davegr
Pro Member
TL;DR - What is the cheapest way to get all network coverage, with at least 3-5GB of data on each network?
Living rurally, I can sometimes find myself without signal. I usually have dual SIMs, e.g right now I have Vodafone + Three, with the idea being that one SIM from a Cornerstone network and another from an MBNL network will provide the highest chance of coverage. This was all well and good until I recently found myself in a village where I had no signal on either. Checking coverage maps later revealed that only EE has coverage there.
I've also had a few other incidents leading to this question.
Yesterday for example, I was trying to pay for hospital parking. It required downloading an app and I had zero throughput on both Vodafone and Three.
Another time, with only a Three SIM, I found myself in the middle of nowhere, without signal and needing to download a new satnav app + UK map. Due to very low throughput, it took just short of an hour to perform this simple task, once I had found a hint of signal that is.
For those wondering why I was in this situation, my then satnav app (Sygic) had just updated before a long journey home from an unfamiliar place and this update had caused it to start telling me to use the first exit at every single roundabout...
My conclusions so far:
TalkMobile (Vodafone) 4GB @ £4.95 - my current main SIM
O2 ... ?
Three unlimited @ £7.50 (via Scancom) - my current business SIM/emergency backup
Spusu (EE) 5GB @ £4.50 (after 4 months at £1)
An alternative would be to use something like this: https://uk.simcorner.com/collections/europe-sim-card/products/europe-uk-travel-sim-card-6gb, preferably one that is available as an eSIM. One concern I have with this approach is that some networks use quite aggressive network steering when roaming and you could potentially be pushed onto a network with no or very low throughput.
Thanks in advance for all suggestions
Dave
Living rurally, I can sometimes find myself without signal. I usually have dual SIMs, e.g right now I have Vodafone + Three, with the idea being that one SIM from a Cornerstone network and another from an MBNL network will provide the highest chance of coverage. This was all well and good until I recently found myself in a village where I had no signal on either. Checking coverage maps later revealed that only EE has coverage there.
I've also had a few other incidents leading to this question.
Yesterday for example, I was trying to pay for hospital parking. It required downloading an app and I had zero throughput on both Vodafone and Three.
Another time, with only a Three SIM, I found myself in the middle of nowhere, without signal and needing to download a new satnav app + UK map. Due to very low throughput, it took just short of an hour to perform this simple task, once I had found a hint of signal that is.
For those wondering why I was in this situation, my then satnav app (Sygic) had just updated before a long journey home from an unfamiliar place and this update had caused it to start telling me to use the first exit at every single roundabout...
My conclusions so far:
TalkMobile (Vodafone) 4GB @ £4.95 - my current main SIM
O2 ... ?
Three unlimited @ £7.50 (via Scancom) - my current business SIM/emergency backup
Spusu (EE) 5GB @ £4.50 (after 4 months at £1)
An alternative would be to use something like this: https://uk.simcorner.com/collections/europe-sim-card/products/europe-uk-travel-sim-card-6gb, preferably one that is available as an eSIM. One concern I have with this approach is that some networks use quite aggressive network steering when roaming and you could potentially be pushed onto a network with no or very low throughput.
Thanks in advance for all suggestions
Dave























