Mobile network provider time to change.
Discussion
We are currently with 3 and the contract ends in about 4 weeks, service has been patchy in more rural areas.
I do lots of trips round the more rural parts of England wales and Scotland so looking for data coverage in those areas as well as coverage in side steel framed buildings.
I’m looking for a sim only deal for our 2 phones.
We do cruise trips to Europe and want some included data for that as well.
Currently I’m looking at EE and O2 as they seem to be fighting it out for best coverage.
Current bill is about £35 a month for 2 fully unlimited sims and a basic 1gig sim ( old work number that I’ll be getting shot of soon)
So any recommendations?
I do lots of trips round the more rural parts of England wales and Scotland so looking for data coverage in those areas as well as coverage in side steel framed buildings.
I’m looking for a sim only deal for our 2 phones.
We do cruise trips to Europe and want some included data for that as well.
Currently I’m looking at EE and O2 as they seem to be fighting it out for best coverage.
Current bill is about £35 a month for 2 fully unlimited sims and a basic 1gig sim ( old work number that I’ll be getting shot of soon)
So any recommendations?
O2 pricing looks very unappealing, giffgaff gives you the o2 network but with better prices. Currently they have 18 month unlimited contract for £14/mo - if you are quick anyway
Or if you only need 40GB then its £8/mo!
https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-deals/contract
Or if you only need 40GB then its £8/mo!
https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-deals/contract
1p Mobile gets my vote.
Been with them for over a year and it's a shame I didn't move sooner.
Pros:
- Uses the EE network
- No speed cap, unlike many of EE's own plans
- I've achieved 1.1Gbps down and 100Mbps up on my local high street
- 50GB data a month and European roaming
- All for £10 a month
Cons
- Very basic website that's not the most intuitive
- They charge for replacement SIM cards, whether physical or eSIM
Been with them for over a year and it's a shame I didn't move sooner.
Pros:
- Uses the EE network
- No speed cap, unlike many of EE's own plans
- I've achieved 1.1Gbps down and 100Mbps up on my local high street
- 50GB data a month and European roaming
- All for £10 a month
Cons
- Very basic website that's not the most intuitive
- They charge for replacement SIM cards, whether physical or eSIM
Edited by Cybertronian on Tuesday 29th September 15:54
During our first trip to France this year, we both encountered data-outages for quite long periods. Turns out that the Bouguyes network was having problems, but it left us with limited navigation ability for a while. We were both with GiffGaff on the O2 network whose roaming partner is Bouguyes (I'd love to know how to pronounce that!).
To mitigate a repeat, I switched to Lebara, which uses Vodaphone and seems to latch on to a variety of International roaming partners (but not the unpronouncable!). Bonus is that the roaming allowance is far greater than GiffGaff (30 against 5GB) and when bought through moneysupermarket, is only £1.95 for the first six months.
We now have data resilience if one of the providers has problems.
To mitigate a repeat, I switched to Lebara, which uses Vodaphone and seems to latch on to a variety of International roaming partners (but not the unpronouncable!). Bonus is that the roaming allowance is far greater than GiffGaff (30 against 5GB) and when bought through moneysupermarket, is only £1.95 for the first six months.
We now have data resilience if one of the providers has problems.
My daughter has two mobiles: one for personal, the other for business. She opted for different providers purely for coverage so that she has a backup should one be poor/outage. Her personal one is with EE, with BT broadband. No idea of the other. She gets tax relief on the business one of course, and the EE one is cheap. Reckons it works abroad where reception can be patchy.
It comes down to who provides the best coverage in the areas you need a lot of the time.
Personally I have EE and no real issues
Wife is on GiffGaff and service vs value I’d say it’s probably slightly better than EE.
Both my kids are on cheap Lebara sims which uses Vodafone and they seem pretty robust too, all have been used in Europe without issues
Personally I have EE and no real issues
Wife is on GiffGaff and service vs value I’d say it’s probably slightly better than EE.
Both my kids are on cheap Lebara sims which uses Vodafone and they seem pretty robust too, all have been used in Europe without issues
If you have a smart watch; and you have it paired, you have to stick with the main networks, none of the side-shoots (GiffGaff etc) offer mobile connectivity for smart watches
As for signal; my Dad’s on EE and has been for years now as when we’re up in the Highlands at my folks property, it’s the only network that gets decent signal (I’m on Three, as is the wife) and only once back on the A9 does the signal pick up
So we both have a PAYG data eSIM on EE for that very reason (I have one for my iPad too)
But everywhere else, I find Three to be the best signal wise
As for signal; my Dad’s on EE and has been for years now as when we’re up in the Highlands at my folks property, it’s the only network that gets decent signal (I’m on Three, as is the wife) and only once back on the A9 does the signal pick up
So we both have a PAYG data eSIM on EE for that very reason (I have one for my iPad too)
But everywhere else, I find Three to be the best signal wise
danb79 said:
If you have a smart watch; and you have it paired, you have to stick with the main networks, none of the side-shoots (GiffGaff etc) offer mobile connectivity for smart watches...
