Recommendation for data SIM in UK
 

Hi,

I'll be traveling twice the the UK this July/early August, shall be staying in the London/South UK areas.

Is there an updated page showing the prepaid 3G data offers? Full data, not WAP.
I saw the voice page United Kingdom, I was hoping there's a similar page for data.

Further, I wanted to ask about the viability of purchasing a SIM card abroad. The question regards the need for registrations and regarding the card activation.


Thank you.

You can order free SIM cards from most UK networks on their web sites for delivery to a UK address. Vodafone is the easiest for micro-SIMs. T-Mobile are doing some good deals for data. If you want to receive the free SIM before you arrive in the UK, you'll need to get someone in the UK to receive it at their UK address and then post it to you. Some cards are pre-activated; others require a brief phone call with no formalities.

Thank you, NFH.

I just found a local site that sells t-mobile prepaid pre-activated SIM cards.

Is there some sort of plan that I need to purchase in order to have data? eg 1/3GB.

Further, are there SIM cards than can do both voice & data?

In 2010 I had a Vodafone SIM card in Italy, it was a mess, huge costs for data (which is my main use). Throughout my 2-week visit I was unable to change the plan I was in to a more appropriate one.
Same happened on a 2009 visit to Paris.

On later visits to other European countries there was no such problem - the SIM worked immediately and had very good 3G coverage - Greece, Spain, Sicily (Italy) and other countries.

I've just checked and it seems that the deal on T-Mobile has ended. The deal was that you could get free data (maybe 500MB/month or something) for a year, just with a one-off top-up of £10. Your best bet is to order a free SIM from each network and then choose which one to use based on who's offering the best deal when you first arrive in the UK. Do you have a friend with a UK address who could post them to you if you order several in advance?

Also don't pay any attention to your previous experience with Vodafone in one particular country. Like most large brands operating in multiple countries, Vodafone is fragmented and the customer experience will be very different in each country.

One use for a Vodafone UK SIM is £5 for 25MB of data roaming outside the EU. Although you're unlikely to want to roam with a UK SIM, you can use this deal on aircraft (OnAir, AeroMobile etc) where the cost of data is usually extortionate.

I'll be in the London area twice in July/Aug, about 1 wk each time.
Knowing my browsing habits, I'll need about 2GB total.
Obviously I'll be using the same SIM.

Are there branches of t-mobile or others in the arrivals hall at Heathrow?

Vodafone has a landside shop at Heathrow terminal 5, but according to the Heathrow web site, there aren't any others at other terminals or for other networks.

• Do you have a friend with a UK address?
• Do you need a micro-SIM?
• Would 1GB for each month be enough? O2 have a £10/1GB bolt-on. With any UK network, you should expect to pay around a penny per megabyte with a bundle.

GiffGaff may be better for the data quantity you need. Unlimited data for £10. You could even try ordering an unofficial micro-SIM where the address fields are free text and may accept an address outside the UK.

Unfortunatelly not postcode must be entered in British format.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

So the OP could try entering the postcode of the Royal Mail's Mount Pleasant sorting office, EC1A 1BB, in the postcode and the full Israeli address above it. That way, it will get to one of the Royal Mail's international sorting offices who will then direct it accordingly. I've done something similar when ordering Irish SIMs to the UK and it works.

Or I could buy it from eBay - I see several units there.

But what exactly is this GiffGaff? Are they a virtual operator? If so, which physical network do they use? Are they limited by data volume of speed? Are they brand new and originally microsim cards, or were they manually cut?

I read the Ts&Cs in their site, they do not take any responsibility regarding the cards:
"2.4. All micro SIMs are provided on an "as is" basis, and without warranties of any kind. No warranty, either expressed or implied is given as to the usefulness or safety of micro SIMs, and Microgaff or the Senders accepts no liability for problems, issues or damages regarding the use of micro SIMs."


