Best Sim-only Deals guide Discussion

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  • geeooff
    geeooff Posts: 23 Forumite
    edited 16 January 2019 at 3:04PM
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    d123 wrote: »
    It’s not an EU or EEA country, so the rates are going to be expensive, no real surprise.

    Gosh; £5,120 if one of your kids, on the back seat, uses 3 hours of YouTube & that's not a real surprise? That response is a real surprise on a site called 'moneysaving'. Seems some people's wallets inhabit different universes than mine.

    I enjoy the Pyrenees, so I looked into it & a 1gb datacard from the Andorran owned telecom company costs just 10€. That's the retail price after adding distribution, the shopkeeper's markup & opening a new account, so Three must buy wholesale data in bulk for far less. So it seems this data price is at least 1,000 times the price they buy it for, and it's charged to mostly unwitting customers.

    Of course it's no surprise that the data isn't in a free EU roaming zone, as they're not in the EU. The surprise I was pointing out is the gob-smacking size of Smarty's charges, I doubt Martin has reported on too many companies who add 100,000% markups, in his years of consumer journalism?

    I also see that some telecoms (like French Orange) do include Andorra in their free roaming areas. Customers can easily get auto-connected to Andorra aerials while still well within France & Spain, so this seems fair, especially as Andorra Telecom's data is not expensive to buy. Free EU roaming, is after all, just the minimum possible service that Smarty/Three are forced to provide all customers in order to avoid visiting a court house.
  • d123
    d123 Posts: 8,622 Forumite
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    geeooff wrote: »
    Gosh; £5,120 for one of your kids to log 3 hours on YouTube & that's not a real surprise? That response is a real surprise on a site called 'moneysaving'. Seems some people's wallets inhabit different universes than mine.

    I enjoy the Pyrenees, so I looked into it & a 1gb datacard from the Andorran owned telecom company costs just 10€. That's the retail price after adding distribution & the shopkeeper's markup, so Three must buy wholesale data in bulk for far less. So it seems this data price, charged to mostly unwitting customers, is at least 1,000 times the price they buy it for.

    Of course Andorra is not in the EU, so it's no real surprise that their data isn't in a free EU roaming zone. The real surprise I was pointing out is the gob-smacking size of Smarty's charges, I doubt Martin has reported on too many companies who add 100,000% markups, in his years of consumer journalism?

    I also see that some telecoms (like French Orange) do include Andorra in their free roaming areas. As customers can easily get auto-connected to Andorra aerials while still well within France & Spain, this seems fair, especially as Andorra Telecom's data is not
    expensive to buy. Free EU roaming, is after all, just the minimum possible service that Smarty/Three are forced to provide all customers in order to avoid visiting a court house.

    Most networks charge exorbitant rates in the £’s per MB for many non-EU countries. It’s been like that for as long as roaming has existed.
    ====
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,655 Forumite
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    geeooff wrote: »
    £5,120 if one of your kids, on the back seat, uses 3 hours of YouTube & that's not a real surprise?

    Now you've raised the concept of money-saving, why not just turn off mobile data? You're on holiday for goodness sake. Try reading a book!
  • Avalon_Adam
    Avalon_Adam Posts: 18 Forumite
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    pmduk wrote: »
    Now you've raised the concept of money-saving, why not just turn off mobile data? You're on holiday for goodness sake. Try reading a book!

    While on holiday using data for things like maps translation directions and looking for good quality or cheap places to eat is normally standard practice. i don't want to carry around with me a heavy (often out of date) guidebook to get this information , plus i like to find a few phrases i can use to all myself to the locals
  • pmduk
    pmduk Posts: 10,655 Forumite
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    Avalon_Adam wrote: »
    While on holiday using data for things like maps translation directions and looking for good quality or cheap places to eat is normally standard practice. i don't want to carry around with me a heavy (often out of date) guidebook to get this information , plus i like to find a few phrases i can use to all myself to the locals

    Perhaps, but I'm not sure 3+ hrs of Youtube counts as standard practice when mobile data is expensive.
  • cariad2
    cariad2 Posts: 4 Newbie
    edited 23 January 2019 at 12:34AM
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    Avalon_Adam wrote: »
    While on holiday using data for things like maps translation directions and looking for good quality or cheap places to eat is normally standard practice. i don't want to carry around with me a heavy (often out of date) guidebook to get this information , plus i like to find a few phrases i can use to all myself to the locals





    I don't see why you need data for any of that. We use hotel/cafe wifi when choosing restaurants and places to visit later in the day. My daughter's turned into our navigator and always seems to find the right shop doorway to stand in to get free wifi for google maps.
    We download loads of films, podcasts and audio books onto tablets and phones before we go away - downloaded on home wifi and no need for youtube when you're abroad.
  • cariad2
    cariad2 Posts: 4 Newbie
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    My contract with Tesco finished last month and as I was fed up with my rubbish phone and with paying for data that I never used I decided to buy a new decent phone and then shop around for the best SIM only deal.


    I've moved to ID mobile. The allowances wouldn't be enough for a lot of people, but are more than enough for me: 500 MB data (I do almost everything via wifi so use hardly any data), 150 minutes calls and unlimited texts.


    It's only £3.99 month so perfect for low users.
  • patricia1066
    patricia1066 Posts: 328 Forumite
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    EE retention offered me the same deal as idmobile, £4 for 500mb and unlimited calls and texts. Restricting myself to WiFi is going to be hard, but dropping from £14 pm to £4 is great money saving.
    I use 300 minutes every month for Ireland calls alone, so the cheap Vodafone deal wouldn't work for me.

    But if 250 minutes is realistic for your use, buy the Vodafone PAYG deal £30 for 6 months of use, 2gb data
  • bald_rick
    bald_rick Posts: 21 Forumite
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    cariad2 wrote: »
    My contract with Tesco finished last month and as I was fed up with my rubbish phone and with paying for data that I never used I decided to buy a new decent phone and then shop around for the best SIM only deal.


    I've moved to ID mobile. The allowances wouldn't be enough for a lot of people, but are more than enough for me: 500 MB data (I do almost everything via wifi so use hardly any data), 150 minutes calls and unlimited texts.


    It's only £3.99 month so perfect for low users.
    I've read mixed things about ID's customer service. How have you found them so far?
  • Tfoz
    Tfoz Posts: 11 Forumite
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    Oh I am buzzing, I've just successfully bartered my O2 deal from £17 with barely any data to £10 with 2GB. Might not be the best deal but it's my very first haggle :)
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