SIM Card Recommendations for Traveling

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Mower Man

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Good day to you all,

What sim cards do people use for the internet in a motor home/caravan? How much data are we likely to use if we are away approx 1-2 weeks a month and sometimes travelling abroad? Can you purchase one that you can disable when not using and then reactivate when needed and what are the best networks?

Many thanks
 
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starquake said:
Fiar usage policy on these ... is they will slow you if you use too much data in a day (they state as much opaquely in their terms). The fact they limit to 500Mb a day on the tethering suggests this would work well for about half of a TV program. Not remotely comparible with even a 100Gb sim from anyone where rate limits won't apply. Remember an average TV program episode is 500Mb, and a sports game of football is often 4-7Gb.

Honestly buying a local sim from the local carrier is a far more reliable proposition given 300Gb is about 20 euro or so in most EU countries on prepay.

Unlimited is usually "fake" as they put horrible use limits on it. I would wager these sims won't allow streaming of a single match (but you welcome to try it... at 6 euro a day what is to lose). But it's worth considering 4 days "unlimited" buys 300Gb, which is about a month of our motorhome use.
Click to expand...
Ah yes, I didn't see that.
I have Starlink so not really had any need for big data abroad.
 
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Got the ZTE U50 5G router from IQ this morning. Very impressed. Light years on from the TP Link 4G I got and sent back to Amazon, then at twice the price...... I've just tried my iD Mobile sim in it and it's much better than our home wifi.
IMG_0538.jpeg

​

 
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I just spent eight weeks roaming, away from cities, in Northern Spain using a UK Lycamobile SIM which allowed me 12 GB per month. Very roughly, in the morning I got about 10Mbps which was acceptable but then about 1Mbps or nothing in the evening. Usually, my device showed several bars and LTE. Was the bad performance due to throttling or is the internet just bad in N. Spain in the evening? Maybe the base stations are connected wirelessly to the internet in mountainous regions and effected atmospherically? I usually connected via Movistar. (Edited to correct mbits to Mbits!)

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Soycd said:
I just spent eight weeks roaming, away from cities, in Northern Spain using a UK Lycamobile SIM which allowed me 12 GB per month. Very roughly, in the morning I got about 10mbps which was acceptable but then about 1mbps or nothing in the evening. Usually, my device showed several bars and LTE. Was the bad performance due to throttling or is the internet just bad in N. Spain in the evening? Maybe the base stations are connected wirelessly to the internet in mountainous regions and effected atmospherically? I usually connected via Movistar.
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Never been impressed with Lyca roaming -> have used it (or tried to) and usually resorted to buying a local sim. It is rubbish in my experience, hence why we now buy local sims (or esims) when abroad for any length of time from a good network in the country in question. I would wager it is throttling by Lyca to reduce their "roaming costs" from the networks in qeustion, but couldn't answer with certainty, but what you have experienced is what I have seen when taking a UK Lebara or Lyca sim over there.

Can confirm where we've been (S Spain) all the networks on their own sims perform (very well) in general as in > 50Mbit usually.

The mad thing is around Moriara/Calpe, the mobile service actually is often better than the service we've had in rental properties (as for many years we rented a villa for a month every summer), nuts but true (the in villa "broadband" was often under 5Mbit).. I'd have to dig the last sim we purchased from a draw but I think it was Telefonica.

I think gus-lopez reccomended Digi as a cheap sim provider for a no contract type sim to use in Spain? May be worth a try given it's not expensive.

only other thing to say is if your mobile is modern this won't be an issue, but if you have a cat4 LTE device, it may be THAT causing the poor performance, not the sim. (Spanish networks appear to be using bands now that a cat4 device cannot access).
 
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JoshnPen said:
Another vote for IQ in a huawei mifi, its worked a dream for us whilst travelling to Europe in the moho, and I've been known to pop it in a suitcase and take it on a plane with me too, rather than contend with rubbish signal when on hols. and with the fam. where there's a high demand!
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If I'm abroad and I use up my 100gb can I just top up £20 to get another 100gb or do I need to wait until the next month?
 
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Westrow3 said:
If I'm abroad and I use up my 100gb can I just top up £20 to get another 100gb or do I need to wait until the next month?
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Just top up as needed the data just lasts for a month so if you don't use it you lose it.
 
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Westrow3 said:
If I'm abroad and I use up my 100gb can I just top up £20 to get another 100gb or do I need to wait until the next month?
Click to expand...
You can just top up, but you can only do 3 months roaming in 12

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Soycd said:
You can just top up, but you can only do 3 months roaming in 12
Click to expand...
4 if you have other sims with them, we get 120 days which is plenty as we can also tether our phones if needed.
 
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Mower Man said:
Thank you for your valued information regarding the IQ mobile and i take it that this works purely abroad? Was hoping that we could get one which we could use in the UK and also abroad? Not too clued up on modern tech as you can tell ha ha
Click to expand...

