Wifi abroad, 3 and Brexit

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Anjistar

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We are on the verge of buying our first PVC, and wondered what other people's experience has been abroad with wifi.

Does anyone use the 3 unlimited (data, calls, texts plus roaming/binge) offer, currently about £13 x 7 months then £26 x 5 months?

We don't watch much TV but want the option to occasionally watch something on Netflix on my laptop and we do use Spotify.

I've been with O2 for years for the coverage and a work-related discount, but not working now and want something we can use in the van abroad. 3 seems to be the only company guaranteeing no roaming charges past December 31st, but is their coverage any good?
 
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This is from EE... Their coverage is very good, except In Norfolk obviously.

"We plan to continue to provide inclusive roaming to our customers going on holiday or travelling in the EU regardless of the outcome of the trade deal discussions" .
 
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LesW said:
This is from EE... Their coverage is very good, except In Norfolk obviously.

"We plan to continue to provide inclusive roaming to our customers going on holiday or travelling in the EU regardless of the outcome of the trade deal discussions" .
Click to expand...

The first UK mobile network to reintroduce roaming charges will get loads of social media flak and lose customers. Doubt if any CEO wants to risk that.
 
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We have found a good 3 signal over most of Europe...............it depends who they are partnered with.We went with them because at that time they were the only ones to promise no changes.
Perhaps they all will follow suit............or all introduce charges at once.
We use the Huawei mi fi with the laptops as we don't have smart phones
 
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No point in paying out for unlimited just for travelling abroad, as under the fair usage policy you can only use up to 20GB of your data allowance at no extra cost.
I've used 3 all over Europe and have always had a good signal.

Pete

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You have to watch for when you use it abroad as Thee can be 'throttled' to lower speeds and also the unlimited data can't be used abroad, I can't remember the exact figure at present but it's probably something like 20gb per month and they have a maximum of 2 months at a time policy.

Have a look at the offerings from the following who do good Vodafone deals with cashback (easy to do):

Broken Link Removed
www.fonehouse.co.uk
 
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LesW said:
This is from EE... Their coverage is very good, except In Norfolk obviously.

"We plan to continue to provide inclusive roaming to our customers going on holiday or travelling in the EU regardless of the outcome of the trade deal discussions" .
Click to expand...
All the telecoms companies say they 'plan' not to re-introduce roaming charges, but 3 are the only one to state categorically that they won't.

If others do, they may indeed get flak, but it won't deter them if only one company doesn't - they'll just make home deals irresistible for all those people who don't want or need to travel abroad.
 
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We have used Three in France to stream tv and it worked well, didn’t need a vpn.
we got good signal most places but remember what ever allowance you have, when roaming you can only use 19gb per month.
 
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As 3s Go Binge deal uses no data does that mean unlimited Binging abroad
ie Streaming Netflix does not count?

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SpeedyDux said:
The first UK mobile network to reintroduce roaming charges will get loads of social media flak and lose customers. Doubt if any CEO wants to risk that.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
There are plenty of Countries you can roam in on 3.

They just limit the data you can use.
 
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I have been using Three on a SMARTY contract whilst in Europe but they have now changed their terms and conditions and from 10 October they are now removing some European countries, specifically Switzerland which affects me, from their free inclusive data roaming . I'm now looking to change
 
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Geo said:
As 3s Go Binge deal uses no data does that mean unlimited Binging abroad
ie Streaming Netflix does not count?
Click to expand...

I think there are usage limits but only that you have to have some data allowance left. So you have to remember that if you're abroad, you have a 'fair usage' data cap.

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I've used EE, Vodafone & Three, EE. I've found EE is the easiest most seamless to use and gave the best reception, Vodafone a close 2nd. In the past Three have throttled speeds so I dissed then but other Funsters have said they are OK now so I'm giving them another try. I just got an unlimited Data pay monthly sim which I'll use in our Mifi on our coming trip to Germany.

Three's Go Binge is very confusing when you read their T&C, it says you can use it roaming and it won't add to your data usage then in the next line it says it will come out of your data allowance. One Funster said it worked OK.

When roaming if you have a poor signal or slow connection you can change the network you are connected too but your provider often won't allow you to connect to all the networks you can see.
Mosel Valley in Germany is one of the worst areas in Europe for mobile data another member said Three was the only one that would connect to a network that gave a decent signal.

Most Networks limit you to 20GB when roaming apart from Vodafone where you get your full allowance except on unlimited sims where it is 25GB.
 
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I used to be with three on unlimited data. You are limited to 20gb abroad but coverage was ok, no worse than any other company. It was threes customer service that I found difficult so I left and I have a relative that works for vodaphone so got a great deal and Vodafone limit you to 25gb abroad.
 
