No sim-only LTE in UK?

PunPryde

Hi all - I am moving from Canada to the UK in the next couple of months and was looking for mobile deals. I am my own fully paid fully unlocked S9 so only need a sim. First of all the sim-only deals seem amazing to me since we get ripped off so badly here in Canada so I'm excited about that! The only thing I was confused about was that every sim-only data says "on 4G". Does 4G just mean LTE in the UK?

Also is this £22/mo O2 deal for 40gb data, unlimited calling, unlimited texts and free roaming to 75 countries for real? Sorry if I sound like a dumb Canadian but we would pay over $200/mo for such a plan! So I'm a bit shocked!

Browntoa

4g is LTE

And yes , they are real deals

mobileron

Check this

https://www.moneysupermarket.com/mobile-phones/sim-only/#/?contractLengths=&data=Any&deviceType=&giftCategories=&handsetColours=&handsets=&includeExistingCustomers=true&includeExistingCustomersHandset=&includeResellers=true&internalStorage=Any&isExclusiveDeal=&isFourG=&isRefurbished=false&merchants=&minutes=100&monthlyCost=Any&networks=&phoneCost=Any&productType=simonly&simType=Any&sortBy=Avg%20monthly%20cost&texts=Any&variants=

Cisco001

You may find it difficult to sign up 1 year contract if you don't have credit history in UK.

If that is the case, you should check out provider like Voxi or Smarty that do not involve credit check.

https://www.voxi.co.uk/plans

https://smarty.co.uk/

stragglebod

I don't know anything about the frequencies used in Canada so check your phone supports the UK bands
https://www.4g.co.uk/4g-frequencies-uk-need-know/


If you can't get a pay upfront contract for the airtime most of the pay as you go providers allow you to buy monthly prepaid bundles with inclusive calls/data/texts. This site has a really good summary of what's available.
https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/cheapest-pay-as-you-go-bundles

ACDeag

You can get unlimited data, texts and calls on https://www.smarty.co.uk for £18.75 a month at the moment and this is not a contract so no credit checks. Free roaming is just the EU though.

Frozen_up_north

If you struggle to be approved for a phone contract, or just want to opt for “pay as you go”, Giff Gaff are currently offering 40GB and unlimited mins for £20/month. I don’t know how good GG are.

I have the Three “unlimited data, unlimited tethering, unlimited mins”, for a £20/month contract (it’s slightly more per month now). And yes, what you see is what we get with 4G/LTE speeds on Three to around 70 Mb/s download in places.

https://www.giffgaff.com/
http://www.three.co.uk/store/sim-hub

PunPryde

Wow, you are all awesome! Thank you so much for the detailed help and information. I didn't even think about the credit check and LTE frequencies. Looking forward to the move and meeting more helpful Brits such as yourselves!

stragglebod

You're welcome Enjoy your move!

System

Voxi (Vodafone) offer 45GB with unlimited social media, texts and calls.
Smarty (3) and GiffGaff (O2) are other good no credit check offers.

Check GSMarena for your phone frequencies.

Uxb1

There are other issues you will come across
1 Giffgaff is a virtual network which has no assets in that it "buys time" off the O2 physical network. There are several like this in the UK that do not have their own mobile network but piggy back off the main network operators. Inevitably they get a worse service at times as they are being given what's left/free. I've tested same iphone same place in house using a Giffgaff PAYG sim has a far worse service and data download than the same phone with an O2 PAYG sim in it - and giffgaff piggy back off the O2 network.

Depending on whether you are going to be using the phone mainly in the country/rural area or in city areas will affect what network you want. For me in a rural area I'd either go for EE or O2 and never for 3 or obviously any of the virtual networks that piggy back off it. One one village I regularly go to 3 lists it as no coverage So look at the coverage maps on the networks websites and specifically where you are likely to get a decent reception inside a building.