SIMs for a Mifi just buy the £10 ones and throw them away.

 

[barsteward]

Only 1 plan per SIM per month AFAIK. But you can top up in advance during the month at £1 per GB.

If you are going abroad and want more SIMs for a Mifi just buy the £10 ones and throw them away.

You are indeed correct but I have one in my phone and one in the M/home both of which I would use anyway I also have an ID mobile in my home router and if their claims are correct (time will tell) I use in excess of 100gb per month.
I could well be proved to be a complete numpty because I am not a clever fella but MIX and Match seems to be the way to go.

 

[Sapper520]

Yes but the £10, £15 and £20 plans are limited to 20GB in Europe

Smarty is 19gb according to the small print.

As I said above, 30gb on MiFi, 42gb between mine and my wife’s phone. Should be more than enough for our use abroad.

 

[peterc10]

You are indeed correct but I have one in my phone and one in the M/home both of which I would use anyway I also have an ID mobile in my home router and if their claims are correct (time will tell) I use in excess of 100gb per month.
I could well be proved to be a complete numpty because I am not a clever fella but MIX and Match seems to be the way to go.

Not sure what you mean by in your motorhome Is that in a mifi? In that case you can buy as many £10 per month ones as you like, as I said in my previous post. The problem with putting multiple SIMs in the phone is that each has a different phone number, but that does not matter if you are using them in a mifi.

 

[peterc10]

Smarty is 19gb according to the small print.

Not according to their Fair use policy. See page 9 on this link

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[Speve]

I have 2 home routers, one in the M/home one at home when I go abroad I put the sim in the motorhome. I have 3 sims in total with both Smarty and ID mobile on various rolling contracts. If I travel abroad and my wife is at home the 20g Smarty card goes in the home router. If both traveling abroad why not just move the router into the M/Home. By the way the 3 sim cards that I have combined cost me far less than BT used to and I can cancel any one or change the amount of data within 30days.

Unfortunately as I said we do not have good mobile signals where we live and the router is a Vodafone landline router no sim in it but allows me to make WiFi calls on my mobile

 

[Sapper520]

Not according to their Fair use policy. See page 9 on this link

Bargain, extra 1gb ........need to update my copy of the terms and conditions.

 

[Langtoftlad]

Thread title... "And So It Begins", suggests it's Brexit related but I believe these caps were decided upon long ago... roaming was never intended for heavy users spending months abroad.
It was so package holiday makers on their two weeks in Corfu didn't come back to horrendous bills.

The market changes, the suppliers change their offering and the customer shops around.

The only constant is change.

 

[SMB]

Thread title... "And So It Begins", suggests it's Brexit related but I believe these caps were decided upon long ago... roaming was never intended for heavy users spending months abroad.
It was so package holiday makers on their two weeks in Corfu didn't come back to horrendous bills.

The market changes, the suppliers change their offering and the customer shops around.

The only constant is change.

You are correct, I am suggesting it's brexit-related but not so much the data usage. I hope I'm wrong but I'm concerned that it's a first step towards roaming charges being reintroduced in the future as the UK mobile services companies are obviously no longer regulated by the EU rules. It would take a united effort by all the mobile providers but the aim of their business is to be profitable and make money. The cheaper plans such as Voxi, Smarty use services provided by Vodafone, EE etc so they would probably have to fall in line. Only time will tell, hopefully nothing will change.

 

[2657]

Yeah me too unlimited everywhere up to yet.

Please correct me if I am mistaken but are you not in the UK and have been for some time?

Not sure what you mean by in your motorhome Is that in a mifi? In that case you can buy as many £10 per month ones as you like, as I said in my previous post. The problem with putting multiple SIMs in the phone is that each has a different phone number, but that does not matter if you are using them in a mifi.

I am not sure that is possible, I obtained a Smarty sim in August last year but never activated it, I attempted to do this last week and it would not activate.

I do not know if this is because of the delay or because I am in Portugal.

Perhaps someone could say if they have successfully activated one while out of the UK.

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[barsteward]

Please correct me if I am mistaken but are you not in the UK and have been for some time?


I am not sure that is possible, I obtained a Smarty sim in August last year but never activated it, I attempted to do this last week and it would not activate.

I do not know if this is because of the delay or because I am in Portugal.

Perhaps someone could say if they have successfully activated one while out of the UK.

I'm fairly sure any of the 3 networks and it's subsidiaries have to be activated in uk.

 

[peterc10]

AFAIK the card has to be activated in the UK. That always used to be the case. It needs to find the Three network to activate itself for the first time, and you don't have it in Portugal.

I used pre paid Three cards in my mifi when abroad. Always had to activate them in the UK first.

 

[barsteward]

They're onto you matamoros

Our fair usage policy has been designed to prevent misuse of our inclusive EU roaming feature, such as someone permanently roaming and not living in the UK.

We understand that sometimes you'll want to roam for a few weeks at a time. That's absolutely fine. But if you roam more than you use your phone at home (we mean in the UK) over a 4-month period, we might think you’re permanently roaming. If so, we'll take the following action:

 

[Langtoftlad]

You are correct, I am suggesting it's brexit-related but not so much the data usage. I hope I'm wrong but I'm concerned that it's a first step towards roaming charges being reintroduced in the future as the UK mobile services companies are obviously no longer regulated by the EU rules. It would take a united effort by all the mobile providers but the aim of their business is to be profitable and make money. The cheaper plans such as Voxi, Smarty use services provided by Vodafone, EE etc so they would probably have to fall in line. Only time will tell, hopefully nothing will change.

