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.

 

[Soycd]

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..

I currently had an ID sim only rolling contract for unlimited UK data and 30gb roaming. It's not dedicated data, has phone/text as well. We like to travel as much as we can over the water so a bit of flexibility on data only roaming is what I'm after. Not found the perfect solution yet, but am all ears!

 

[starquake]

I currently had an ID sim only rolling contract for unlimited UK data and 30gb roaming. It's not dedicated data, has phone/text as well. We like to travel as much as we can over the water so a bit of flexibility on data only roaming is what I'm after. Not found the perfect solution yet, but am all ears!

Check scancom out -> similar EE unlimited sims (data only) prepaid for a few years, work out usually at somewhere between £9 and £13 a month depending on what deal they have. We've used them for over 4 years at this point for EE unlimied (you buy via amazon as they have amazon store). I know I'm not the only one on here using them, it's pretty clear, you prepurchase a sim which lasts until date X. It arrives activated, and works until date X. One off payment for ~ 1, 2, or sometimes 3 years service up front, works out MILES cheaper than a monthly deal. However as it's prepaid it only works in UK.

If you willing to use Three it works out at £2-3 a month for around 500Gb and about £7 for unlimited via same kind of deal. Quite common to pay £80 for a sim valid for 3 years with 500Gb a month or so. (amazon scancom store, just google it).

 

[Soycd]

Check scancom out -> similar EE unlimited sims (data only) prepaid for a few years, work out usually at somewhere between £9 and £13 a month depending on what deal they have. We've used them for over 4 years at this point for EE unlimied (you buy via amazon as they have amazon store). I know I'm not the only one on here using them, it's pretty clear, you prepurchase a sim which lasts until date X. It arrives activated, and works until date X. One off payment for ~ 1, 2, or sometimes 3 years service up front, works out MILES cheaper than a monthly deal. However as it's prepaid it only works in UK.

If you willing to use Three it works out at £2-3 a month for around 500Gb and about £7 for unlimited via same kind of deal. Quite common to pay £80 for a sim valid for 3 years with 500Gb a month or so. (amazon scancom store, just google it).

Thanks, I'll look into it. We'll still need sims for UK/Europe messaging/calls etc. So am trying to strike a balance.

 

[starquake]

Thanks, I'll look into it. We'll still need sims for UK/Europe messaging/calls etc. So am trying to strike a balance.

Yeah, we may actually switch our "handsets" to IQ as it goes for that, or Tesco. But for actual data sims I still am of opinion (and have been for a long time) to buy local. These days (assuming you have a firestick) you can get a VPN integrated to the firestick from all of the big providers so iplayer etc still work.

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[DDJC]

I spent hours finding a data sim only deal for the EU that has no fair usage policy. Nearly all have a small-print fair use policy that cuts you off or slows you down if you take the pee and watch films endlessly.
Like my boys do quite a lot of.

Anyway, I've found one, but its pricey.

Connectpls

Non-contractual Unlimited Data SIM Card for Europe | ConnectPls

Unlimited Data SIM Cards for Europe. You can travel all aroun the Europe with ConnectPls Unlimited data SIM Cards and cancel it any time!

connectpls.com

Costs a whopping £59 per month.

Compare that with the five to ten euro that campsites charge for their wifi for a couple of days.

Anyway, I've checked our Whitsun sites (two) and both charge for wifi. Not worth paying £59 for the month.

For our three week trip in August (six sites), there is one with no wifi, two with free wifi, one with free but limited to two devices and two that charge. Paying for that little lot might run close to £59.

So contracts are out of the question.

 

[Carpmart]

I spent hours finding a data sim only deal for the EU that has no fair usage policy. Nearly all have a small-print fair use policy that cuts you off or slows you down if you take the pee and watch films endlessly.
Like my boys do quite a lot of.

Anyway, I've found one, but its pricey.

Connectpls

Non-contractual Unlimited Data SIM Card for Europe | ConnectPls

Unlimited Data SIM Cards for Europe. You can travel all aroun the Europe with ConnectPls Unlimited data SIM Cards and cancel it any time!

connectpls.com

Costs a whopping £59 per month.

