French SIM card ((yet) again)

[DDJC]

Taking the plunge and fitting an antenna and mifi router to the bus. Both my boys are heavy data users for their tablets, being non verbal and semi verbal autistic. We do always try to get a site that has wifi, but sometimes there is none, or we are too far away from the antenna to pick up a decent signal.

Had a great chat with a lady at Tesco Mobile about which Unlimited data only SIM to get and her honest advice was don't buy one in UK!! She suggested drop into the first hyper market you see and get a French one, as EU rules means it will (should) work wherever you go in Yerp.

So, aimed mostly at those Funsters resident in the EU or those that travel more than a couple of times a year to the EU, does anyone know of a name of a French phone company that does genuinely unlimited (i.e no fair usage policy) data only, preferably one that you can buy a SIM only on a month by month basis?

There are a couple of options in the UK, but they seem to cut you off if you use more data in EU than UK. Oddly, Tescos is probably the best option for us, as it has a fair usage policy you can argue with them about before they cut you off!!

Thanks in advance.

 

[TONCAZ]

Have a look at RWG mobile sim, they have now cut there plan by 50% but still looks like a decent deal unless others know different, used them now for past 2 years without issue

 

[Widge]

Taking the plunge and fitting an antenna and mifi router to the bus. Both my boys are heavy data users for their tablets, being non verbal and semi verbal autistic. We do always try to get a site that has wifi, but sometimes there is none, or we are too far away from the antenna to pick up a decent signal.

Had a great chat with a lady at Tesco Mobile about which Unlimited data only SIM to get and her honest advice was don't buy one in UK!! She suggested drop into the first hyper market you see and get a French one, as EU rules means it will (should) work wherever you go in Yerp.

So, aimed mostly at those Funsters resident in the EU or those that travel more than a couple of times a year to the EU, does anyone know of a name of a French phone company that does genuinely unlimited (i.e no fair usage policy) data only, preferably one that you can buy a SIM only on a month by month basis?

There are a couple of options in the UK, but they seem to cut you off if you use more data in EU than UK. Oddly, Tescos is probably the best option for us, as it has a fair usage policy you can argue with them about before they cut you off!!

Thanks in advance.

If it is just or mainly for france, i recomend reglo mobile as the most flexible, go to a leclerc supermarket to get one.

 

[MisterB]

Or borrow a starlink and just pay for the month's subscription....all you can get at for £85

 

[Abacist]

Vodafone do unlimited one month SIM cards for EU

Just had two myself in Spain

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[Manic]

Have a look at RWG mobile sim, they have now cut there plan by 50% but still looks like a decent deal unless others know different, used them now for past 2 years without issue

Have a look at RWG mobile sim, they have now cut there plan by 50% but still looks like a decent deal unless others know different, used them now for past 2 years without issue

RWG only allows 20gb when roaming now

 

[Manic]

I bought a Reglo sim €13.50 for 170gb but next month I’m going to pay €13.80 for 200gb.
It’s been working very well for streaming, obviously need a vpn to stream uk tv.

 

[Stoosal]

I’ve been in France three weeks using a Tesco family unlimited data sim. £30 monthly rolling contract. Used about 50gb so far and no issues.

 

[Rogerwyn]

Have a look at RWG mobile sim, they have now cut there plan by 50% but still looks like a decent deal unless others know different, used them now for past 2 years without issue

RWG have dropped their fair use to 20gb, they do have an European sim for around £60 a month.

 

[Orion]

Have a look at the IQGO option. It’s £20 for the SIM for a year and you then add to it in up to £20 per 100GB valid for 30 days UK and Euroland but only when you want to use it. If you run out before the 30 days are up simply start again.

Currently running all our domestic WiFi usage through it until the fibre providers get their finger out and connect us.

IQ Go - 4G and 5G WiFi on the go for Caravan, Motorhome & Tents

The WIFI SIM designed for those who like to travel. IQ Go was designed specifically for the holiday market. Whether you need WIFI for a Caravan, Motorhome, Tent or just for days out in remote areas. We have a sim solution that provides flexibility to work around your holiday calendar. One Annual...

helloiq.co.uk

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[david7]

Try Tiekom Spain unlimited data,they also do a data sim for all Europe, I used them on a monthly basis in Spain this year and it was perfect using a Firestick, two tablets and 2 phones. approx 39eu per month.

 

[starquake]

As no-one mentioned it, and my french friend buying these for us on arrival -> free.fr sims, vending machines for them in many hypermarkets, you can search on website (with tranlate) for locations.

approx 20 euro for 200Gb in france, 30gb rest of europe per month with no contract, pay and go thing. You need to register in a shop but google tranlate should help with that. (they don't care about address use a campsite).

 

[Carpmart]

Are all these (apart from the Tiekom SIM) what the OP was asking for, mobile data SIMs? I think many being offered up are phone SIMs

 

[Carpmart]

Try Tiekom Spain unlimited data,they also do a data sim for all Europe, I used them on a monthly basis in Spain this year and it was perfect using a Firestick, two tablets and 2 phones. approx 39eu per month.

Best out there. It’s 400Gb in Spain, 200gb rest of zone1.

 

[Abacist]

My Vodafone sims were data only, unlimited and €40 each.

