Smarty internet speed

waseem432000

Hi, 

I recently ported my sister’s O2 and my wife’s EE numbers to Smarty due to their generous data allowance(30 gb for £10) and I did check their coverage in our postcode before switching and it was supposed to be great indoor and outdoor coverage but it’s been more than a week for both of them and they both hardly get 1 mb download speed indoors while just above 1 mb outdoors while I get close to 40 mb download speed in same location on my EE and I remember my sister had quite high download on O2 as well. 

I have searched their website to see if they have any data cap at these lower speeds or it’s just coverage in our area?(we live in Greater London) My wife tried the speed test while she was outdoors in town centre but it’s more of the same. Does anyone else had the same issue with Smarty or it’s just me? Will three have the same issue if I switched their numbers on their network considering they use the same network or is it’s more due to Smarty being a budget MVNO? I guess I will be porting their numbers again next month. 

Neil_Jones

There are only four mobile networks in this country - Vodafone, EE, o2 and Three.  Everybody else piggy backs onto one of these four, they buy network space from them effectively.  Smarty piggy backs onto Three, so if you have speed issues with them you'll have the same issue with Three and everybody else who piggy backs onto Three, so idMobile and FreedomPop will be the other two to avoid.

Since you had great speed on EE and o2, either move to either of these networks or a MVNO that uses them:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/piggybacking/

waseem432000

Neil_Jones said:

There are only four mobile networks in this country - Vodafone, EE, o2 and Three.  Everybody else piggy backs onto one of these four, they buy network space from them effectively.  Smarty piggy backs onto Three, so if you have speed issues with them you'll have the same issue with Three and everybody else who piggy backs onto Three, so idMobile and FreedomPop will be the other two to avoid.

Since you had great speed on EE and o2, either move to either of these networks or a MVNO that uses them:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/piggybacking/

Yeah. That makes sense. I tried to get a sim only deal for my wife’s sim when her pay monthly contract ended last month but EE customer service team only repeated the same deals which were on website and never got a call from their retention team and I thought their customer service rep was quite smug about how EE have the best coverage and internet speeds. Perhaps he had a point after all. Cheers

jnm21

Neil_Jones said:

There are only four mobile networks in this country - Vodafone, EE, o2 and Three.  Everybody else piggy backs onto one of these four, they buy network space from them effectively.  Smarty piggy backs onto Three, so if you have speed issues with them you'll have the same issue with Three and everybody else who piggy backs onto Three, so idMobile and FreedomPop will be the other two to avoid.

Since you had great speed on EE and o2, either move to either of these networks or a MVNO that uses them:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/piggybacking/

Vastly over simplified there I am afraid - there are others that work on the Three network (Superdrug for example, which is a sister company).

More so, the issues faced can be significantly more complex - you have priority on the network, band access (e.g. Band 20 - access to which can be a cursing or a blessing) and finally access to 5G.

pokora

 You are not alone, in some areas of London could be a nightmare even if is showing full coverage in your phone. I would try to look for an alternative using ee network if it was working well for you.

waseem432000

I did spoke to smarty customer support and they said that I am unlikely to have a good indoor reception at my postcode. I have almost the same speed outdoors plus in a few different areas in the town. Already ordered a VOXI sim to see how Vodafone network works here and if that’s fine then will switch to them otherwise EE is always an option. 

jnm21

I would never recommend a three based solution for a main number, but if it is your preference, would wifi calling indoors plug the gap for you?

Do have a look at Lebara - 3GB for 4.95 or 10GB for £6.95.

I discovered recently that you can manually renew early (if you run out of data or the 100 international minutes) which has the bonus of rolling over any data or international minutes (the link https://mobile.lebara.com/gb/en/search/?text=exclusive is very useful).

There is a 2GB (1000, i.e. lots, but not unlimited minutes & texts) for 99p per month offer (may be an MSE or Uswitch offer) - 99p to try it & they officially have 5G now!  No wifi calling yet though. 

waseem432000

jnm21 said:

I would never recommend a three based solution for a main number, but if it is your preference, would wifi calling indoors plug the gap for you?

Do have a look at Lebara - 3GB for 4.95 or 10GB for £6.95.

I discovered recently that you can manually renew early (if you run out of data or the 100 international minutes) which has the bonus of rolling over any data or international minutes (the link https://mobile.lebara.com/gb/en/search/?text=exclusive is very useful).

There is a 2GB (1000, i.e. lots, but not unlimited minutes & texts) for 99p per month offer (may be an MSE or Uswitch offer) - 99p to try it & they officially have 5G now!  No wifi calling yet though. 

I still have my own number on EE but moved my wife’s number after her contract ended with EE and smarty did look quite attractive with 30 gb at £10 a month but you are absolutely right about three network. Haven’t been a great month or so and I will probably pay a few quids extra for a more quicker mobile data so unless Vodafone works fine indoors at my postcode, will be going back to EE. They do have a £10 a month for 10 gb for 12 months contract which should be good enough.