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.