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Sim-only mobile plan for England and Ireland?

We are starting in England at the end of June then heading to Ireland. We have two unlocked Canadian phones and NO good option from our own provider (I've checked). I would like to find a cheap sim-only plan that would cover us in both countries if possible, with the sim purchased in the UK. (No one seems to ship the sims to addresses outside of the EU.)

We don't need a lot of calls, and would only be calling within England/Ireland. We will text each other, and I want a good amount of data for when we are out and about. (Will use wifi at our accommodations.)

I saw something about EU roaming charges being abolished in June 17, but goodness knows how Brexit negotiations will affect that.

Posted by
5311 posts

There may well be cheaper specialist solutions, but the easiest 'high street' solution could be to get two SIMs from Three UK. You can get a package for £20 that includes 3000 texts, 300 minutes and 12GB of data for £20 which can also be used on Three Ireland through the 'Feel at Home' feature. If you don't need to have the data on both phones, you could use PAYG on the other which would be 3p per minute in the UK and 3.9p in the Republic of Ireland for calls and 2p for texts.

Three may not be the best at coverage though particularly in remote areas - then again that can be a problem with whoever.

Posted by
1161 posts

Also if you get SIMS from same provider its almost certain calls between them are free.
I'll plug giffgaff as I have been with them 6 years

Posted by
34 posts

We've got a Three data-only SIM (12GB for 12 months) and a Three monthly plan (data, call and text) and have had no problems in the UK. The only problem we've had was when we've been outside the UK in Europe (Sweden, Norway and Italy) and tried to tether. Tethering doesn't work outside the UK on Three's 'Feel at Home' but tethering worked fine in the UK.

A few things to think about -

If you get phones through the same provider and there's no signal where you are, you'll be out of luck. If you get phones through different providers, if one doesn't have a signal, the other might. This probably won't be an issue unless you'll be somewhere remote.

We got a Three data-only SIM for my mom's iPad and it worked fine, but it messed up the contacts on her device. Her iPad is US and the SIM was UK and it put a +44 country code before each of her contacts. Most of her contacts were US numbers, so it was a bit annoying. I don't know how it happened, but it's something to be aware of if you'll be using your normal phones. It may have been a setting on her iPad or she did something without realising.... who knows.

I'd definitely suggest paying cash for your SIMs. This way, there's no worry of extra charges being tacked on to your bill or any recurring fees. That might be unnecessary, but better than seeing an unexpected charge on your credit card statement and then having to sort it out!

Posted by
41 posts

I've always used three UK and never had any problems. Interestingly when I first went over there in 2013 I had coverage all over the UK, including the Orkney Islands and Northern Ireland, but as soon as I crossed the boarder into the Republic of Ireland - nothing, zilch zero zip internet. The 3 guy in Galway said that's the way it is, 3 UK had no reciprocal deal with 3 in Ireland. Needless to say when I returned in 2016, 3 UK had coverage everywhere, even in the Republic/Dublin :-)