Hi all, so , i got a new tablet for christmas, and am now looking for a payg sim card, mainly to use occasionally on holiday (this country) for browsing local attractions, and an occasional sport program,so i was wanting to go on payg rather than a contract,but after making some enquiries it seems most sim's run out after a month....?
i was under the impression that payg was just that, you paid, and then topped up when you wanted, but it seems not.
so , does anyone know of a sim card on payg that doesnt run out,
my mobile phone is on sky mobile at £7 a month contract
thanks Stu
Not PAYG, but we have a 120gb data simm on EE (argos) which last for 12 months or till you use it up in our mifi unit on the moho. May well be worth a look?
This may be a pay as you go 4G simcard.
Unless your tablet is locked for one supplier you can go to Asda etc and get a cheap one for £5, stick some airtime on it and throw it away when you get home until next summer when you need another one.
If you're not using this during the winter don't pay the monthly fee, SIM cards are cheap.
I have PAYG SIMs for the 2 networks I don't have monthly contract with, namely O2 and Vodafone, in case I end up in an area with poor signals for EE and Smarty/3, and they kept lapsing as I kept forgetting to send a text or whatever to keep them alive.
I got new SIMs for these 2 networks as spares in case I need to use them and pay the activation fee as and when needed.
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I also use the 120gb ee card from argos. Last one cost me £60. Plenty for me for the year it lasts, in fact there is usually quite a few gb left at the end of the year.
Only problem I experienced with it was when it suddenly stopped working after a few months. Phoned ee and told they had switched it off because I had not topped up for several weeks. Needless to say, I explained it was valid for a year and (very politely) not to do that again.
Quote: Originally posted by daveyjp on 07/2/2025
If you have a mobile on a data contract just use the phone as a hotspot.
Check what sky mobile offer, but I'm with smarty and pay £7 a month for 60gb.
yeh thanks, i have loads of data on my phone, as i get 2g a month and it rolls over to the next month, and i have about 40g stored ,so the hotspot would be ideal " if i knew how to do it" it would be great if you could talk me through that----- nothing too technical though, thanks
For an Android Smart Phone go into settings, and then connections. Down the list you will see "Mobile Hotspot and Tethering" tap on that and select Mobile Hotspot. It will show the network name which you search for on your tablet and it gives you a password which allows access to wifi via your tablet. Apple phones are probably similar?
Turn hotspot on, then go to tablet wi fi or connection settings and look for the hotspot link to the phone. Connect using the password given on the phone.
I had a PAYG card from ID mobile, for use abroad. Overall used about 4GB of data for a month: satnav; browsing; some TV through iPlayer; uploading my blog, including photos. At the end of the month, had to go into the online account page and add the fee for the next month. I did miss it by a day, and had to pay quite a lot for the out of contract rates, but that was my error.
It seemed efficient, and good value: the tethering worked well, and far more efficient than campsite WiFi.
Quote: Originally posted by cliffbrown on 08/2/2025
I to use the EE 12 month sim search ebay cheaper than Argos
Yes, I saw those. The only snag was the cheaper one was activated the day of dispatch, so no use buying in advance to replace the one in use. At £60, they are activated only when inserted. Just a question of personal choice.
I'm looking at the IQ Go sim card, you pay £20 subscription then it costs £20 for 100GB which includes 25GB EU data, you can buy less for cheaper, just top it up as you need it
hi all, thanks for all your replies,
i decided to go down the Hotspot and tethering route allthough i had to get some help from my son to do it, and it took him a while, some of the headings mentioned above are slightly different on my phone (Motorola) any way got it working through my phone now , using phone's data ,so will monitor how it behaves whilst out and about and report back soon
thanks
Stu
Not to put too fine a point on it, mobile signal coverage can be pretty rubbish on many campsites, quite often coverage is VERY network dependent! Last couple of sites I've used had no data, and highly flaky basic voice coverage!
Often down to the relative remoteness (away from densely populated areas) of many campsites (that may just be the ones I choose!) and distance from a transmitter mast, plus density of tree cover blocking signal!
May just be my favoured locations, but tend to give up on mobile coverage when in my caravan, and revel in being 'disconnected' from the rest of the world in a way! But then, I'm happy not streaming TV/Video, I don't spend time on social media, and I catch up on phone calls when out and about if necessary. Info on local attractions can usually be found on old fashioned paper leaflets etc. from site info kiosk or when out and about.
I never really expect to get mobile signal on a campsite, mostly my expectations are realised, but I'm at ease with that! ... And I've found the signal coverage maps from the various networks are not to be relied upon!
yeh , thanks Monty, i realise that but it would be the same whichever network we try, otherwise it would mean traveling with a pocket full of sim cards, i'll see how it goes, my phone is on SKY mobile ,which ,i think uses EE,
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Topic: PA.Y.GO sim for new tablet?
via mobile 07/2/2025 at 5:55pm
