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Cheapest option on 02 network for 100gb plus of data?

tommydog

Pro Member
I live in a remote area of Scotland (postcode KW14XF) and 4G has been a life saver for me. I currently use the MikroTik RBLHGR&R11e-LTE6 outdoor dish mounted outside above the ridge of my roof. I have tried all of the networks so far and I seem to get the fastest speeds on 02 based networks. This is strange as vodaphone and 02 share the same mast, but I get faster speeds on 02.

At the moment I am on Giffgaff for 100GB for £20 per month. I am now finding that I am exceeding this limit and could do with 150GB or 200GB per month. I may need even more than this in the future if my partner comes to live here. The problem is Giffgaff’s unlimited is £35 per month, which is not very competitive compared to Smarty who offer an unlimited plan for £20 per month. Problem is, its only the 02 based networks that work well here, so what options do I have?

These seem to be the only other options for 02 based carriers:

Tesco mobile (24 month contract) - £17.50 unlimited
Lycamobile (no contract) -£ 25.00 unlimited standard price but £18.90 deal on uswitch

Not sure if Tesco is viable as if you read their terms and conditions it says the sim must be installed in a phone to qualify for the unlimited data. Also I am unsure how reliable Lycamobile is with no speed throttling. Reliability is crucial as I need it for my work.

Can't believe nobody does just a data sim with no calling for a competative price. I will not even make one call on it. Data only sims seem to be more expensive than calling and data. Thats kind of madness!

Not sure if anyone is aware of anything else?
 
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I live in a remote area of Scotland (postcode KW14XF) and 4G has been a life saver for me. I currently use the MikroTik RBLHGR&R11e-LTE6 outdoor dish mounted outside above the ridge of my roof. I have tried all of the networks so far and I seem to get the fastest speeds on 02 based networks. This is strange as vodaphone and 02 share the same mast, but I get faster speeds on 02.

At the moment I am on Giffgaff for 100GB for £20 per month. I am now finding that I am exceeding this limit and could do with 150GB or 200GB per month. I may need even more than this in the future if my partner comes to live here. The problem is Giffgaff’s unlimited is £35 per month, which is not very competitive compared to Smarty who offer an unlimited plan for £20 per month. Problem is, its only the 02 based networks that work well here, so what options do I have?
According to google, Lyca mobile use the o2 network and they have an unlimited sim for £25 a month. Or, if you want to go the cashback route, topcashback has some good cashback if you shop directly with o2. I believe o2 offer 150gb for £22 a month, that's £42 cashback. That'll be a 24 month contract though.
 
MVNOs for O2 include Lycamobile, Sky, Tesco. Tesco looks the cheapest at £17.50 for unlimited data if you have a Tesco Clubcard but do check for fair use policy.
 
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According to google, Lyca mobile use the o2 network and they have an unlimited sim for £25 a month
Yes I linked to that. £25 is the standard price, but uswitch have an offer for £18.90 per month. Not sure how good Lyca is? I need reliable with no speed throttling
 
MVNOs for O2 include Lycamobile, Sky, Tesco. Tesco looks the cheapest at £17.50 for unlimited data if you have a Tesco Clubcard but do check for fair use policy.
If you read their terms and conditions, it says the sim must be installed in a phone to qualify for unlimited data.
 
Hi @tommydog
Tesco looks good as per the above. If you choose that, go through topcashback as they seem to give $93.50 back:

1650625215445.png


Also check O2's offers. They have £30 for unlimited data (and free Disney+ 6 months) and if you get it through topcashback you get £63.75 back, basically reducing your spend to £27.35/m..
Tescomobile's price will be hard to ignore though...
The only advantage _maybe_ that I would see with going to O2 directly is (again _maybe_) less throttling, but watch out for their FUP of 600 GB (afaik).
 
Yes I linked to that. £25 is the standard price, but uswitch have an offer for £18.90 per month. Not sure how good Lyca is? I need reliable with no speed throttling
My bad, i somehow skipped the last part of your post, guess i'm still waking up. I've personally not used o2 or o2 MVNOs as they are pretty useless around my parts
 
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Tescomobile's price will be hard to ignore though...
Yes its a good price but if you read their terms and conditions it says the sim must be installed in a phone to qualify for the unlimited data. Dont know if they have a way to tell where the sim is installed, but I guess it will look suspicious if all I use is data and don't make a single call.
 
