SIM cards for use in EU. EE free roaming SIMs.

[Colin McCourt]

Over the last three days I have had a SIM card delivered from Tescomobile for my WIFI and upgraded my EE SIM for my phone.

Firstly the Tescomobile SIM was for 100GB on a two year deal for £14/mth which includes EU roaming of the full 100Gb. Now the blurb says no roaming charges until after 2025 but, today I was in a Tesco Mobile shop, as my MIFI working and they told me that the free EU roaming is for the length of your contract, and that if you took out a three year contract it would cover the whole three years. The good thing with Tesco Mobile is that they keep the same monthly cost for the length of your contract. Incidentally the guy in the shop was struggling to get my MIFI to work on the internet. I suggested that the APN might be the issue. He googled something, and suddenly he had cured my problem. He admitted he had used information from something called Motorhome Fun!

Now I have EE WIFI as well as an EE SIM which was on an old contract with 160GB which I could use on roaming for free. My wife also had a phone contract which was coming to an end, but we were reluctant to end it as she also had free roaming. However on the MyEE App, which EE customers use to control their contracts they were offering new deals for those with multiple products (broadband and phone). They were offering an unlimited data SIM with free EU roaming and a choice of one other add on (I chose Netflix) for £22/month on a one month rolling contract! When I asked the EE customer operative if there was any cap on the data for this unlimited data, he said “Yes, but it’s 600Gb”. My wife took a slightly lesser package as she didn’t get the Netflix add on, for £16. She had been paying £44 for her phone contract and I had been paying £28 for my SIM. So we have cut our bill from £72 to £38 per month with 600GB each for Roaming. I’m happy with that. I think that 1300GB of data per month should just about cover us when abroad.

Incidentally they also do a similar package for the EU and beyond!

Just thought I would put the info out there for everyone and thank those who put the info about the Tesco Mobile APN out there. More than paid for my membership.

 

[Madmag]

Can I ask what mifi you have please

 

[Colin McCourt]

Can I ask what mifi you have please

HUAWEI 5577

 

[matbic]

Over the last three days I have had a SIM card delivered from Tescomobile for my WIFI and upgraded my EE SIM for my phone.

Firstly the Tescomobile SIM was for 100GB on a two year deal for £14/mth which includes EU roaming of the full 100Gb. Now the blurb says no roaming charges until after 2025 but, today I was in a Tesco Mobile shop, as my MIFI working and they told me that the free EU roaming is for the length of your contract, and that if you took out a three year contract it would cover the whole three years. The good thing with Tesco Mobile is that they keep the same monthly cost for the length of your contract. Incidentally the guy in the shop was struggling to get my MIFI to work on the internet. I suggested that the APN might be the issue. He googled something, and suddenly he had cured my problem. He admitted he had used information from something called Motorhome Fun!

Now I have EE WIFI as well as an EE SIM which was on an old contract with 160GB which I could use on roaming for free. My wife also had a phone contract which was coming to an end, but we were reluctant to end it as she also had free roaming. However on the MyEE App, which EE customers use to control their contracts they were offering new deals for those with multiple products (broadband and phone). They were offering an unlimited data SIM with free EU roaming and a choice of one other add on (I chose Netflix) for £22/month on a one month rolling contract! When I asked the EE customer operative if there was any cap on the data for this unlimited data, he said “Yes, but it’s 600Gb”. My wife took a slightly lesser package as she didn’t get the Netflix add on, for £16. She had been paying £44 for her phone contract and I had been paying £28 for my SIM. So we have cut our bill from £72 to £38 per month with 600GB each for Roaming. I’m happy with that. I think that 1300GB of data per month should just about cover us when abroad.

Incidentally they also do a similar package for the EU and beyond!

Just thought I would put the info out there for everyone and thank those who put the info about the Tesco Mobile APN out there. More than paid for my membership.

They have a fair use policy that basically limits you to using the SIM card away from UK for no more than 2 months in every 4. So it’s useful for some but not others!

 

[HKF]

...

He admitted he had used information from something called Motorhome Fun!

...

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Colin McCourt]

They have a fair use policy that basically limits you to using the SIM card away from UK for no more than 2 months in every 4. So it’s useful for some but not others!

Fair point, but would suit the majority I would think.

 

[Joethejoiner]

Fair point, but would suit the majority I would think.

Certainly would
Is this an indication that the restrictions on roaming are relaxing?

 

[matbic]

It does seem Tesco mobile which is selling the O2 network have a more relaxed view on roaming than some other operators. Probably due to the very global nature of their owners Liberty Global and Telefónica.

I have found that O2 is better than most other UK networks when it comes to roaming allowances. However I fear the trend is not good, as they have definitely tightened up their roaming fair use policy recently. A few years ago I could use an O2 SIM in Europe for as long and as much data as I needed even though they said I could not! But unfortunately not now.

