I have a solution for good Mobile Data (300G) whilst in Spain (then any zone 1 country)

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Just a tad..
So, as with many, I’m the type of person who just ‘needs’ ubiquitous high bandwidth WiFi always available. The challenge for many this year has been with Brexit, the type of unlimited data roaming enjoyed before, is no longer available.

There have been numerous topics on this for the last few months; with creative solutions to getting 20-30G of data, none of these work for me as I need 200-300G a month, just to get on and do whatever we went.

Anyway, my searching and searching has finally turned up what I think is perfect. I’ve been using it for two days now in Spain and all seems to be working as advertised.

In basic terms, it’s non throttled (save for signal challenges) so up to 150mb download, 300Gb per month, rolling one month commitment, it’s on Vodafone ES and less than €40 per month. Yes that’s correct, zero commitment, no topping up, 300 Gigabyte for <€40 per month!!!!

I’m using the data SIM in my Netgear router, it was a very simple set-up and registration process and they very kindly supplied me with two sims so I can use another on my next visit to Spain. They couriered to my campsite in Spain and the customer service I received and the instant replies to messages was simply fantastic.

The company is Tiekom based in Madrid. They have completed everything with me via email, from initial contact, through ordering to setup etc. https://tiekom.com/internet-at-home/data-sim/

The person I have been dealing with is Camino and she’s been absolutely fantastic, super responsive, fantastic English and made everything incredibly easy! You can email her at: sales@tiekom.com

I have no association whatsoever with this company or this person, but I’ve been genuinely impressed with the service. Please do mention me to Camino if you reach out to her, as she and Teikom have just the product and service we need in Spain and I promised that if Teikom did what they advertised, that I would recommend her to others, so the association of me to your enquiries would allow me to fulfil on that promise.

So, the final point is a cautionary one. I’ve been using this for two days now, 22Gigabytes ‘only’ so it’s still early days. I shall update after the first few weeks and months use. Im also planning on using this for three weeks in France (zone1) whilst I'm fishing on the way home, so will be another good test.

Anyway, a long post, but for several could be a very useful one as we have all been struggling to find the sort of data usage we all expect these days when travelling!
Harvey

PS - For testing purposes, we have watched several Netflix and Amazon movies in 1080HD, used a hooky Sky streaming service on my Amazon Firestick again streamed in HD (I do pay for a full sky package so I’m not really stealing any content from Sky, just using the best solution whilst travelling) and browsed content on phones and MacBooks etc.
 
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Thanks for that will look onto it for future travels.

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You can download a vpn for free. Why’s it no good for you?
I've not got the patience for VPNs nowadays tbh. I got used to unlimited roaming so anything else is now a faff so I'll just use the satellite dish for the foreseeable (only off to France this year)
 
Can't you get I player through the fire stick?
Yeah you can but if you're not using a uk based sim you need a vpn. Easy enough to download a vpn onto your firestick. I use express vpn.

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Thanks Harvey. How long did they take to arrive?
Two days. If you want the service, contact Camino and let her know that I can give you one of these (my) SIMs, then she can just send me a couple more direct to the Campsite… if that works for you guys?
 
Just to answer a few of the questions and comments. Any content service which has geographical restrictions (iPlayer as an example) require you to ‘appear’ to the service as if you are in the country that the restrictions apply to.

VPN’s are therefore needed for the streamed TV services such as iPlayer, More4 etc when you are in Europe, largely irrespective of if you are using a UK sim or not. There are loads of easy to install and run VPN services you can use with you Firestick when enjoying time in Europe.
 
Not cost effectively without mobile data after fair usage caps
I was through Sky mobile in France and Spain, but tethering to my phone is giving me buffering at times and on certain channels. I'm thinking a more permanent setup with an external ariel will improve it but Sky don't do a data sim, and I'm not totally convinced a phone sim will work ok in a router.
 
I was through Sky mobile in France and Spain, but tethering to my phone is giving me buffering at times and on certain channels. I'm thinking a more permanent setup with an external ariel will improve it but Sky don't do a data sim, and I'm not totally convinced a phone sim will work ok in a router.
We are using two mobiles on Sky Mobile service. I’m happy with how this is going and I have 500 gigabytes in the piggy bank. The service I’ve bought from Tiekom is to replace the Three SIM in the Netgear router and provide the ‘on site’ in vehicle vicinity WiFi service, for streaming and general use. When away from vehicle, obviously mobiles default back to Sky Mobile data.

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We are using two mobiles on Sky Mobile service. I’m happy with how this is going and I have 500 gigabytes in the piggy bank. The service I’ve bought from Tiekom is to replace the Three SIM in the Netgear router and provide the ‘on site’ in vehicle vicinity WiFi service, for streaming and general use. When away from vehicle, obviously mobiles default back to Sky Mobile data.
500gb is a lot, would last me a year plus. Have you tried one of your sky sims in your router? It did occur to me that if I could get a spare one to work and keep them on the same account then I could transfer spare phone generated allowance to it as required.

I tried one of ours in an old mifi in Spain and it wouldnt work, although I didnt have a fiddle with the settings on the mifi because I didnt want to take any risks with that card while we were away.
 
500gb is a lot, would last me a year plus. Have you tried one of your sky sims in your router? It did occur to me that if I could get a spare one to work and keep them on the same account then I could transfer spare phone generated allowance to it as required.