You probably remember what US President Harry S. Truman said at the time: There are no free lunches...
:-)

GiffGaff is indeed a virtual operator on the O2 network, but is wholly owned by O2. Their reputation is fairly good, although they lack sufficient disaster recovery plans, so if part of their network goes wrong, they have no failover for some components. GiffGaff don't issue micro-SIMs themselves, but some volunteers cut them and issue them unofficially to new customers, albeit with GiffGaff's approval. I think it's a good choice for your needs.

Thank you for the info.

I'm a bit hesitant about SIM cards that have been cut manually. I know that it works, I've used myself while on a trip to Spain (I cut the SIM into a microsim in front of the astounded sales person).
But inasmuch as possible - I prefer an original microsim.

So I'll look in eBay.uk for other providers SIM cards.
It'll probably cost me more than purchasing one on the ground in the UK, but on the other hand it'll save me the hassle of location a store, waiting for it to open, etc etc.

So given this, which provider would you recommend? Again, I'll only be in London and the south.

I'll have my iPad 2, which is pretty data-hungry, so I'll want a good 3G coverage.

Thank you.

As I said before I suggested GiffGaff, O2 may be your best bet.

With regard to coverage, it's worth understanding the frequencies of each network:

• Vodafone - 900, 1800 & 2100
• O2 - 900, 1800 & 2100
• Orange - 1800 & 2100
• T-Mobile - 1800 & 2100
• Three - 2100

Lower frequencies penetrate buildings much better, so Vodafone and O2 have a slight advantage. However, Orange and T-Mobile recently merged and you can now roam between both networks free of charge, meaning you get two networks' coverage as a customer of just one network. Consequently coverage on these two is arguably better now than Vodafone or O2. Avoid Three, which only has 3G coverage; everyone I know on Three complains about coverage and lack of signal.

Thank you again, NFH.

No problem. I agree with you about cutting mini-SIMs to micro-SIM size. I always prefer a proper micro-SIM too. The chip on some mini-SIMs (even recent ones) is larger than a micro-SIM, which doesn't inspire me with confidence either. GiffGaff should just do what operators like AmaySIM do and issue a universal SIM that can be snapped out in the desired size. No network needs to issue separate SIM sizes.

I found this:
Introducing...our new Micro Sims! - The giffgaff community

And I checked - they don't ship abroad.
I could have them ship to my hotel, though, but I have to check whether I can order one of their packages w/o my having the SIM card first.

Interesting - exactly what I said they should do. Try posting a question in their community and ask whether someone can send one of the new SIMs to you in Israel, once they're launched. These guys sound like quite a helpful bunch. For a full SIM weighing 5g, the increased postage cost to Israel is minimal after the Royal Mail's forthcoming price hike.

I just posted there - and have received several replies within seconds...
WOW!
(Am impressed).

Hi Wisniak,

Did you get the SIM finally ? I came from Hong Kong and plan to visit UK next month. I am checking which data SIM is suitable for me.
Thanks,

Jeffrey

sykeung,

I did receive the SIM and the person from the GiffGaff community also purchased for me a top-up voucher (I transferred money to him via paypal).

I'll be traveling to the UK in early July so besides the helpful support I can't say anything about the product itself (eg actual coverage, browsing speeds etc).

The tip I received was to purchase 10GBP of credit via the voucher. This will give me a bonus of 5GBP of credit. And just before traveling I need to purchase (using the voucher) a 3GB data package (that's what I need, there are smaller (cheaper) packages) and will still have about 2.5GBP left over.

The important thing is to activate the SIM and purchase the data package just before you travel, as they are limited to 30 days.

Thanks very much. wisniak

giffgaff members will post sims internationally, and the first top voucher also, just ask.
Want a sim but you're abroad? - The giffgaff community

I also did this, worked, but delivery took 7 weeks to Australia.

I think this is the one you want because it has the most free data
https://freesim.vodafone.co.uk/text-and-data-sim-card
However, you can spend your top up how ever you want. you dont need data separately unless it is a contract SIM. Because you are going for Pay as you Go then just dont worry about it.

Based on this, I joined giffgaff and PM'd a member to see if he'd ship a SIM to me in the US. Hoping the O2 network is good.

Otherwise, I guess I'd look for T-Mobile or Three when I arrive in London.