Suggestions for a UK Sim w/Excellent Data Coverage
 

Just got back from Germany. Next trip will be to the UK. I'm looking for a pre-paid SIM that will offer inexpensive calls to the states as well as very good interenet access so that I can send and receive e-mail.

I've used Talkmobile in the past for voice but have no idea how good their interenet access is.

Thanks!

Even though the UK prepaid sim cards are one of the cheapest and the most discussed discussed here, it changes quite often. My suggestion would be to visit the respective carriers pages (Orange, Tmobile, Vodafone etc.) and compare them. One thing is certain, almost all of them have quite cheap rates to call the US, and the data rates to use them within the UK are quite good too.

I am sure the UK based members will be able to give advice as well.

I know the calling rates are quite good. I'm also know that a number of companies offer competitive data plans. What I'm not sure of is how good the data coverage is. For instance, when I was in Germany, Blau data was terrible; Fonic was excellent.

The web sites list the coverage pattern...for the most part the 3g coverage of the major providers pretty much is the same as their regular (2g?) coverage....I know I researched this very thoroughly and ultimate went with T Mobile UK for a stick modem and the coverage, at least in London, is okay although I've read T Mobile UK sucks in many areas outside London but it was the simplest for me and it worked...it also worked in several Scottish cities giving me adequate internet service (although of course I'm used to the lightning fast internet service I get a home)....unfortunately my one complaint about the UK is that free wifi is not nearly universal in hotels...it almost seems non existant unlike say Ireland where every single hotel I stayed in had it!

Yeah! While in the US, it's almost a given that free WiFi will be available at any hotel you stay in. I can't remember the last time I stayed in a hotel without free WiFi. Heck! Even the huge resort I stayed at in Montego Bay in April is blanketed with free WiFi in all the public places.

My hotel in Niagara Falls (Ontario, mind, not New York) last June didn't have free WiFi. I used my Rogers data stick instead (HSPA).

Maybe the thought is that if you're in a hotel in Niagara Falls, you don't need to be on the Internet... :)

Canada is a little behind the US on free wifi, but it seems to be growing there as well. Starbucks is now free; I think McDonalds is. My hotel in Bamf had free wifi, a nearby mall also had free wifi. When I was in Toronto two weeks earlier I ran into a fair amount of free wifi. Even more surprisingly, I had free wifi in my coach seat on Via Rail.

free wifi even on the train sounds too good to be true. Last time on the ICE in germany i needed to check some emails and was ripped off with 12 Euro/hour on a T-Mobile hotspot...

Banff ;) Sometimes (mis)pronounced as Ban-f-f.

VIA Rail does everything they can to attract what few passengers they can find. DB, along with most other rail carriers in Europe, doesn't need to do that. Besides I'd imagine you can get decent service with mobile Internet at decent cost almost anywhere DB runs. That's not the case with VIA Rail along most of its routes.

Germany does not have a lot of free wi-fi, and almost all home networks are (needlessly) encrypted. But if you're ever stuck, McDonald's has it.

And actually, mobile coverage along German rail lines can be patchy. Take the Berlin-Warszawa Express, and everywhere in Poland you'll have a strong GSM (and sometimes UMTS) signal. Cross the German border, and it fades out immediately after Frankfurt (Oder), comes back for maybe a minute each when passing Fürstenwalde and Erkner, and then coverage only resumes within striking distance of Berlin Ostbahnhof. And that applies to all the networks, on a busy line with 40,000 commuters a day.

Yes, this is also caused by the strict german laws- you are 100% responsible for anything that happens over your internet line. If a neighbour downloads kinky stuff over your free wifi you are doomed most of the time...

thanks to the metal coated windows the wagons are very well blocked for all kind of radio signals. Even the wagons with repeaters on the roof can be a problem if you use the wrong operator ;-)

but lets go back to the topic of good SIM cards for data in the UK...

Chris

Indeed! My experience has been that all UK networks have very similar coverage (ie, they work pretty much everywhere - there are no non-coverage areas as in the US and Canada) except for T-Mobile, which is a little bit weaker and has more congestion from the many MVNOs using it. But even that may soon change, as TMO and Orange are now the same company (in the UK, not anywhere else) and they will soon be sharing networks.

Me, I've been wit Virgin for a long time but will probably take my number to Vodafone the next time I'm in the UK.

One thing is, unless you do all your data on a smartphone that you also use for voice, you should consider the voice and data offers separately, and buy a separate data SIM for your USB stick, instead of trying to find an "all-rounder". As has been said many times here, SIMs are often free in the UK.

I will be using the same phone for voice and data- mostly checking e-mail.

My experiance with our customers in UK is that the often have problems with data on Vodafone. Orange and T-Mobile seem to be more reliable. But our application is 24/7 online. Might be completely different if its about surfing and reading email from time to time.

Chris

What sort of problems, Chris?

modem can not connect to TCP servers even when GPRS is attached, GPRS does not come back after cellchanges several times, sometimes modem needs to get a hard reset even to attach back to GSM network...

I have just returned from the UK.

Before the trip, a friend of mine, who lives there, got me a "Three" SIM. Their network is 3G only and boast to have the best 3G coverage in the UK.

As a matter of fact, their claim might be valid. Considering it is a 3G-only network, the coverage was suprisingly good. However, I found their general coverage a littlebit patchy in the areas I was trying to use it.

I used my Nokia E71, and came out cheap by being able to use my phone's VoIP client for making calls. As for receiving calls I used a home DID diverted to the SIMs phone number via VoIP. It worked fine except for the caller ID, but that's acceptable considering this was a very cheap way of receiving calls.

I also used the same SIM for surfing the internet from my phone as well as by putting the card in a modem. Later I bought a fantastic Huawei E585 modem/WiFi router from Three, and used that with my netbook. It worked fine.

All in all, I can recommend 3 as a data/mobile net provider, but mainly if you intend to use it in urban areas. For normal phoning however, I'd look for some other network with a better 2G coverage as I missed a lot of calls due to no coverage at the place where I spent the weekend. But to be fair, I found that other, 2G operators were also quite weak in that bulding.

Updated Info: UK Sim for Voice and Data
 

Hi Everyone,

Happy Holidays! A couple of years have past since I first posted this query. I never made it to London--first it was volcanic ash; last yeart a family illness forced a last minute cancellation.

I'm giving London another try in February and wonder if there is any updated information on a SIM for voice and data. I'll be in London for 5 days and have a Nokia E71. I plan to use it to make local calls, calls to the US and checking e-mail.

Thanks!

Someone on eBay suggested Lebara. I know that they have very inexpensive rates to the US but does anyone know how their Internet service is? I need to be able to access my e-mail.

Also, are there any UK Sims that can be topped up with a US credit card from the US? I'd love to have my phone working and ready to go as soon as I land.

I can top up my Orange SIM using a Canadian card. I registered a credit card over the phone with them when I was in London, but I've been able to change the card number since then from Canada. I'm not sure if you can set up a new foreign credit card with them without talking to them directly, though.