Yes its a good price but if you read their terms and conditions it says the sim must be installed in a phone to qualify for the unlimited data. Dont know if they have a way to tell where the sim is installed, but I guess it will look suspicious if all I use is data and don't make a single call.
They put all sorts of stuff in the terms and conditions. EU/OFCOM ruling in 2018 says they can't dictate what devices the customers choose to use.

The tip with the TTL above could be worth trying, too.
 
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This is their terms and conditions:

"Usage which may be considered abusive and therefore a breach of this fair
usage policy includes, but is not limited to, usage of the Services by you or
any third party permitted by you:

*Using a Tesco Mobile SIM card in, or connected to any
device or hardware other than a mobile phone or tablet. For
example, using your Tesco Mobile SIM card in a router for
broadband;"

Wonder what would legally constitute a tablet? Would a Raspberry pi with a mini LCD display constitute a tablet? Would a router with an LCD menu display constitute a tablet? What happens if you install router software on a tablet? Is it no longer tablet? How can they allow phone teathering but not "routers" surely if you are tethering from a phone the phone then become a router?
 
EU/OFCOM ruling in 2018 says they can't dictate what devices the customers choose to use.
Do you have a link to that ruling? As a second point if they did terminate my service, it would be a lot of hassle and a drawn out process to go to court over it.
 
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@tommydog also

"The EU Open Internet Access Regulation, among other things, enshrines ISP customers’ fundamental right to access the content and information, to use the applications and services, and to use the terminal equipment of their choice through their internet access service through their internet access service. ISPs may enter into agreements with their customers on the commercial and technical conditions of the service, but in doing so they cannot limit customers’ core rights. The Regulation permits ISPs to employ “reasonable” traffic management practices, but in order to qualify they must be proportionate, transparent, based on technical quality of services requirements (rather than commercial considerations), and be in place no longer than necessary. ISPs may not engage in any other form of traffic management – such as blocking, throttling, altering, restricting, interfering with, degrading, or discriminating between content, applications, and services, or categories of them - except under narrowly defined circumstances."

 
This is their terms and conditions:

"Usage which may be considered abusive and therefore a breach of this fair
usage policy includes, but is not limited to, usage of the Services by you or
any third party permitted by you:

*Using a Tesco Mobile SIM card in, or connected to any
device or hardware other than a mobile phone or tablet. For
example, using your Tesco Mobile SIM card in a router for
broadband;"

Wonder what would legally constitute a tablet? Would a Raspberry pi with a mini LCD display constitute a tablet? Would a router with an LCD menu display constitute a tablet? What happens if you install router software on a tablet? Is it no longer tablet? How can they allow phone teathering but not "routers" surely if you are tethering from a phone the phone then become a router?

It gets even more vague, the Mikrotik R11e-LTE in your LHG is attached via Mini PCI-E.

You could attach that to a raspberry pi, and Mikrotik have moved to Quectel modems, which can be found in the Pinephone: https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/
 
I only see LTE Band 20
On the Mikrotik?

Where is your local mast located?

Anyway, lets look at the other issues, your LHGR+LTE6 like mine is limited with a single 10/100 Ethernet port.

The LTE6 is limited by the bands it supports, 1/2/3/7/8/20/5/12/17/25/26/38/40/41.

O2 have rolled out:
Band 28
Band 8
Band 20
Band 3
Band 1
Band 40
Band 38

The LTE6 can aggregate the following on O2:
1+1/8/20
3+3/8/20
38+38
40+40

Is the LHG pointing at the best mast in your area, as O2 have fully rolled out B40 across the UK and this would give you the best speeds possible.
 
On the webpage interface, top left choose terminal, terminal screen appears in the web page, enter the required TTL mangle command
Thank you for that. So I just launch the terminal and paste the below code into it?

/ip firewall mangle
add action=change-ttl chain=postrouting new-ttl=set:65 out-interface=lte1 passthrough=yes

Also is there any downside to doing this in terms of performance?
 
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