Roamless - Data roaming on UK (and foreign) Networks

[steveseagull]

Came across this mobile company which is good for getting data in the UK when your primary provider has no coverage so I signed up. You download the app and it installs the sim.

It is Esim only so it can be installed on a fairly new phone alongside your existing Sim.

Roaming partners in the UK are Three, O2 and Vodaphone. I am on EE which means I can access all four networks which is useful when I am camping as if I have no signal on EE I can try the other networks. You just stick some money on it on a PAYG basis and you can use it home and abroad. Couple of quid a GB in the UK and decent prices abroad and your data allowance does not expire. You can't however get a phone number on this service (yet) It is data only

Website

 

[steveseagull]

editor sorry, can you move this to the Mobile Phone board please!

 

[mx wcfc]

Came across this mobile company which is good for getting data in the UK when your primary provider has no coverage so I signed up. You download the app and it installs the sim.

It is Esim only so it can be installed on a fairly new phone alongside your existing Sim.

Roaming partners in the UK are Three, O2 and Vodaphone. I am on EE which means I can access all four networks which is useful when I am camping as if I have no signal on EE I can try the other networks. You just stick some money on it on a PAYG basis and you can use it home and abroad. Couple of quid a GB in the UK and decent prices abroad and your data allowance does not expire. You can't however get a phone number on this service (yet) It is data only

Website

I got an e-sim with my new phone.

Turns out e-sims don't work for roaming in the EU.

Very pissed off when we went to Italy in May
Got a proper sim before we went to Croatia last month and all good.

I suspect you are right and the esim is all good, but not sure I'd go near one again.

 

[skyscraper101]

I got an e-sim with my new phone.

Turns out e-sims don't work for roaming in the EU.

Very pissed off when we went to Italy in May
Got a proper sim before we went to Croatia last month and all good.

I suspect you are right and the esim is all good, but not sure I'd go near one again.

Are you sure about this? I have an e-sim (EE) and roam all the time in Europe.

In fact a lot of firms entire business model is designed around selling esims for roaming. See Airalo and Holafly as examples.

 

[skyscraper101]

Came across this mobile company which is good for getting data in the UK when your primary provider has no coverage so I signed up. You download the app and it installs the sim.

It is Esim only so it can be installed on a fairly new phone alongside your existing Sim.

Roaming partners in the UK are Three, O2 and Vodaphone. I am on EE which means I can access all four networks which is useful when I am camping as if I have no signal on EE I can try the other networks. You just stick some money on it on a PAYG basis and you can use it home and abroad. Couple of quid a GB in the UK and decent prices abroad and your data allowance does not expire. You can't however get a phone number on this service (yet) It is data only

Website

Edit. My bad I didn't read it properly the first time and dismissed it.

Looking at it properly, it's actually not a bad deal at all and perfect for your use case as the data never expires and it works in several countries as well as the UK.

I initially assumed it was one of these 30 day SIMs which only work in the UK and designed for tourists. So you're absolutely right, if you just need a few gigabytes for a few days but coverage on one network is patchy or non existent, it's not bad at all and you can keep whatever you don't use for next time. Good find.

I might even buy 1GB for $2.45 use in Brazil so I have data as soon as I land, and it should get me from the airport to the shopping mall so I can get the local SIM with the 35GB of data for R$59 (£8).

 

[mx wcfc]

Are you sure about this? I have an e-sim (EE) and roam all the time in Europe.

In fact a lot of firms entire business model is designed around selling esims for roaming. See Airalo and Holafly as examples.

Mine is Vodaphone. It was definately the esim that was the problem.

I guess different esims work differently.

 

[skyscraper101]

Mine is Vodaphone. It was definately the esim that was the problem.

I guess different esims work differently.

How strange, I've never heard of this. They should just work the same as a regular SIM, as long as there's roaming enabled, there shouldn't be an issue.

Coincidentally I’ve actually just spent the last week researching roaming solutions for Brazil where I’ll be for 2 weeks in November. As I mentioned I have an esim with EE but their international data passes are a joke. £8.45 per day for a whole.... 150mb (!) of data. I think not.

Actually none of the U.K. networks offer particularly good data allowances here. 'Three' are the best with their ‘Roam Around The World’ pack but the max allowance is 30gb a month and it costs £35 a month. That's pretty poor and I'll burn through 30gb easily in a month. Also I'm only there for 2 weeks. but £35 is ridiculous considering I could get a local sim with even more data which lasts for a month for around £8.

The aforementioned travel E-Sims like Holafly and Airalo are fine but tend to offer very little data for quite a price. OK if you're there like a couple of days but if you're there any longer than a week I'd always consider a local sim.

 

[skyscraper101]

I've just activated my SIM. I'll use it in Brazil next week. Turns out you can only buy a minimum of $5 packages which is equivalent to 0.7GB of data - which isn't the best value for money BUT there is a promotion on right now which will basically give you $5 free. So this will be sufficient for some data on landing, and should be enough to get me to my hotel, and the local mall to get a proper SIM for local data.

Free 2GB Roamless eSIM Worldwide, No Expiry - New Customers via Roamless | hotukdeals

www.hotukdeals.com

TBH the best thing about this, is that it works in multiple countries, and the data never expires. So it's perfect for that example in the OP where you're camping or something in the UK and your main provider is patchy. This can be am ideal backup without having to have a bespoke plan on a separate sim locked to a single network.

 

[Hollis]

In Indonesia I got an e-sim package about £13 for 30 GB for 30 days.. got it out there..

https://mobimatter.com/

 

[skyscraper101]

Just to update, I used Roamless when I was in Brazil the other week and it worked great.

And as I planned it was enough to get data on landing, an uber to my hotel, and another uber to a shopping mall where I was able to buy a local sim at a much more favourable rate. TBH, if you're not massively data hungry you could probably just get by with a Roamless e-sim by itself. But I'm someone who averages about 1GB per day it wasn't economically viable for me. For others it may be fine though.

The best thing is I still have data left over so whenever I'm in a dead zone with EE in the UK, I'll try this SIM as an alternative. Or if I happen to be travelling outside the EU anytime soon for a short stay I might just use this instead of faffing about with travel sims or expensive bolt-on packs.

 

[skyscraper101]

In Indonesia I got an e-sim package about £13 for 30 GB for 30 days.. got it out there..

Buy travel eSIMs for your next trip | MobiMatter

That's good value. Local SIMs are usually always better value. Roamless is perfect however for that short amount of time you may need from landing in a country to procuring a local SIM. The fact you just need a tiny bit of data with Roamless, and hang on the the unused data you haven't used so you can use again on your next trip, is the selling point for me.

 

[skyscraper101]

Just back from a week in the US and used Roamless instead of paying for a data pass with EE. Just as in Brazil, it worked perfectly and meant I didn't have to pay for any more data than I used, nor faff around trying to find a one off travel sim for that particular region, nor add on any costly bolt-on packs with my own provider.

In fact last time I was there I had a 'US roaming pass' on my EE plan, and the thing wouldn't even connect for the first couple of hours after landing which made getting an Uber a massive pain. If nothing else then having a second data SIM as backup is worth it alone.