I tried one of ours in an old mifi in Spain and it wouldnt work, although I didnt have a fiddle with the settings on the mifi because I didnt want to take any risks with that card while we were away.

When we got our iPhone 11’s a couple of years back, they had a 30g tariff for £8 on a sale offer. We built up the piggy bank from that. Current Sky mobile tariff is £3 each, £6 in total a month for unlimited calls and texts and 2 Gig of data. We have the piggy bank which last for three years, so can consume that for a while longer whilst being on the crazy cheap tariff.

I didn’t try the Sky SIM in the router as I just want a phone that works and mobile WiFi that works all the time without swapping sims around. Things like Alexa would become a pain in the MH without ubiquitous WiFi.
 
500gb is a lot, would last me a year plus. Have you tried one of your sky sims in your router? It did occur to me that if I could get a spare one to work and keep them on the same account then I could transfer spare phone generated allowance to it as required.

I tried one of ours in an old mifi in Spain and it wouldnt work, although I didnt have a fiddle with the settings on the mifi because I didnt want to take any risks with that card while we were away.
Yes my Sky sim works in my Huawei mifi in France. You need to change the APN setting for it to work outside the UK.
Sky will soon be charging £2 per day for EU data use but, and most importantly, this charge will not apply if you are using your piggybank data. We've got two Sky simms and generally have 200 Gb in the piggybank, more than enough for our holiday needs.
 
VPN’s are therefore needed for the streamed TV services such as iPlayer, More4 etc when you are in Europe, largely irrespective of if you are using a UK sim or not.
This is not correct, if you are using a UK sim card initially set up in the UK it will have a UK ip address and you won't need a VPN, I'm currently in France and have had no issues connecting to the iplayer or any of the UK streaming services including Sky go without using a VPN.
 
This is not correct, if you are using a UK sim card initially set up in the UK it will have a UK ip address and you won't need a VPN, I'm currently in France and have had no issues connecting to the iplayer or any of the UK streaming services including Sky go without using a VPN.

I accept this is correct.

However it doesn’t really solve the underlying issues if you are on extended travels and want to stream content, you won’t get very far on UK based services with a 20G cap. I also accept there are a few edge case exceptions to this.

However the use case I’m resolving is those of us who wish to operate as if we were at home and consume high volumes of data.

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I accept this is correct.

However it doesn’t really solve the underlying issues if you are on extended travels and want to stream content, you won’t get very far on UK based services with a 20G cap. I also accept there are a few edge case exceptions to this.

However the use case I’m resolving is those of us who wish to operate as if we were at home and consume high volumes of data.
I'm currently using a Tesco mobile unlimited sim card, i can use as much as i need in Europe for a maximum two months in every four, i have been in France for 1 week so far and have used 66.4 GB, i'm near Mont St Michel and am getting speeds of 41.9 Mbps down and 9.46 up so it's not throttled either. I'm going to be away around 2.5 months on this trip so will see how strict they are on the two months but maybe if you're using it in the UK as well they'll be okay with it, we'll see.

Edit: I'm not saying the deal you got isn't a good one, obviously if you're going to be away longer than two months it is a good solution.
 
Are you sure about this bit? I checked the T&Cs a couple of months ago and it said they werent.
Yup, 'fraid so. Sky have followed the profit herd and will be charging from 2nd May. Here's the info on their website:
Broken Link Removed
The Republic of Ireland, The Isle of Man and The Channel Islands continue to have no roaming charges.

What isn't said but Martin Lewis reported that as long as you're using your piggy bank data you'll not be charged these fees.
Here's what's on his website at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/sky-price-hikes-broadband-tv/

EU roaming charges to be brought back from 3 May
In addition to the increases outlined above, Sky has also announced that it will charge mobile users £2 a day for data roaming – using their inclusive minutes, texts and calls – in the European Union from Tuesday 3 May.

Customers can, however, get around this by using unused data from previous months that's automatically stored in their 'Piggybank'. In this scenario, the stored data can be used free of charge in the EU.

If roaming is important to you, see our Cheap mobile and data roaming guide for info on how to use your phone abroad for less, including info on the providers that will continue to offer inclusive 'free' roaming.
 
Reading all the above information is turning my little brain into a mush. I think I will continue cycling, sightseeing, reading books and enjoying the sun and fresh air. It will be easier.
 
Yup, 'fraid so. Sky have followed the profit herd and will be charging from 2nd May. Here's the info on their website:
Broken Link Removed
The Republic of Ireland, The Isle of Man and The Channel Islands continue to have no roaming charges.

What isn't said but Martin Lewis reported that as long as you're using your piggy bank data you'll not be charged these fees.
Here's what's on his website at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/02/sky-price-hikes-broadband-tv/

EU roaming charges to be brought back from 3 May
In addition to the increases outlined above, Sky has also announced that it will charge mobile users £2 a day for data roaming – using their inclusive minutes, texts and calls – in the European Union from Tuesday 3 May.

Customers can, however, get around this by using unused data from previous months that's automatically stored in their 'Piggybank'. In this scenario, the stored data can be used free of charge in the EU.

If roaming is important to you, see our Cheap mobile and data roaming guide for info on how to use your phone abroad for less, including info on the providers that will continue to offer inclusive 'free' roaming.
Thats a shame, might have to rethink our providers then. 2 phones plus mifi £180 per month.

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