84 replies to this topic

[aaww]

thank you for this comprehensive article! I am traveling to uk allot and just like you have wifi most of the time but its good to have a free solution while not having wifi access so thank you again !!! I will defiantly signe up to Ovivo and will try out Samba as well (even if I have to watch 292 commercials) (Think i will script something and leave it running to get the free megabytes )

[potatowhale]

aaww, on 02 February 2013 - 10:43 AM, said:

(Think i will script something and leave it running to get the free megabytes )

This was my initial thought... Too bad I can't script for peanuts. And it's a against the ToS... but when does that stop anyone?



Used the link in the OP, I hope you get your £2.50. Thanks for posting this.

I'm also going to give Ovivo a shot (because more options right?) so if someone (preferably the OP) wants to throw me a referral link...

Edited by potatowhale, 02 February 2013 - 01:28 PM.

[gadgetshop]

just signed up for Samba. Only really want it for when I go away in May, so plenty of time to earn some credit.

[FullCycle]

Please PM me if you are.on ovivo and want to refer me.for.bonus credit. Having a look online I think we both get £2 and I just need a name and number.

[Zarch1972]

FullCycle, on 02 February 2013 - 03:21 PM, said:

Please PM me if you are.on ovivo and want to refer me.for.bonus credit. Having a look online I think we both get £2 and I just need a name and number.

Glad you enjoyed the article and thanks for the offer of a referral.  I've PM'ed over the details.  

[hecatae]

For myself, Three UK is saturated in my home location, barely get more that 28kbps a second download, but upload is 1mbps.

If I take my sim to work or elsewhere I get a healthy 5mbps download, 2mbps upload.

So for me, both Samba and Three UK are useless.

I've seen GiffGaff offer 3gb for £12.50 for 30 days, so going to test that.

[ace1978]

The above is all good and well but how about piggybacking off of your own android phones network, which is completely free. All you got to do is share the network connection from your phones WiFi or blue-tooth,

Just do the following:
First you will have to pair your tablet to your phone make sure to turn on discoverable mode.

1. click settings
2. click more
3. click tethering and portable hotspot
4.click configure wifi hotspot
5. enter a network name of your choosing for exp:( my phone ) then chose a password click save
6. click portable wifi hotspot or blue-tooth tethering (which ever you want to run off of,( i find blue-tooth runs better when phone is next to my tablet).let it find and your phone, click connect.

Viola, you are now sharing your phones internet connection completely free using your phones data plan.

[everett_psycho]

That's fine if you are on threes one plan and you might get away with it sharing an android phones network to another android device but it's actually against the terms of service, if I tether my phone to my laptop three will bill me for it.

I've ordered myself both samba and ovivo sims, the main reason is to give it a shot as my home broadband is woefully slow, if I use it a lot I might upgrade my main mobile to the one plan and use these sims as backup, but for an out lay of £12.50 it's a good way to see if I actually use the service before committing to a 12 month contract

[hecatae]

vodafone red data gives me 2gb of data which I can tether if required, but it's hardly ideal

[lineone]

"Having used the SIM whilst doing some test browsing on my Chromebook for a little while I can’t recall seeing any ads over and above the ones already on websites.  And this was with Adblock extension purposely turned off."

according to the video, ads are shown on your mobile browser but i can't confirm this until my sim arrives

[Zarch1972]

Looks like the price hike is now in force on Ovivo (SIM now £15), but you get the £15 back in credit when you sign up.

And they've also boosted the referral bonus from £2 to £3 per sign up.

[PlaneMan]

Zarch1972, on 05 February 2013 - 08:21 AM, said:

Looks like the price hike is now in force on Ovivo (SIM now £15), but you get the £15 back in credit when you sign up.

And they've also boosted the referral bonus from £2 to £3 per sign up.

You can also refer yourself if you want another SIM, before you wouldn't get the £. Handy if you run more than one phone.

