Data only SIM for the UK

[Minxy]

It's for my daughter who has bought a narrow boat to live on, so fortunately it's only needed in the UK.

I have RWG and Reglio SIMs for use with the moho mifi here in France.

The difficulty your daughter may have is lack of service as many canals go in weird directions due to the lie of the land and she may therefore not be near anywhere with good reception, some providers will be better than others so that's something to check up on.

 

[97243]

The difficulty your daughter may have is lack of service as many canals go in weird directions due to the lie of the land and she may therefore not be near anywhere with good reception, some providers will be better than others so that's something to check up on.

She's moored up for the winter and won't be going anywhere for a while, other than over to her office twice a week. Otherwise she will be working from home and full time on the boat. Both the EE and Smarty coverage look fine for where she is. Her boater neighbours have given her some suggestions as well and I've just had a message that she's gone for the Smarty SIM first off.

 

[starquake]

She's moored up for the winter and won't be going anywhere for a while, other than over to her office twice a week. Otherwise she will be working from home and full time on the boat. Both the EE and Smarty coverage look fine for where she is. Her boater neighbours have given her some suggestions as well and I've just had a message that she's gone for the Smarty SIM first off.

Just bear in mind you can get a years service from Three for about same price as 3 months on smarty, so if you are using it a lot you may want to consider a native Three unlimited sim either direct if you have a Ltd company or via a reseller if not (scancom or many). Three unlimited sims are actually prioritised over smarty in their network we found -> and there are a few threads on here ref; setup of them on little things you should do. If you do go with a Three contract sim you MUST change the settings in your router away from smarty settings as most default to that which gives you worse performance than Smarty!

These are things we've tested many times in the inlaws static, which similar to a canal boat doesn't move, and we had 2 identical antenna one with a smarty and one with a 3 business at same time, and the latter outperformed smarty. It's not that smart is bad, far from it, it's just not as good as a retail or business sim from the same network!

I'll point you at this black friday deal as an example -> Amazon product ASIN B0BQPXF4D3
^ is near 2 years service for £150 prepaid, pay on a credit card for section 75 protection, but personally I find £6 a month better than £20 for 2 years !

(Worth mentioning similar providers have gone bust in past reccomended on here, but ahem, scancom have been providing service to me and a few others here for > 4 years at this point). Pay on credit card to minimise risk if they go bust as being a prepaid deal they could up and run...

 

[Monty 2]

Smarty works for me, good price not so good customer service should you need it.

 

[97243]

Just bear in mind you can get a years service from Three for about same price as 3 months on smarty, so if you are using it a lot you may want to consider a native Three unlimited sim either direct if you have a Ltd company or via a reseller if not (scancom or many). Three unlimited sims are actually prioritised over smarty in their network we found -> and there are a few threads on here ref; setup of them on little things you should do. If you do go with a Three contract sim you MUST change the settings in your router away from smarty settings as most default to that which gives you worse performance than Smarty!

These are things we've tested many times in the inlaws static, which similar to a canal boat doesn't move, and we had 2 identical antenna one with a smarty and one with a 3 business at same time, and the latter outperformed smarty. It's not that smart is bad, far from it, it's just not as good as a retail or business sim from the same network!

I'll point you at this black friday deal as an example -> Amazon product ASIN B0BQPXF4D3
^ is near 2 years service for £150 prepaid, pay on a credit card for section 75 protection, but personally I find £6 a month better than £20 for 2 years !

(Worth mentioning similar providers have gone bust in past reccomended on here, but ahem, scancom have been providing service to me and a few others here for > 4 years at this point). Pay on credit card to minimise risk if they go bust as being a prepaid deal they could up and run...

That's really useful, thanks

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[Dobby 2]

RWG Mobile https://www.rwgmobile.wales/

 

[Minxy]

FREXPT

Just seen these deals on Topcashback - basically a Three sim free for a year!

Three SIM Contracts Offers, Discounts & Cashback Deals

Save money at Three SIM Contracts & get up to up to £80 cashback. Simply click through to Three SIM Contracts and shop as normal. Withdraw your cashback to your bank or as a gift card for your favourite brands.

www.topcashback.co.uk

 

[97243]

FREXPT

Just seen these deals on Topcashback - basically a Three sim free for a year!