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[Googlebot]

Are all these (apart from the Tiekom SIM) what the OP was asking for, mobile data SIMs? I think many being offered up are phone SIMs

I have chucked a Tesco phone sim in my router and it’s working great.

 

[Carpmart]

My Vodafone sims were data only, unlimited and €40 each.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but why two unlimited data SIMs? One would do right?

 

[Carpmart]

I have chucked a Tesco phone sim in my router and it’s working great.

Good stuff!

Your post is just reaffirming the point; the OP requested a data SIM recommendation, not a phone sim! This may sound pedantic, but they are not the same!

 

[Googlebot]

Good stuff!

Your post is just reaffirming the point; the OP requested a data SIM recommendation, not a phone sim! This may sound pedantic, but they are not the same!

I must be missing something.

They asked for a SIM to use in a MiFi, not a data only SIM?

 

[Carpmart]

I must be missing something.

They asked for a SIM to use in a MiFi, not a data only SIM?

I’m talking about the OP first post, where they clearly state a data SIM for their new MiFi install?

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[Widge]

Are all these (apart from the Tiekom SIM) what the OP was asking for, mobile data SIMs? I think many being offered up are phone SIMs

II have used the reglo mobile sims without any problem in 4g routers. For example I setup a remote neighbour with a Huawei router, that also had a phone socket so they could plug in their DECT phones to also use it as a house phone, as well ad data, that was 4 years ago without a problem.

 

[Abacist]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but why two unlimited data SIMs? One would do right?

I put one in my wife’s iPad and one in my phone so we had one on us when we were out and about.

My normal phone sim is Three based and I find the coverage abroad poor and because it’s. Business account they charge the earth once fair use has kicked in!

I would normally put one in the HUAWEI in the van but it worked fine in the phone so left it there. We don’t stream TV into the van.

 

[Manic]

Are all these (apart from the Tiekom SIM) what the OP was asking for, mobile data SIMs? I think many being offered up are phone SIMs

Guilty as charged but my Reglo phone sim is working well in my Huawei router.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

Good stuff!

Your post is just reaffirming the point; the OP requested a data SIM recommendation, not a phone sim! This may sound pedantic, but they are not the same!

Ok, what is the difference? Is there a technical difference, or is it just how they are marketed?
We are currently using IQGo, which they certainly market as a data sim, and ours has never seen a phone.

 

[Carpmart]

I put one in my wife’s iPad and one in my phone so we had one on us when we were out and about.

My normal phone sim is Three based and I find the coverage abroad poor and because it’s. Business account they charge the earth once fair use has kicked in!

I would normally put one in the HUAWEI in the van but it worked fine in the phone so left it there. We don’t stream TV into the van.

Got it! Are these data only SIMs then if you’re using in your phone and iPad?

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[Carpmart]

Ok, what is the difference? Is there a technical difference, or is it just how they are marketed?
We are currently using IQGo, which they certainly market as a data sim, and ours has never seen a phone.

Yes there is a difference. The operators, both your home one and the ones you are in roaming to in Europe when travelling, know what type of device a phone SIM is being used in. They will depending on their algorithms, contention, congestion etc etc shape your traffic to optimise for the customers they have using that part of their network.

Data SIMs are designed to provide optimised and prioritised data access so do not get shaped with the same algorithms and policies.

The net result is you will be guaranteed a better throughput of data with a bona fide data only SIM.

This doesn’t mean that phone SIMs won’t work with routers (and very successfully at times, even most of the time for some), of course they will. It’s just a lower priority or best endeavours data services at best, as opposed to a few quid more giving a proper data service.

If price isn’t the only driver, I’d always opt for a Data SIM for data!

 

[Abacist]

Got it! Are these data only SIMs then if you’re using in your phone and iPad?

Because it’s a Spanish sim the texts you get are all in Spanish from Vodafone. I don’t make calls on it. We make calls using my wife’s phone which has a Tesco sim in it. I did get a couple of Spanish calls on my phone but assumed they were some sort of spam as I did not understand the lingo!

The iPad can’t make calls like a phone but I assumed it would FaceTime - wrong. Evidently you have to have a sim from the same provider in your phone and iPad to be able to FaceTime using the iPad so it must link to the iPhone somehow. That was the message we got when we tried it and failed!

 

[ceejayt]

Or borrow a starlink and just pay for the month's subscription....all you can get at for £85

That is an excellent suggestion - or just invest in one, you won’t be disappointed

 

[Soycd]

Think I'm going to go down the IQ mobile route with a router with a sim slot. Cost wise it seems pretty reasonable. I'll not go for 5G yet, the routers are still expensive so will buy a cheap 4G to experiment with.

 

[starquake]

Think I'm going to go down the IQ mobile route with a router with a sim slot. Cost wise it seems pretty reasonable. I'll not go for 5G yet, the routers are still expensive so will buy a cheap 4G to experiment with.

If you are usuing in UK as well as EU, you would be advised to look at the cheap deals available on amazon for UK only sims via scancom and others.

Can be under £2 a month for proper data sims on Three, and under £10/ish a month for unlimited (600Gb in reality) EE sims.
If you mostly UK tour like we do, just swap when you get into France.

(we can use our phone till we get to a shop selling them!). IQ is a good option if you value a single price all the time, but given how cheap UK sims are now (and proper prioritised data sims) it can be worth shopping around and just swapping sim. We have a piece of tape with sim cards on it next to the router..