Anyway let’s use it for 2 months in 4 until they change again it seems to be the best of the bunch at the moment! I will probably cancel my SIM and rely on eSIMs when my contract runs out. Paying for a contract when not travelling is a waste of money.

All the best!

 

[steve69]

It does seem Tesco mobile which is selling the O2 network have a more relaxed view on roaming than some other operators. Probably due to the very global nature of their owners Liberty Global and Telefónica.

I have found that O2 is better than most other UK networks when it comes to roaming allowances. However I fear the trend is not good, as they have definitely tightened up their roaming fair use policy recently. A few years ago I could use an O2 SIM in Europe for as long and as much data as I needed even though they said I could not! But unfortunately not now.

Anyway let’s use it for 2 months in 4 until they change again it seems to be the best of the bunch at the moment! I will probably cancel my SIM and rely on eSIMs when my contract runs out. Paying for a contract when not travelling is a waste of money.

All the best!

Can you advise me please? I have to make decision soon. For 3 weeks in Spain/France...iQ Go or Tesco?

 

[ChrisL]

Can you advise me please? I have to make decision soon. For 3 weeks in Spain/France...iQ Go or Tesco?

I would suggest that it might depend on what mifi device you have, the Tesco sim does not appear to work in all mifi devices and definitely not in home routers, it works in mine and as above works in a Huawei E5577 but didn't work in Madmag Huawei mifi, it must have the correct Tesco APN added manually, i've been very happy with mine and I think Tesco allow you a trial period so you could get one and if it doesn't work cancel it. The major plus for Tesco is all of your data allowance in the EU and although fair use is two months in four, myself and others have had three months with no messages or charges, you must use it in the UK as well though.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[steve69]

I would suggest that it might depend on what mifi device you have, the Tesco sim does not appear to work in all mifi devices and definitely not in home routers, it works in mine and as above works in a Huawei E5577 but didn't work in Madmag Huawei mifi, it must have the correct Tesco APN added manually, i've been very happy with mine and I think Tesco allow you a trial period so you could get one and if it doesn't work cancel it. The major plus for Tesco is all of your data allowance in the EU and although fair use is two months in four, myself and others have had three months with no messages or charges, you must use it in the UK as well though.

I was thinking of having it in my phone as a second SIM and using that as a hotspot.

 

[ChrisL]

I was thinking of having it in my phone as a second SIM and using that as a hotspot.

That would work, it might connect through an O² APN by default which may or may not work in the EU so definitely check that it's using the Tesco APN and if not add it manually.

 

[BikerGraham]

I was thinking of having it in my phone as a second SIM and using that as a hotspot.

thats simialr to what I did when it stopped working in my 5577 MiFi. ITs in a spare phone as a hot spot.

However, my business phones contracts recently came to an end and I switched them from vodafone to Tesco. They were so much cheaper and included EU roaming. Vodafone charges were ridiculous.

 

[Solwaybuggier]

They have a fair use policy that basically limits you to using the SIM card away from UK for no more than 2 months in every 4. So it’s useful for some but not others!

Yes, but after 2 months they then give you 2 weeks “grace” period - so effectively that makes 10+ weeks. (& in reality lots of people have found they have gone significantly over the 2 months with no warning message - obviously that could change at any time.)

 

[VXman]

1300GB per month!? What are you using it for? Is it for work purposes?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Colin McCourt]

Certainly would
Is this an indication that the restrictions on roaming are relaxing?

Only from EE as far as I can see. It is strange as Popit used EE but their allowance was cut drastically. Maybe this is a move by EE to get more customers coming to them instead of using third party providers.

 

[Colin McCourt]

It does seem Tesco mobile which is selling the O2 network have a more relaxed view on roaming than some other operators. Probably due to the very global nature of their owners Liberty Global and Telefónica.

I have found that O2 is better than most other UK networks when it comes to roaming allowances. However I fear the trend is not good, as they have definitely tightened up their roaming fair use policy recently. A few years ago I could use an O2 SIM in Europe for as long and as much data as I needed even though they said I could not! But unfortunately not now.

Anyway let’s use it for 2 months in 4 until they change again it seems to be the best of the bunch at the moment! I will probably cancel my SIM and rely on eSIMs when my contract runs out. Paying for a contract when not travelling is a waste of money.

All the best!

The EE deal is a monthly contract so can assume you can cancel and renew whenever you want.

 

[Colin McCourt]

1300GB per month!? What are you using it for? Is it for work purposes?

Not at all. Just saying that I will have all this which will mean I never run out. We need the SIMs for our phones and we have the motorhome WI-FI as we go to many places to hike, where phone signal strength can be low but we are covered with the extra sensitivity of the antenna on the roof. Personally I love going places with no phone signal but my Co-driver does not.

 

[Joethejoiner]

Only from EE as far as I can see. It is strange as Popit used EE but their allowance was cut drastically. Maybe this is a move by EE to get more customers coming to them instead of using third party providers.