Compare that with the five to ten euro that campsites charge for their wifi for a couple of days.

Anyway, I've checked our Whitsun sites (two) and both charge for wifi. Not worth paying £59 for the month.

For our three week trip in August (six sites), there is one with no wifi, two with free wifi, one with free but limited to two devices and two that charge. Paying for that little lot might run close to £59.

So contracts are out of the question.

How much data do you need? The Tiekom sim is 400Gb in Spain and 200Gb when roaming and around €40…

 

[DDJC]

How much data do you need? The Tiekom sim is 400Gb in Spain and 200Gb when roaming and around €40…

Ii's a great question and I don't really know. If the weather is crap, my eldest, particularly, can spend hours on the internet watching all manner of youtubey stuff and cartoons. I've never really worked out how much data he uses.
Also, we aren't in Spain this year.

 

[Carpmart]

Ii's a great question and I don't really know. If the weather is crap, my eldest, particularly, can spend hours on the internet watching all manner of youtubey stuff and cartoons. I've never really worked out how much data he uses.
Also, we aren't in Spain this year.

So 200Gb in any zone 1 is €40 odd euro

 

[starquake]

I spent hours finding a data sim only deal for the EU that has no fair usage policy. Nearly all have a small-print fair use policy that cuts you off or slows you down if you take the pee and watch films endlessly.
Like my boys do quite a lot of.

Thats why the French/Spanish both have native sims in country (linked here) about 20 quid for 200Gb (well 20 euro) prepay. Even in EU roaming limits between countrys vary and you may not get best speed when roaming either. Just buy when there, use the previous sim until it expires as you cross border, then buy one where you are that week/month. Given you are likely going Hypermarket or SUpermarket for food in each country and they sold in the supermarket, whats the problem with that?

Remember swapping sim takes 2 mins, and just requires the APN for each sim you buy, which is usually on the packaging.

I agree campsite wifi is a option but it's hit and miss for how well it works. Each to their own -> but with buying 200Gb prepay in each country there shouldn't be any fair use stuff as it's actual data and not unlimited.

For reference when we AT home with a 4k TV and 4k everything with 2 screens and ocasioanlly visits from family children and game updates, we use 600Gb a month. Our motorhome is not 4k, we don't game on computers in it, and as such we found over xmas this year (away for 3 weeks) that 200Gb would cover a month fine. And thats with a LOT of tv as winter. Summer we use considerably less.

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[Bessy765]

We are currently in France using an IQ data only sim. £20 a year for the sim and then £20 for 100 GB of data.
The only restrictions are you cannot use the sim for more than three months in the EU in any one year. But if you have used all your data you can just by another 100GB so sort of unlimited. We usually try to use the full 90 days twice a years so the easiest way is the first 90 use my sim, second 90 the wife’s. Never failed to get a strong signal even out in the sticks. Good customer service.

 

[Manic]

We’ve not failed to get a good signal with our Reglo sim (phone sim) and that’s 200gb for£11.82 when payed with Revolut.

 

[wfdTamar]

I'm in France now doing my 90 days. I got an IQ Go 100Gb sim. That works well. Actually I got the 100Gb voice, sms, data sim for £25 a month and a 10% discount on that deal (I think for signing up to emails). Forgot to get the TopCashBack 38% cashback on it. Then I worked out as I'm using it in my 5G modem, the voice and sms was a waste. I'm using a Smarty sim for my phone (they're capped at 12Gb in the EU, good in the UK though).

Had flu for a while and watched TV all day. That used 30Gb! I have a 32" FullHD tv run off inverter. I travel alone so can get lonely. The TV is a life saver. Some streaming services allow you to cut the quality of the stream to reduce data use (you can do that in Youtube too), but I want HD.

I'd heard about the Free.fr deal and this year thought I'd try it. €10 initially for the sim and €20 pm for 300Gb (35Gb outside France). You can go on a pay by the month deal or do it just for one month. I did the latter and I'm assured that toward the end of the first month I can just pay again for the following month.

