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Tesco fair use - experiences?

kaveman

Casual Member
I'm in the process of testing SIMs from all of the network operators to find the best 5G signal for mobile broadband in my router. I am in the middle of a city but my internet connection is really poor and if 5G can get me to over 100Mbps I will be happy. <EDIT - I fixed a typo in the speed.>

So far, O2 is giving by far the best signal. I would like to get a Tesco Mobile unlimited data SIM, but I see they have a clause saying that it cannot be used in a router. I likely won't use all that much data but I certainly do not want to sign up for a 2 year contract only to be told a few months down the line that I'm in breach of contract.

Has this happened to anyone? Are clauses like this ever enforced? What happens to your contract? Can I somehow use a SIM in a router and keep "under the radar" so I don't trigger their lawyers?

Any advice is welcome!
 
Last edited:
No network will give you 100Gbps on any network fixed or mobile..

For occasional usage you will be fine, but if it is always connected to data, it has been known for the networks to disconnect your sessions. , and then rate limit your connection...
Best thing to do is get a data specific sim card, just to be on the safe side......
 
You are right, that was of course a typo. 100Mbps.

I'm still interested to know the experience of those who have used a normal SIM in a router. I'm not going to be torrenting or using huge amounts of data so I wonder if the fair use clause will be a problem.
 
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it has been known for the networks to disconnect your sessions. , and then rate limit your connection...
Only when you’ve hit their FUP of usually around 600-650gb so many times.

By ofcom rules you can use a sim in any device without being penalised, however, Lyca I believe didn’t like you doing so even to date.

OP may be worth checking out the hot deals topic and searching “scancom” sim on Amazon.

I got sound 18 months EE unlimited for £200, and other than the random disconnect early hours, nothing a router restart doesn’t fix.
 
I'll take a look at the deals topic, thanks. I think I am limited to O2 but I'll know when I have completed my testing of all networks by the end of the week. There's a clause that specifically says my preferred SIM is not to be used in a router, which is the worrying part. It's a 2 year contract and it would be expensive if they just block my device instead of cancelling the contract.
 
I wouldn't commit to a 2 year contract as that is a long time.
Try EE/1pmobile also 3/Smarty
Also Vodafone/Voxi
Rolling 30 days rather than a long contract.
Then when you know which is best consider a prepay 3 or EE data sim if it works as expected.
 
Don't bother with O2 or any of it's MVNOS if you don't want your connection throttled. I tried it and it was good for a few months with decent speed until they figured out the SIM was likely in a router. They never disconnected or stopped me from using it, but did start throttling the connection to around 30mb. I don't use a huge amount of data, it was around 150meg a month. My advice would be go with Three or EE, with Three you get a proper IP address if you use the 3internet APN and if they have 5g available on a mast near you, you will get 140mhz of n78.
 
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Really useful information, thank you.
Sadly I am limited to O2. I obtained sims from all of the networks and it's only O2 that has a usable signal for me. I've been working on this for about 2 months now .. it's never been so hard to find someone willing to take my money! :D
 
Really useful information, thank you.
Sadly I am limited to O2. I obtained sims from all of the networks and it's only O2 that has a usable signal for me. I've been working on this for about 2 months now .. it's never been so hard to find someone willing to take my money! :D
I wonder whether @NinjaAverage might be able to help with something suitable in this case tbh (or even our resident Tesco expert @RajSandhu2k).
 
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This is what I see
 

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Lyca don't deserve to be in business, such a shoddy company plus making the EE network look bad with high latency
Agreed wholly. They need shutting down, absolute cowboys. I cannot believe sites such as MSE and Uswitch still reccomend them too.
 
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