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SIM card recommendation for the UK

I am currently winding up a narrowboat holiday in the UK. Two years ago we screwed up and went with Vodaphone. That was a big mistake. This year we were smarter and went with “Three”.

For 10 GBP I got a SIM with 1 gig data and 3000 texts and minutes for 30 days to use on my iPhone 6.
For 20 GBP i got a SIM for 12 gig data and 3000 texts and minutes for30 days to use on my iPad. Actually this SiM was intended for a phone, but works fine on my iPad. The iPad specific SIM would have been 40 GBP. The manager of the store that we visited recommended the phone SIM instead.
Both SIMs allow themselves to be used as a personal hotspot. The “Three” SIMs also work on the continent.

I recommend checking out “Three”.

Posted by
5687 posts

Why was it a mistake to get a Vodafone SIM? I haven't used them in the UK so I have no idea what kind of problems you might have had. Coverage? Cost?

Posted by
1792 posts

When I was in London earlier this year I went with a Vodafone UK SIM and plan. For £20 I got 6GB of data, call and text allotments too ( I don’t recall how much) I was going to be in Germany for two weeks. Vodafone offers 4G roaming. I don’t use all that much data so I prefer higher speed networks.

Posted by
279 posts

The coverage for Vodaphone was not very good while on the LLangollen canal in rural England and Wales. The Vodaphone SIMs would not allow use as a personal hotspot. My friend on the trip bought a SIM for his older phone and then discovered that it did use a replaceable. SIM. He bought a cheap Vodaphone and had to buy a new SIM. When we returned to England this time Vodaphone refused to unlock the phone in a timely manner and he was forced to trade it in for another used phone. Doing business with Vodaphone was not very satisfactory.

Posted by
1792 posts

Well that would leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Sorry you experienced problems with Vodafone. Fortunately all my encounters have been positive. Hotspot feature worked fine on my trip which was just a few weeks ago.

Posted by
1573 posts

My recommendation is to go to a Carphone Warehouse (they are all over the UK, just Google them for a location near you). They sell SIM cards for the major mobile companies in the UK and you can pick the best plan for you.

Posted by
1028 posts

Currently using a giffgaff SIM and very satisfied with cost and coverage. Plus they will send it to you in advance of your trip if you want to have it right away.