Three SIM Contracts Offers, Discounts & Cashback Deals

Save money at Three SIM Contracts & get up to up to £80 cashback. Simply click through to Three SIM Contracts and shop as normal. Withdraw your cashback to your bank or as a gift card for your favourite brands.

www.topcashback.co.uk

Excellent, thanks

 

[starquake]

FREXPT

Just seen these deals on Topcashback - basically a Three sim free for a year!

Three SIM Contracts Offers, Discounts & Cashback Deals

Save money at Three SIM Contracts & get up to up to £80 cashback. Simply click through to Three SIM Contracts and shop as normal. Withdraw your cashback to your bank or as a gift card for your favourite brands.

www.topcashback.co.uk

Free for 120Gb/mo only though as I read it, the unlimited is £10/mo, which is more than the amazon black friday deal(s).

I mean I'm not turning down a free 120Gb sim, and will be getting one for my non-van use (backup for house internet at primary residence).

Black Friday (as it is every year) is the time to be buying data sims for sure.

 

[steve69]

I would like to find a data only SIM for use in a TP Link mifi router the UK. Any suggestions please? Minimum 200Gb per month, but unlimited would be preferable.

I have 2 sims:
Giffgaff (O2) in my phone - which I can use as a hotspot.
Smarty (3) in my mifi.
I can now go anywhere in the country and virtually guarantee that I'll always have internet on one or the other.

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[Minxy]

Free for 120Gb/mo only though as I read it, the unlimited is £10/mo, which is more than the amazon black friday deal(s).

I mean I'm not turning down a free 120Gb sim, and will be getting one for my non-van use (backup for house internet at primary residence).

Black Friday (as it is every year) is the time to be buying data sims for sure.

I had a shuftie after I'd posted the info and decided to get one myself. A few days ago I got a Vodafone 70gb sim for the equivalent of £5.50 a month after cashback (I had 120gb Talkmobile sim up to then) but though it was a no brainer to get the Three offering for 'free' to give me more data in case I need it, and even though I'll have to pay a bit due to the price increase in April it'll likely be no more than 85p a month for 7 months which I think I can just about afford! For roaming I'll have to get a different sim anyway.

iD Mobile roaming explained for international & EU countries

iD Mobile roaming explained for international & EU countries

www.comparedial.com

I did consider ID due to it having some roaming allowance (restricted to max of 30gb now regardless of UK allowance) but with the farce I had a year ago when I had no signal at all for days and very limited before that I simply couldn't take the risk of being solely with Three/ID.

Anyway, my Three sim arrived late morning and after I managed to get it set up in my old Alcatel Y800 router (4G) it's been flying this afternoon, I'm using it now! Shame I can't just use that and not have Vodafone but at least I'm only paying for one contract.

 

[greyowl989]

We have Talkmobile ( vod) 250gb sim on 12 month contract - 13.95. In zte router.
Three coverage not as good as others in the sticks.
Main phone is ee but b. Expensive - for even 200gb.
You generally need a backup - crap shoot which net has coverage.

 

[starquake]

We have Talkmobile ( vod) 250gb sim on 12 month contract - 13.95. In zte router.
Three coverage not as good as others in the sticks.
Main phone is ee but b. Expensive - for even 200gb.
You generally need a backup - crap shoot which net has coverage.

Given Three and EE share majority of sites these days it's less bad than it has been (sharing happens at most 3g, many 4g, and not as many 5g), and in reality EE and Three have similar amounts of the longer reach 800mhz spectrum these days. What worries me about Voda personally is their backhaul from towers is not as great as Three/EE at present. (They and O2 share a network called I think it is Cornerstone, so they also share actual towers in many places) -> when Voda is on a cornerstone tower it is VERY good however.

My personal experience in last year has been with Three main sim, backup EE sim (and a work O2 phone) we have not had to use the backup at any site yet, including rural Norfolk when everyone else on site was complaining. We do have an external antenna though!

 

[HKF]

We have a TPLink mifi and whenever we're in the UK we use a Superdrug unlimited SIM. It's £20 per month on a rolling monthly deal. We use it for streaming, zoom meetings etc and never had a issue with it. It runs on Three. Hope this helps