That would indicate popit etc were getting a healthy share of the market

 

[pagey]

My 2 year tesco contract ran out in June 100 gig data calls etc I phoned them and they said i could stay out of contract on the same terms it was working fine in france,Belgium and Luxembourg since

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[sussexlad]

Can you advise me please? I have to make decision soon. For 3 weeks in Spain/France...iQ Go or Tesco?

IQ are now restricting Roaming data to 25% of whatever package you have purchased.

 

[matbic]

https://connectpls.com/ Not the cheapest but they are hassle free and you get lots of data. If constantly hunting around for deals, suddenly getting your roaming allowance cut or rushing around in phone shops when abroad is not your thing they are ideal!

 

[Madmag]

is that £59 per month plus £4.50 a day or have I read it wrong. Is it £59 and only extra if you use in different country

 

[Joethejoiner]

IQ are now restricting Roaming data to 25% of whatever package you have purchased.

Signed up with tiekom . 200gb Europe, 400 Spain

 

[matbic]

is that £59 per month plus £4.50 a day or have I read it wrong. Is it £59 and only extra if you use in different country

Yes you have read it wrong!!!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[PlacidoD]

What has not been addressed in this thread so far is the degree of priority you get on the masts of other providers when roaming. That can impact your download speeds bigtime. I think I am right in saying that EE have a good record in that regard (i.e I read it somewhere and my personal experience is good!) There is zero point in having unlimited data in the EU if you cannot watch videos even at low resolution because you are bottom of the priority order on another service providers network of masts!!

P.S. There is another thread here dealing with exactly that issue:

Post in thread 'We've got loads of Data allowance...but sometimes...🤔'

Sep 28, 2024

jumar. I too installed the Poynting 4g/5g 3-V12 antenna Martin, which until recent was connected to a ZTE MiFi. It is now connected to a house redundant TP Link Archer MR6400 router, which I power from a 12v USB socket.
Since installing the Poynting antenna, we have never failed to stream UK TV via the Firestick, but I have altered the settings for such, to reduce data usage where possible. ITV X is a bu@@er for sapping up the data, with no option to reduce it.

Good luck finding what's right for your needs.

Cheers,

Jock.

• JockandRita

• 
• 

 

[ChrisL]

What has not been addressed in this thread so far is the degree of priority you get on the masts of other providers when roaming. That can impact your download speeds bigtime. I think I am right in saying that EE have a good record in that regard (i.e I read it somewhere and my personal experience is good!) There is zero point in having unlimited data in the EU if you cannot watch videos even at low resolution because you are bottom of the priority order on another service providers network of masts!!

P.S. There is another thread here dealing with exactly that issue:

Post in thread 'We've got loads of Data allowance...but sometimes...🤔'

Sep 28, 2024

jumar. I too installed the Poynting 4g/5g 3-V12 antenna Martin, which until recent was connected to a ZTE MiFi. It is now connected to a house redundant TP Link Archer MR6400 router, which I power from a 12v USB socket.
Since installing the Poynting antenna, we have never failed to stream UK TV via the Firestick, but I have altered the settings for such, to reduce data usage where possible. ITV X is a bu@@er for sapping up the data, with no option to reduce it.

Good luck finding what's right for your needs.

Cheers,

Jock.

• JockandRita

• 
• 

In my experience this hasn't been an issue, using an unlimited data Tesco sim (O²) in a Huawei mifi in France and Spain, I never experienced a connection that couldn't stream TV in hd, on one occasion near the Pyrenees I needed to manually select a different network but other then that it was all good, i averaged around 500gb/month whilst away. Ofcourse I may have been lucky, but I think they have better infrastructure etc in those countries.

 

[PlacidoD]

"In my experience this hasn't been an issue, using an unlimited data Tesco sim (O²) ..."

I have no recent experience of anything other than EE and so I cannot comment on other service providers but the other thread suggests that roaming priority can be an issue and the smaller a provider is the less "clout" it is likely to have with other networks. So cheapest per GB is not the be all and end all!

 

[Helgamobil]

I read that Tesco have extended their unlimited roaming to 2026 (surprised as this is an EU regulation not UK) but all others including EE limited to a percentage of contract Gbs.

 

[Marten]

I am confused as none of the information above tally's with my plan, taken out last year, and my recent research. I have just been on mainland Europe for a month and needed to use a lot of data. I am with EE and have three sims in one package (one in a router and two in phones.) The router sim is on a plan where I get free unlimited roaming as a free add-on that would normally cost £25.00 pm. (could have chosen Netflix etc.) The phone sims have no incuded roaming. I can either pay £25 per month or £2.47 per day to use my data allowance abroad. I looked into buying SIM cards from other networks and regardless of the amount of Data included, all of them had a monthly limit of about 25gb when in Europe.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}