You can use them in the UK and abroad :)
 
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Landy Andy said:
Any thing to know about iQ sim install in router?
Got iQ sim arriving today and will install it before Friday when we head off.
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MichaelT has beaten me to it in terms of the settings. We did have a bit of an issue when we arrived in France. In most cases I understand that the IQ sim just works as soon as it's put into the router. Ours didn't. Around an hour of emailing back and forth between Frazer at IQ and myself ensued and it eventually started working. He advised various tweaks to the settings and I have to say that this was what set them apart from the competition for me. How many other companies would keep trying to resolve this? I don't know, but Frazer replied to every email I sent, within minutes and then checked in the next day to make sure all was ok. Exceptional customer service.
 
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Birdy67 said:
MichaelT has beaten me to it in terms of the settings. We did have a bit of an issue when we arrived in France. In most cases I understand that the IQ sim just works as soon as it's put into the router. Ours didn't. Around an hour of emailing back and forth between Frazer at IQ and myself ensued and it eventually started working. He advised various tweaks to the settings and I have to say that this was what set them apart from the competition for me. How many other companies would keep trying to resolve this? I don't know, but Frazer replied to every email I sent, within minutes and then checked in the next day to make sure all was ok. Exceptional customer service.
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They really are great. I needed to add extra data to mine on a Sunday, as I'd forgotten to do it on the Friday prior, so emailed to ask if anyone picked up my email chance, could they please activate my purchase. They got back to me almost immediately and sorted it for me!! 100% recommended from me :)

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Have you considered one of Lebara's deals?
 
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Lebara is quite limited when in EU - despite “roam like home” plastered all over their website!

If you dig in to the details it states “Lebara customers can enjoy Roam Like Home while roaming in any of the EU or EEA countries/regions. This means that you can use all of your plan allowance in roaming as you would in the UK (up to 30GB). If you run out of your plan allowance while abroad, you can buy one of our roaming add-ons for EU/EEA countries.”

The extra roaming bundles are expensive.

And they also limit the time you can use it abroad “if your roaming usage is greater than usage in the UK over any continuous 120 day period, you will be subject to a surcharge” which is OK for some but not others.

IQ let’s you use all of your data allowance when travelling and you can purchase more if you need it for the same price . They also limit the time you can roam for, but it’s a bit more flexible - 3 months in any year.

Let me know if I have miss understood any of this!

I hate the way mobile phone companies use the word “unlimited” - they all seem to hide the limits they place on their “unlimited” services in the smallest print they can use!
 
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Lebara - a variety of offers from £0.49 to £1.99 per month for 3 months and then you can cancel. (Cancel anytime)


If you want big data ID mobile - 100Gb for £12 or £10 for 50Gb. Not as easy to cancel as you have to give a months notice.

www.idmobile.co.uk

Best SIM Only Deals - Compare SIM Only Contracts | iD Mobile

Compare our SIM Only Deals which, like standard mobile phone contracts, offer a package of minutes, texts, and data for a monthly cost.
www.idmobile.co.uk www.idmobile.co.uk

How much you need depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to stream TV you need 1GB per hour. Just general surfing then 10 -15Gb ???? difficult to say really.
 
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VXman said:
How much you need depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to stream TV you need 1GB per hour. Just general surfing then 10 -15Gb ???? difficult to say really.
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1Gb per hour is right if it's not football.

A 2 hour football match on NowTV (who we use for sky sports on a £20 a month deal) is often 7Gb, so near 3.5Gb an hour. Other fast moving sports may be similar. We can't do with less than 300Gb a month in the van due to this and following only about three to four matches a week.
 
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matbic said:
Lebara is quite limited when in EU - despite “roam like home” plastered all over their website!

If you dig in to the details it states “Lebara customers can enjoy Roam Like Home while roaming in any of the EU or EEA countries/regions. This means that you can use all of your plan allowance in roaming as you would in the UK (up to 30GB). If you run out of your plan allowance while abroad, you can buy one of our roaming add-ons for EU/EEA countries.”

The extra roaming bundles are expensive.

And they also limit the time you can use it abroad “if your roaming usage is greater than usage in the UK over any continuous 120 day period, you will be subject to a surcharge” which is OK for some but not others.

IQ let’s you use all of your data allowance when travelling and you can purchase more if you need it for the same price . They also limit the time you can roam for, but it’s a bit more flexible - 3 months in any year.

Let me know if I have miss understood any of this!

I hate the way mobile phone companies use the word “unlimited” - they all seem to hide the limits they place on their “unlimited” services in the smallest print they can use!
Click to expand...
Thank you for that and fully explained to a T 👍
 
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Westrow3 said:
I use about 280gb over 2 weeks... Ideally across 2 sims...im torn between IQ and RWG (https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/offers/unlimited-mins-sms-unlimited-uk-data-plus-200gb-eu-data-£60-month/) used RWG last year for £40 for 2 sims (200gb each) ... I expect I'll do the same this year but at a much higher rate :unsure:
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£60 is an awful lot a month given starlink is £85, and a local sim in France is 20 euro so what £18 for 300Gb on Reglo or Free (yes you need a VPN but.. you paying a huge privieledge for not using one) is around £15 and you get more data. Either use Starlink and have no limits, or buy French. (or if you going to Spain, buy a Digi sim or one of the excellent value Tierkom ones).