Big business always looks to protect their revenue stream - so undoubtedly they've been looking at getting around the EU roaming thing ever since it was introduced.
Brexit just made it easier for the UK companies.

Use of mobiles has changed dramatically over the last few years, first phones were used purely for voice calls, then texting became the thing and very profitable but now it's data and the revenue from texts has collapsed as apps like Whatsap & Messenger became popular, so much so that mobile providers can "give away" unlimited minutes & texts.
As the market changes, customers transit to niche providers before the big boys catch up.

 

[2657]

They're onto you matamoros

Our fair usage policy has been designed to prevent misuse of our inclusive EU roaming feature, such as someone permanently roaming and not living in the UK.

We understand that sometimes you'll want to roam for a few weeks at a time. That's absolutely fine. But if you roam more than you use your phone at home (we mean in the UK) over a 4-month period, we might think you’re permanently roaming. If so, we'll take the following action:

I have several cunning plans, some using local sims with a VPN but this can be hit and miss, or use UK monthly deals when I can.

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[peterc10]

I have several cunning plans, some using local sims with a VPN but this can be hit and miss, or use UK monthly deals when I can.

When we were in Portugal we found the NOS 15 or 30 day SIMs with unlimited data to be good value at a Euro per day. But if you are permanently in Portugal I suspect you could get better long term deals.

I suspect you will find it very difficult to make a UK deal work if you are in Portugal most of the time. I think most are like Three and require initial activation in the UK.

 

[SMB]

And now a further text from Voxi:

Hello. Your phone usage while abroad has exceeded the threshold in our Acceptable Use Policy. This means you may be charged for any further usage in your inclusive roaming destinations. You have 14 days to change your behaviour to avoid the extra charges. You may wish to switch to a local SIM, use Wi-Fi or turn off roaming on your device. As a reminder, your plan's inclusive roaming is only meant for temporary, occasional periods abroad such as holidays and short trips. To find out more, please head to http://bit.ly/Roaming-Acceptable-Use Rest assured, you'll still be able to receive calls and texts while abroad at no extra cost.

Well I suppose I have been out of the UK since August last year...

 

[peterc10]

And now a further text from Voxi:

Hello. Your phone usage while abroad has exceeded the threshold in our Acceptable Use Policy. This means you may be charged for any further usage in your inclusive roaming destinations. You have 14 days to change your behaviour to avoid the extra charges. You may wish to switch to a local SIM, use Wi-Fi or turn off roaming on your device. As a reminder, your plan's inclusive roaming is only meant for temporary, occasional periods abroad such as holidays and short trips. To find out more, please head to http://bit.ly/Roaming-Acceptable-Use Rest assured, you'll still be able to receive calls and texts while abroad at no extra cost.

Well I suppose I have been out of the UK since August last year...

Nothing to do with Brexit.

This is no different to it was before we left the EU. Nearly all the UK providers had and still have an "acceptable use" policy on roaming. That is because the EU regulations that brought in freedom to roam made it clear that they only apply to temporary roaming for holidays and business visits, not permanent roaming.

 

[gus-lopez]

I'm fairly sure any of the 3 networks and it's subsidiaries have to be activated in uk.

I've activated 3 data miFis' here .Last one was a 12 month one started in august last year.

 

[Sapper520]

And now a further text from Voxi:

Hello. Your phone usage while abroad has exceeded the threshold in our Acceptable Use Policy. This means you may be charged for any further usage in your inclusive roaming destinations. You have 14 days to change your behaviour to avoid the extra charges. You may wish to switch to a local SIM, use Wi-Fi or turn off roaming on your device. As a reminder, your plan's inclusive roaming is only meant for temporary, occasional periods abroad such as holidays and short trips. To find out more, please head to http://bit.ly/Roaming-Acceptable-Use Rest assured, you'll still be able to receive calls and texts while abroad at no extra cost.

Well I suppose I have been out of the UK since August last year...

Looks like you’ve done well then.

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[SMB]

Nothing to do with Brexit.

This is no different to it was before we left the EU. Nearly all the UK providers had and still have an "acceptable use" policy on roaming. That is because the EU regulations that brought in freedom to roam made it clear that they only apply to temporary roaming for holidays and business visits, not permanent roaming.

Yeah I realise that, it was just an update for other voxi users. First time it's happened though and I used to spend ten months of the year abroad when I was full-timing. Had no problems with Plusnet.

 

[SMB]

Looks like you’ve done well then.

I agree! I was due back in the UK in 12 days anyway but my ferry has just been cancelled! Looks like santander to Portsmouth is still running as I was booked to arrive in Plymouth.

 

[LesW]

This is what it says for my EE plan.. I have a pay monthly contract with 100GB available in the UK.

"On pay monthly, if you have a domestic data allowance greater than 50GB, the fair usage policy (given in your roaming plan) means you can use up to 50GB while roaming in the EU".

 

[Metamorfosis]

Been in Spain since September. Just got dreaded text message from Vodafone of 14 days notice before they charge me for anymore use abroad. Good while it lasted!