It's good to have multiple sims from different networks so you have more chance of one working, particularly if like me you prefer remote areas.

Another option I have is a 4Tb USB drive connected to a Raspberry Pi that runs LibreElec (Kodi) that makes all the tv and movies on the drive look like Netflix with descriptions. That's good if I have no signal or use too much data.

 

[helloclouds]

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

Can you pause the plan so you only pay when you are using the sim? Can you register with a uk address?

 

[Googlebot]

Ii's a great question and I don't really know. If the weather is crap, my eldest, particularly, can spend hours on the internet watching all manner of youtubey stuff and cartoons. I've never really worked out how much data he uses.
Also, we aren't in Spain this year.

I have 2 that both watch videos constantly unless I kick them out somewhere.

I reckon you are looking at about 100GB a week.

Took 400GB on an 18 day trip Easter and used about 220GB of it.

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[DDJC]

I have 2 that both watch videos constantly unless I kick them out somewhere.

I reckon you are looking at about 100GB a week.

Took 400GB on an 18 day trip Easter and used about 220GB of it.

That is extremely helpful. Thanks so much.

 

[Widge]

Can you pause the plan so you only pay when you are using the sim? Can you register with a uk address?

You cannot pause subscription, but you can set it to be the lowest tariff, you can swap between tariffs, but this only changes for the next billing period.
Below are the current available tariffs. And an English (google) Translation of the Tariffs

 

[ChrisL]

I have a Tesco unlimited Sim, although Tesco say you are limited to 2 months in every 4, myself and at least one other member here have had three months with no issues and I averaged 500 Gbs/month whilst away through France and Spain, speeds were always fast enough to stream tv in HD. You do need to use it in the UK as well but for most people that tour in the UK as well as Europe this shouldn't be an issue, just make sure you use the Tesco APN and turn roaming on before you leave the UK.

 

[interbear]

Also heading to France next month and after researching various options I went with IQ GO. Just ordered the SIM annual sub (£20) and will add the 100GB data to it (also 320) before we travel. Seems a good option to me, we travel in and out of France a few times per year but the limitation of 3 months data usage in the EU is not an issue for us. I like the flexibility ie the fact it is not a monthly sub, just purchase a data plan before travelling each time.

 

[Googlebot]

We went Tesco in the end.

I had the unlimited SIM at £30 a month, it was then another £10 a month for each additional unlimited SIM. I got the kids one and Lucy plus another for the Modem in the Motorhome.

Not impressed with the UK coverage, however they have WiFi calling and it’s unlimited in France and the EU too. Seems to work great in the MiFi too.

5 unlimited SIMS across the EU and UK for £70 PM wasn’t bad value IMO.

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[Manic]

You cannot pause subscription, but you can set it to be the lowest tariff, you can swap between tariffs, but this only changes for the next billing period.
Below are the current available tariffs. And an English (google) Translation of the Tariffs
View attachment 905783

On mine I’ve stopped automatic payment on the web page because I don’t need it until September time but I don’t know if that will work.

 

[Birdy67]

Another vote for IQ Mobiie. We’re in France, arrived yesterday, and had dramas getting things to work. I had an email conversation with Frazer in their technical team that went on for an hour plus, where he suggested various fixes. Eventually it seemed to start working all on its own. No way are you getting that kind of service from a company over here so I’ll be buying more data when the current 100 GB from IQ has run out. They also have a simple way of keeping an eye on usage by logging in with your mobile number on the packaging. Overall I’m very impressed.

 

[Widge]

On mine I’ve stopped automatic payment on the web page because I don’t need it until September time but I don’t know if that will work.

I think after a period of time you lose the number, it probably says in the document in my previous post.

 

[Manic]

I think after a period of time you lose the number, it probably says in the document in my previous post.

Ok cheers, that’s ok I use it in a router so not worried about number.
I will just get a new sim on the next trip.

 

[Widge]

I think after a period of time you lose the number, it probably says in the document in my previous post.

I couldn't see how long you get before deactivation, but there is a 15€ reactivation fee.