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ADJF said:
I have been using Three on a SMARTY contract whilst in Europe but they have now changed their terms and conditions and from 10 October they are now removing some European countries, specifically Switzerland which affects me, from their free inclusive data roaming . I'm now looking to change
Click to expand...

Changes to roaming charges and international rates
Discover what’s changing for Switzerland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

Roaming rates in Switzerland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man


As of 18 October 2020, roaming rates in Switzerland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man will be changing. Data will be charged at 2p per MB, voice calls (UK/same band) at 10p per minute, and video calls will be £2.50 per minute.

International rates towards the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

As of 18 October 2020, rates for UK customers calling and messaging the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man will be moving to the International 1 band. Voice calls will be charged at 3p per minute, SMS will be 6p per message, MMS (pictures/videos) will be 20p per message and video calls will be £1.50 per minute.

Why is this happening?

We are currently making a loss by charging EU Roaming rates in Switzerland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and by having calls and messages to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man in bundle. Being a simple, honest mobile network, we don’t like to raise your prices, but we need to make sure we’re covering our costs.

Changes to roaming charges and international rates | SMARTY Help Centre

Discover what’s changing for Switzerland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
help.smarty.co.uk help.smarty.co.uk

Pete
 
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We use Vodafone 100gb each for £25 per month. They want us to have unlimited but we will not due to the abroad capping. Interestingly met someone last year who knows the person who writes the auto emails and they did not have an email yet for 'you have exceeded your limit'
 
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Am I imagining it? Or was there not a government requirement for all providers to advise status @ 50%. Then 90 or something similar. I know my broadband provider does just that?.

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So many things we know as "government requirements" were in fact EU requirements.
Being able to roam abroad at the same cost was one of them.

Perhaps they've just given up warning people about their usage.
I imagine this could be quite a nice earner next year.
Yes you can use up to 20gb of data abroad but we won't tell you as you reach your limit and hit you with massive charges if you go over............ like in the good old days.

Very easy to reach their bill cap at £43 .....but perhaps the cap will be scrapped as well
 
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Lenny HB said:
I've used EE, Vodafone & Three, EE. I've found EE is the easiest most seamless to use and gave the best reception, Vodafone a close 2nd. In the past Three have throttled speeds so I dissed then but other Funsters have said they are OK now so I'm giving them another try. I just got an unlimited Data pay monthly sim which I'll use in our Mifi on our coming trip to Germany.

Three's Go Binge is very confusing when you read their T&C, it says you can use it roaming and it won't add to your data usage then in the next line it says it will come out of your data allowance. One Funster said it worked OK.

When roaming if you have a poor signal or slow connection you can change the network you are connected too but your provider often won't allow you to connect to all the networks you can see.
Mosel Valley in Germany is one of the worst areas in Europe for mobile data another member said Three was the only one that would connect to a network that gave a decent signal.

Most Networks limit you to 20GB when roaming apart from Vodafone where you get your full allowance except on unlimited sims where it is 25GB.
Click to expand...
We are just outside Trier at the moment and watched an hour catching up on "The Bridge". We have a Smarty sim in the MiFi and its currently connected to the O2.de network and has been fine without any buffering tonight. Smarty is the value offer from Three which I have on the mobile. Despite Three being allegedly limited to 3g all my connections over the last 3 weeks in Germany, both mobile and MiFi have been 4g and excellent, mainly connected to Vodafone.de.

We have had some buffering on the MiFi but whether that has been down to throttling back or just simply a lot of other users on a busy site I couldn't say.

I have never really understood data connections because you can apparently see a fast speed but still have a poor download. Is this to do with ping response?
 
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Lenny HB said:
Most operators allow you to set your own cap, so set it to zero and no nasty surprises.
Click to expand...
I've set our sims to zero as well as restricting what we can call (ie no premium/chargeable numbers), text (no chargeable text numbers) and no sending of photos as hubby has a nasty habit of forgetting that they are charged for! :doh:
 
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One of the reasons I chose Smarty is that it allows me to use the same sim in my mifi, I just simply remove from my phone and put it into my mifi device. If I need to phone then I use my wifes phone.
As I'm only tied in for 1 month at a time with the contract acting on a rolling basis I can swap and change data allowance.

Pete

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We are with Virgin Mobile they have a special offer unlimited minutes and texts and 36Gb data and they roll over upto 10Gb each month, my phone ported OK but Bren's took 8 days and customer service was abysmal(but they were all working from home)
 
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We are in spain now with ee and i have 40gb and my wife 20gb per month, hers in the mifi box...and ee are letting us use all of it abroad. And i can gift mine to hers, and its been fine all the way down to Roquetas
 
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