Using a UK sim in France when you use that much data seems a massive cost (more especially when unlimited uk data is around 5-6 quid a month). Just buy when you arrive perhaps? And you have advantage you can buy another in France if you run out.
matbic said:
Look at https://connectpls.com/sim-card-only/ it’s cheaper and you get unlimited data. No contract.
Click to expand...

See above - in France you’d get 900Gb prepay no contract data on many of the sims there for that kind of money have you actually used these as there seems to be an opaque usage policy behind "if we detect non personal use we will rate limit you". How would they detect that, and what is deemed non-personal use is NOT definted. I suspect theres a limit and it's a lot smaller than the 600-1Tb a UK sim is deemed "unlimited" at.
 
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starquake said:
£60 is an awful lot a month given starlink is £85, and a local sim in France is 20 euro so what £18 for 300Gb on Reglo or Free (yes you need a VPN but.. you paying a huge privieledge for not using one) is around £15 and you get more data. Either use Starlink and have no limits, or buy French. (or if you going to Spain, buy a Digi sim or one of the excellent value Tierkom ones).

Using a UK sim in France when you use that much data seems a massive cost (more especially when unlimited uk data is around 5-6 quid a month). Just buy when you arrive perhaps? And you have advantage you can buy another in France if you run out.


See above - in France you’d get 900Gb prepay no contract data on many of the sims there for that kind of money have you actually used these as there seems to be an opaque usage policy behind "if we detect non personal use we will rate limit you". How would they detect that, and what is deemed non-personal use is NOT definted. I suspect theres a limit and it's a lot smaller than the 600-1Tb a UK sim is deemed "unlimited" at.
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I've considered starlink, I like the idea of it but the upfront cost and the faff to get it working via 12v coupled with the on the move capability is why I haven't chosen it.
When I've looked at the French sims it looks like they have a relatively small fair use allowance in other European countries which I'll be visiting, not averse to a local sim (I already use a vpn) but I'll be getting the ferry to the Netherlands, heading to Germany, Switzerland and Italy before I hit France. If I was only going to be in France I'd definitely just get a local sim.
 
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It’s very much a case of “horses for courses”.

Here is my summary of the horses (needing about 200Gb/month) while travelling in Europe:

If only need it when parked up with clear view of sky (ie not hiding in shade of trees etc) and on EHU - Starlink - especially if mini version is lower monthly cost when it is available.

When going to just one country for a month - local SIM

When wandering around Europe for a month - Best and cheap: Europe regional eSIM from Airhub or Convenient and transparent costs: SIM from ConnectPls

Any other suggestions?
 
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Mower Man said:
Good day to you all,

What sim cards do people use for the internet in a motor home/caravan? How much data are we likely to use if we are away approx 1-2 weeks a month and sometimes travelling abroad? Can you purchase one that you can disable when not using and then reactivate when needed and what are the best networks?

Many thanks
Click to expand...
Tesco. Pop into store & have a chat. No cap at moment. Hot spot off mobile with fire stick.No problems France,Spain & Portugal.
 
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matbic said:
When going to just one country for a month - local SIM
Click to expand...
Remember the french and spanish sims prepays also roam to the other country with usually more data than a UK sim would. So you can also roam with one, just a bit "less" .. usually with a 32-50Gb limit.

So it's not entirely fair to say having a French sim in Spain or vice versa is bad, you'll have time to swap to a Spanish sim if you do a 4 week France and 4 week Spain trip.
 
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starquake said:
Fiar usage policy on these ... is they will slow you if you use too much data in a day (they state as much opaquely in their terms). The fact they limit to 500Mb a day on the tethering suggests this would work well for about half of a TV program. Not remotely comparible with even a 100Gb sim from anyone where rate limits won't apply. Remember an average TV program episode is 500Mb, and a sports game of football is often 4-7Gb.

Honestly buying a local sim from the local carrier is a far more reliable proposition given 300Gb is about 20 euro or so in most EU countries on prepay.

Unlimited is usually "fake" as they put horrible use limits on it. I would wager these sims won't allow streaming of a single match (but you welcome to try it... at 6 euro a day what is to lose). But it's worth considering 4 days "unlimited" buys 300Gb, which is about a month of our motorhome use.
Click to expand...
What other countries have you found a local sim giving 300gb a month for €20 in bar France?

Just curious for future reference as in Greece I couldn't get more than 30gb for €20 , in Turkey they wanted €30 for 20gb

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Sturgey said:
What other countries have you found a local sim giving 300gb a month for €20 in bar France?

Just curious for future reference as in Greece I couldn't get more than 30gb for €20 , in Turkey they wanted €30 for 20gb
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Spain .. and Italy

The website I use for finding best prepay deals is: https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Greece
(theres one link at top for each country

Vodafone in Greece do:
Greece Cu MeApOla 27 - 27 euro for 200 Gb. Still acceptable in my book but there are some "unlimited" deals in above wiki showing even on prepay you can get some deals.

That said Greece looks like a rare one wher you may be better to roam with a Tierkom sim given the excellent roaming those offer for the money.
 
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