plwsm2000 Posted April 3, 2018 Share Posted April 3, 2018 My local Vodafone shop has data only SIMs for £25 on PAYG that includes 15GB data with a 90 day limit (it is not available online). Apparently this is supposed to also work on 4G/LTE abroad where there is coverage. This is definitely a Pay-As-You-Go SIM and is not on a rolling contract. This seems to compare favorably with the £27.99 / 12GB / 12 month Three SIM, and from what I have read, Vodafone do not throttle back the "feel-at-home" usage unlike Three. Has anyone used one of these in France/Spain/Portugal yet, and does it work as well as they claim? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaleg Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 I used to have a dongle from Vodafone on the same terms, then a year to 18 months later stopped working. Contacted voda to be told, we have changed your contract to £10.00 per month and there was nothing that I could do about it Check the small print. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 I have a data only sim from www.mymemory.co.uk on Three, 12gb and lasts for 12 months UK and Europe. £27.99 now. I am on my second one and would highly recommend. Never had a problem connecting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plwsm2000 Posted April 4, 2018 Author Share Posted April 4, 2018 I bought one of the 12GB/12month Three SIMs a couple of weeks ago in preparation for our 3 month trip around Europe, before I found out about the Vodafone PAYG. Both my wife and I have unlimited data & minutes contracts on Three, but as we found out last year, this does not include tethering while outside of the UK. We will be leaving this weekend so I bought one of the Vodafone SIMs today - £25 for 15GB valid for 90 days and no contract. It can be topped up while abroad (£25 for another 15GB is the best deal). It is working as expected although I am still in the UK. I will try both when I get across the channel. I am half expecting that the Vodafone SIM will give better speed as it is 4G/LTE and Vodafone apparently don't limit the speed. I don't know if the PAYG is the same as a contract SIM though, hence my original question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted April 4, 2018 Share Posted April 4, 2018 plwsm2000 - 2018-04-04 8:44 PM I bought one of the 12GB/12month Three SIMs a couple of weeks ago in preparation for our 3 month trip around Europe, before I found out about the Vodafone PAYG. Both my wife and I have unlimited data & minutes contracts on Three, but as we found out last year, this does not include tethering while outside of the UK. We will be leaving this weekend so I bought one of the Vodafone SIMs today - £25 for 15GB valid for 90 days and no contract. It can be topped up while abroad (£25 for another 15GB is the best deal). It is working as expected although I am still in the UK. I will try both when I get across the channel. I am half expecting that the Vodafone SIM will give better speed as it is 4G/LTE and Vodafone apparently don't limit the speed. I don't know if the PAYG is the same as a contract SIM though, hence my original question. Don't understand why when you have already bought the 3 12gb sim which has no contract but lasts 12 months and can be topped up if necessary and then you go and pay for a 15gb sim that only lasts for 90 days, seems like you have doubled up on what you already have, unless you are not using either sim in an iPad/Tablet and just using your phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plwsm2000 Posted April 4, 2018 Author Share Posted April 4, 2018 Randonneur - 2018-04-04 9:13 PM Don't understand why when you have already bought the 3 12gb sim which has no contract but lasts 12 months and can be topped up if necessary and then you go and pay for a 15gb sim that only lasts for 90 days, seems like you have doubled up on what you already have, unless you are not using either sim in an iPad/Tablet and just using your phone. It is just down to network speed. From what I have gathered, Vodafone should be a lot faster than the Three SIM. Not just due to the 4G (Three is only 3G even when 4G coverage is available), but also because Three sets a low priority to "feel at home" users abroad (or so I am led to believe). Obviously you need a Mifi modem that has 4G/LTE capability to make use of this. I won't be wasting the extra data as I tend to use a fair amount for work and I may need to top up in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wortho Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 I have a couple of Three 12GB PAYG Data sims that I picked up from Mymemory last year. I am hoping that these can still be activated outside the UK as I am planning to activate them in Sweden when I arrive in Europe (from Australia). I also read that they only last 2 months when roaming and you only get 9GB of data when used abroad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 plwsm2000 - 2018-04-04 10:05 PM Randonneur - 2018-04-04 9:13 PM Don't understand why when you have already bought the 3 12gb sim which has no contract but lasts 12 months and can be topped up if necessary and then you go and pay for a 15gb sim that only lasts for 90 days, seems like you have doubled up on what you already have, unless you are not using either sim in an iPad/Tablet and just using your phone. It is just down to network speed. From what I have gathered, Vodafone should be a lot faster than the Three SIM. Not just due to the 4G (Three is only 3G even when 4G coverage is available), but also because Three sets a low priority to "feel at home" users abroad (or so I am led to believe). Obviously you need a Mifi modem that has 4G/LTE capability to make use of this. I won't be wasting the extra data as I tend to use a fair amount for work and I may need to top up in any case. Don't think that these data sims from mymemory are 'feel at home'. Always been fast enough for us. Although any programmes that we download or films we do when on WiFi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted April 5, 2018 Share Posted April 5, 2018 Wortho - 2018-04-05 8:21 AM I have a couple of Three 12GB PAYG Data sims that I picked up from Mymemory last year. I am hoping that these can still be activated outside the UK as I am planning to activate them in Sweden when I arrive in Europe (from Australia). I also read that they only last 2 months when roaming and you only get 9GB of data when used abroad. No still 12months wherever you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plwsm2000 Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 Just done a quick test with both SIMs, and where I am now (Ypres, Belgium), the vodaphone SIM is significantly faster than the Three SIM. I am getting 23 Mbps download, 6 Mbps upload with the vodafone SIM (connects at 4G+) but only between 5 & 9 Mbps download, 2.5 Mbps upload with the Three SIM (3G only). From this simple test, the vodafone PAYG looks a better option IMHO if you can live with the 90 day limit. On a different note - we sailed Dover-Dunkirk and while at sea, my phone (on unlimited Three contract) gave me a warning that I was connected to the ships network at £6 /MB. Ship's wifi was poor. Might be best to switch of mobile data until you arrive in France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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