[Zarch1972]

So from the replies, it appears that the T-Mobile PAYG SIM ONLY with 6 month Internet Booster is your best value PAID option.

Get your new PAYG SIM and put £10 of credit on it to activate, then buy a £20 Internet Booster that lasts 6 months with "unlimited browsing" (but subject to their Fair Use Policy for downloads)

http://www.t-mobile....ou-go/boosters/

So works out £5 per month for the first 6 months (£10 + £20), then £3.33 for each of the subsequent months (£20 every 6 months)

Certainly looks a bargain to me.

[everett_psycho]

Zarch1972, on 07 February 2013 - 07:52 AM, said:

So from the replies, it appears that the T-Mobile PAYG SIM ONLY with 6 month Internet Booster is your best value PAID option.

Get your new PAYG SIM and put £10 of credit on it to activate, then buy a £20 Internet Booster that lasts 6 months with "unlimited browsing" (but subject to their Fair Use Policy for downloads)

http://www.t-mobile....ou-go/boosters/

So works out £5 per month for the first 6 months (£10 + £20), then £3.33 for each of the subsequent months (£20 every 6 months)

Certainly looks a bargain to me.

Can't you whack £20 on, activate it then use that to pay for the internet booster? Seems the first £10 would go to waste just sat on the account.

My samba and ovivo sims and dongle turned up yesterday, had a quick play but I'm impressed so far, I'll give it some more attention at the weekend as reception in our flat is patchy.

[unrandomsam]

giryan, on 01 February 2013 - 11:32 AM, said:

I've been using a PAYG sim from T-Mobile in my tablet for a while.
If you purchase £20 of topup, then you get a month's free internet: http://www.t-mobile....s-you-go/plans/
Then they do a 6 Month internet booster for £20:
http://www.t-mobile....you-go/boosters
So for £40 you can get 14 months of internet.

The tmobile sims intended for phones are not so good. (They mess around doing stuff like downgrading the quality of images and also trash downloads in the process). If you use a vpn or tunnel over ssh you can get around it.

[unrandomsam]

Zarch1972, on 07 February 2013 - 07:52 AM, said:

So from the replies, it appears that the T-Mobile PAYG SIM ONLY with 6 month Internet Booster is your best value PAID option.

Get your new PAYG SIM and put £10 of credit on it to activate, then buy a £20 Internet Booster that lasts 6 months with "unlimited browsing" (but subject to their Fair Use Policy for downloads)

http://www.t-mobile....ou-go/boosters/

So works out £5 per month for the first 6 months (£10 + £20), then £3.33 for each of the subsequent months (£20 every 6 months)

Certainly looks a bargain to me.

You are only supposed to use them on phones. (Cannot get decent quality for jpg's in webpages even.) You can disable the accelerator but only on a proper mobile broadband sim.

[everett_psycho]

Not sure if anyone else has had this with ovivo but I paid £10 for the sim on Sunday, activated today and seem to have £15 credit on the account, too late for people thinking about buying but might be worth checking for those who did buy

[lineone]

don't ignore the ovivo loyalty bonus:

http://ovivomobile.c...ed-promotions-1

top up £10/month (which is what i spend with giffgaff at the moment) for a year and you should end up with 300 free texts - 300 free minutes & 800mb free internet which once earnt will remain whether you top up again or not

[hecatae]

just activated giffgaff in my huawei e5331 that I got for £46 from amazon, so much faster than 3 or samba

[ezablade]

Cheers for this... just ordered a Samba sim (too tight to pay £15)

Started watching the highly informative adverts, ready to use the data up in the summer whilst on the many weekends away planned with the kids. Free internet so they can do homework etc. is worth a try. Will be ordering a mifi soon, as tethering the phone kills the battery too much. It's OK for a short period of use, but it won't survive all day. Also, can leave a mifi near the laptop/Nexus all the time, and not worry about taking the internet access with me when I go for a pint.