Sorry, but that's not true.We've both got Apple watches and use them to pay for everything on our continental trips and, until recently we were both with GiffGaff, now I'm with Lebara and everything works fine for both of us.
littleredrooster said:
danb79 said:
If you have a smart watch; and you have it paired, you have to stick with the main networks, none of the side-shoots (GiffGaff etc) offer mobile connectivity for smart watches...
Sorry, but that's not true.We've both got Apple watches and use them to pay for everything on our continental trips and, until recently we were both with GiffGaff, now I'm with Lebara and everything works fine for both of us.
But if you wanted cellular connection on your watch; so you can leave your phone behind, it won’t work
It’s nothing to do with Wallet capabilities, it’s all to do with actual connection to the networks
mobile chicane22 said:
We are currently with 3 and the contract ends in about 4 weeks, service has been patchy in more rural areas.
I do lots of trips round the more rural parts of England wales and Scotland so looking for data coverage in those areas as well as coverage in side steel framed buildings.
I m looking for a sim only deal for our 2 phones.
We do cruise trips to Europe and want some included data for that as well.
Currently I m looking at EE and O2 as they seem to be fighting it out for best coverage.
Current bill is about £35 a month for 2 fully unlimited sims and a basic 1gig sim ( old work number that I ll be getting shot of soon)
So any recommendations?
We're in a semi-rural area and O2 is hopeless in quite a lot of the area. Doesn't work at all at home, but wifi calling seems much better now.I do lots of trips round the more rural parts of England wales and Scotland so looking for data coverage in those areas as well as coverage in side steel framed buildings.
I m looking for a sim only deal for our 2 phones.
We do cruise trips to Europe and want some included data for that as well.
Currently I m looking at EE and O2 as they seem to be fighting it out for best coverage.
Current bill is about £35 a month for 2 fully unlimited sims and a basic 1gig sim ( old work number that I ll be getting shot of soon)
So any recommendations?
Locally EE users say they have no problems.
Cover inside steel buildings is a bit of an ask - I know ours don't work inside Costco!
If you need two phones then maybe get one on each network.
Lebera here - both of us, and regular travellers. Outside the EU I just buy a local sim, or use the Airlo app and buy an ESIM.
You'd be surprised how little data you use if you are not a teenager. We are both on 30Gb and never come even close to using it all. A good example was Montenegro last week (for 1 week).
Local SIM deals were around 50Gb for 2 phones, for 24 euros, but I just didn't have the inclination at the airport to go to another booth. I bought 2 x Airlo ESIMS, 5Gb each, £9 each when at the villa. So I paid nearly the same for 1/10th the data (and 1 week, not 2) , however, neither of us ran out of data. And that was with no Wifi for the 1st 2 days in the villa.
I mention this as people are very dismissive of any plans that are not unlimited. Try the Thailand Reddit sub - telling people that you can get a 30Gb package for £4 vs unlimited for £25 is dismissed as heresy. "maybe for you pops, but I'd use 30Gb in a day..." kind of stuff.
You'd be surprised how little data you use if you are not a teenager. We are both on 30Gb and never come even close to using it all. A good example was Montenegro last week (for 1 week).
Local SIM deals were around 50Gb for 2 phones, for 24 euros, but I just didn't have the inclination at the airport to go to another booth. I bought 2 x Airlo ESIMS, 5Gb each, £9 each when at the villa. So I paid nearly the same for 1/10th the data (and 1 week, not 2) , however, neither of us ran out of data. And that was with no Wifi for the 1st 2 days in the villa.
I mention this as people are very dismissive of any plans that are not unlimited. Try the Thailand Reddit sub - telling people that you can get a 30Gb package for £4 vs unlimited for £25 is dismissed as heresy. "maybe for you pops, but I'd use 30Gb in a day..." kind of stuff.
craig1912 said:
We use Lebara and don t have any issues in Greece, Portugal, Spain and even cheap roaming in Thailand. Use the Vodaphone network.
Same here, moved from EE with a cheap deal through Moneysupermarket and last month received a £25 gift voucher too which I've just spent at M&S (don't know why but I was sceptical about the voucher). Have had no problems at all since moving over and saved saved money too, way, way cheaper than our previous EE deals.
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