Best 30day SIM Only for Data?

nafe12

I was given a nice new smartphone, so am investigating data plans.
I'd prefer not to have a 12m/o contract, as I'm not sure of my plans in 6 months time.

Anyway, I knew O2 had unlimited internet, but no longer. Now for the price plan I'm going for (£15--20) it's 500MB. It's not clear how much they charge for exceeding that.
T-Mobile has a 3GB limit, after which they dont charge you but might impact your service. This is appealing, but says that you can't use messaging services (like MSN, skype (text), etc). This is a flag of concern for me.

3 has something for 1GB, but I think the reception isn't too good where I live.

Any suggestions/recommendations/warnings are welcome!!

Bowling_4_Gold

GiffGaff. GoodyBags of £10 or more come with Truly Unlimited Internet. Use the o2 physical network, so if you get good o2 signal you should get good GiffGaff signal.

http://giffgaff.com/index/offer

nafe12

Thanks for your reply.

Giffgaff is OK temporarily. But then I read:

Free Mobile Internet:
You lucky giffgaff pioneers can even enjoy free UK mobile Internet up to the 1st of December 2010. After that date, mobile Internet will be charged at 50p a day (if you use less than 2.5MB/day you'll pay less than 50p and if you go over 30MB you'll be charged extra at 20p/MB).

Nasty later on.
Worth the effort for three months? not sure..

Oscar_The_Grouch

Three is your best bet. They do some really good PAYG and 30 day contracts for data only.

Bowling_4_Gold

nafe12 wrote: »

But then I read:

That is for non-GoodyBag customers only. As long as you get a GoodyBag (£10 or more), you still get unlimited internet.

Until October, you don't even need to top-up to get the free internet - it is for all customers. After October 1st, this is restricted to customers who buy a £10+ GoodyBag every month.

bubblesmoney

buying a signal repeater might be an option if you want to stay with a network with weaker indoor signal but decent outdoor signal. the antenna kept on the roof or a window catches the signal and repeater/amplifier boosts the indoor signal. see many options available for home use or in car use etc available online. best to buy a triband including UMTS signal repeater instead of a uniband one i feel. i havent tried these but have read about them.

nafe12

Given that the GiffGaff are only until Sept, it means generally their prices are the same as what I'm offered by T-Mobile.
Probably safer to stick with the established.

cactusdust

GiffGaff are wholey owned by O2 Telefonica.. that makes them established.

seaniboy

3 roams on Orange, and 3/Orange&T-Mobile both own the backhaul network, that gave 3 customers FULL data roaming on Orange 2G - this will include T-Mobile 2G when the crossover of T/Orange customers can gain access to each others base stations.

bubblesmoney

On three network data only plans, the ipad data allowance is different to mifi data allowance …. it is a misconception that the ipad data plans sim can only be used with an ipad. canny money savers are using ipad microsims on other devices, there are loads of threads on the net and many forums on this issue. many people are using the microsim with sim adapters freely available very cheaply (or for free from many networks) on the net and using the same sim in other devices and dongles.

many three shops themselves are selling the device and the ipad microsim and adapter for use in mifi and other devices and dongles as that data plan is cheaper.

the ipad data plan is available from many networks with microsims or regular sims and people have got that plan from three shops as well, see loads of such posts on hotukdeals website where people are raving about three networks data plans using the microsim in other devices. too bad three network are not themselves trying to sell the plan actively to all customers as they could wipe the floor with the competition if they did do so.

another deal available from loads of three shops (but not some ignorant three shops) who ‘know’ how to get the best deal for customers is by using the ’sim zero’ plan monthly rolling contract and add a 2gb data bundle for 5£ to it and only use the sim for data. some shops dont know how to configure the deal so dont go and ask for a data sim card, just go and ask the shop for a ’sim zero’ (which costs zero pounds yes ZERO POUNDS!) monthly rolling contract sim card and ask them to add a 2gb internet for an extra 5£ a month. it is not any ones business what you use the data you paid for on what device, so just say you want the sim as described above and use it in any device you wish. choose which ever option i described above and you can get the three deal that suits you.

or if you look a bit on the net for three network ‘hot deals on three network’ then there are ‘other’ ways to get three network deals on data bundles which are not exactly advertised on three website but available all the same from three network. by 'other' ways i mean some people order the deal on the phone or online then have tried cancelletion of the order after getting delivery and retentions sometimes have given further discounts on the already cracking deals for some, might not work always but have been reported on hotukdeals website posts. even if you dont do that kind of stuff you can still get decent deals as mentioned above by me for minthly rolling contracts data only sim plans from three network and probably even better on longer contracts.

moneysavingpete

bubblesmoney wrote: »

another deal available from loads of three shops (but not some ignorant three shops) who ‘know’ how to get the best deal for customers is by using the ’sim zero’ plan monthly rolling contract and add a 2gb data bundle for 5£ to it and only use the sim for data. some shops dont know how to configure the deal so dont go and ask for a data sim card, just go and ask the shop for a ’sim zero’ (which costs zero pounds yes ZERO POUNDS!) monthly rolling contract sim card and ask them to add a 2gb internet for an extra 5£ a month. it is not any ones business what you use the data you paid for on what device, so just say you want the sim as described above and use it in any device you wish. choose which ever option i described above and you can get the three deal that suits you.

The SIM ZERO offer ended yesterday. I believe it was due to the volume of people getting VERY cheap data. The ipad micro sim is a great work around though. 10GB for £15 is an awesome deal on a 1month contract!