Looking for cheap SIM only for 82 year old Dad

andy_foster

Looking for a bit of advice from those more knowledgable...

I need to get a reliable, cheap SIM with [ideally] unlimited minutes, some data and roaming for my 83 year old Dad who lives in Cornwall, 200 miles from me. Father might occasionally want to check bus times when out and about, or email a photo or two, but unlikely to use much mobile data.

Had a cheap Talk Home SIM - number porting "failed", calls cut out and number becomes unreachable. Quick google suggests that we are not alone.

Many years ago, I was on Vodafone and signal at Dad's old house (a mile up the road from his current house) varied between marginal and nil

Having been brought up Cornish, I don't want to spend more than necessary, but cheap and unreliable is not a viable option. Nor is doing the porting dance.

Asda mobile, Giffgaff and iD mobile have some reasonable deals between £5-6 a month (with 2-12GB), but there are lots of seemingly better deals from companies that I haven't used that would be a worthwhile saving if they just work and a nightmare if they are anything like Talk Home.

So, can anyone suggest a reliable SIM deal with unlimited minutes, some data, roaming, not on Vodafone's network, which doesn't require the porting dance to maintain the price and which is noticeably cheaper than £5/month?

PHK

When you say roaming do you mean UK roaming onto other networks when signal is low? Roaming in the EU, roaming in the rest of the world or some specific country?

andy_foster

EU roaming

andy_foster

Are spusu any good?

The deal seems to tick all the other boxes - but so did the Talk Home deal - except that the service was rubbish.

Emmia

I think in this situation I'd focus on signal strength and reliability over price. 

Do your Dad's local friends and neighbours have mobiles? What network are they on, and do they have a good signal?

Farway

What about a multi network SIM? Cost more but reliability & a connection  should be good.

flaneurs_lobster

Farway said:

What about a multi network SIM? Cost more but reliability & a connection  should be good.

Have you got a link to any that could be considered reasonable?

Last time I looked they were seriously expensive, sort of thing you put in the tracker of your £200k Maserati.

Rodders53

andy_foster said:

Many years ago, I was on Vodafone and signal at Dad's old house (a mile up the road from his current house) varied between marginal and nil

THAT may not matter if Dad has decent BB/WiFi at home and a suitable phone/sim combo to use if the Voda network is poor (i,e, use WiFi calling).  We have Lebara sims and at a £4.90/30day rolling contract for unlimited calls/texts and 5GB data.  No complaints on the service (accepting that some locations have no coverage).

Anyway check network availability in that location and the places Dad goes - then choose the sim/provider based on that info and the MSE prices... Best Sim Only Deals - Compare Cheap Contracts - MSE

flashg67

If Vodafone signal is good then Lebara and Talkmobile both have decent deals and option of 30 day contracts. I'm using both with no issues

Emmia

flashg67 said:

If Vodafone signal is good then Lebara and Talkmobile both have decent deals and option of 30 day contracts. I'm using both with no issues

andy_foster said:

Looking for a bit of advice from those more knowledgable...

.

Many years ago, I was on Vodafone and signal at Dad's old house (a mile up the road from his current house) varied between marginal and nil

Not sure "Marginal to nil" qualifies as a good signal.

lr1277

Agree with @Emmia. You or your dad need to find which company provides the best signal in the places he would normally use the mobile phone. Once you know that and come back here, people will be able to suggest the best deals for that network or MVNO's that use that network.

As @Emmia suggested dad should talk to his neighbours as to which networks they are on.

From personal experience, O2 had a rubbish signal outside the First direct arena in Leeds, whereas my friend was on EE and easily got a signal. However in a village in East Yorkshire (let's say in the sticks), I got a signal on O2 but my friend on EE had no signal. Your dad might need to try a few networks or as said talk to people who live in the same area.