Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

I will be going into care shortly and i'm not sure if they will have WiFi that I can use.

To begin with I can access mobile data using the credit that i've built up with 1pmobile.

After that runs out, which are the cheapest mobile data providers?

Are there any free ones? I have some free sims that Spiderplant kindly put me onto, but these are limited and you can only have a maximum of five accounts

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

I use ASDA, cheapest bundle is £5 a month for 3gb, unlimited calls texts, more than enough for me.
Out of bundle charge are cheap too.

Various options here:-
https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/pay-as-you-go-deals

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

Smarty on the 3 network gives large data for low cost
Care home should have WiFi surely it is 2023

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

Thanks guys.

You'd have thought that care homes would have WiFi, but there again mist of the residents will be very elderly and how many would be using the internet?? Ivreally don't know.

It's something I will be asking about when I go to inspect the ones that I'm interested in, but want to be prepared just in case I have to make my arrangements for internet access.

I'd rather have one with excellent care without WiFi than the other way round!

Hugh may know if it's the norm or not as he used to regularly visit a lady in a care home.

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

You should also check what the reception is like as this could restrict your choices.

My friend is in a lovely care home but when she went to live there last year she found that she had to change away from O2 as reception was so poor inside the home. She swapped to EE to try it out using a 1p mobile PAYG sim and as far as i remember she then swapped to a PAYG (?) EE sim for about £10 a month due of the amount of data she needs. Certainly not the cheapest network.

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

My (sadly departed) mum-in-law’s Care Home (part of Avery Healthcare) had very good wifi, as did most of the others we looked around - that was quite important as she had family all over the world, and we always video called various family members when we went on our visits.

We looked very carefully at the CQC reports, and also took personal recommendations into account in choosing the Care Home (not the wifi ;)) - unfortunately, it’s like most things in life - you get what you pay for… (around North Leeds, a good quality Care Home will charge over £1,000 per week.

Probably best to get the wifi info confirmed before you spend unnecessarily.

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

Thanks, that's a good point that I need to consider.

To further complicate matters, i'll be initially staying there for a month to see if it suits me and then either moving to another care home or even back home if it doesn't work out.

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

I’d be surprised if there wasn’t WiFi given during the pandemic video calling would have been the norm for residents communicating with families.

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

Some homes may have wifi which they used to forvideo calling during covid lock downs but a basic connection may not be suitable to be able offer the full service to their residents. This is what happened at the care home my friend now lives in. I understand that the owners are weighing up their options which is why my friends family have opted for a PAYG sim in the mean time.

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

I pay just over £30 pm with a O2 Som only deal for unlimited text, calls and 5G data

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

That's expensive if you're not paying for a phone with it, consider changing.

I pay £10 a month for unlimited calls and texts(who still uses text alot) and 60gb data bur unlimited is £20, should be able to get cheaper though.

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

I'm sorry to hear about your loss Hugh.

Thanks to you & everyone else for the advice.

I think I might get a rolling monthly SIM until I know what i'm doing.long term as my phone is able to have two SIMS in it.

1p mobile do extra data bundles start at £5 a month for 1GB:

https://www.1pmobile.com/index.taf?cprefs=agree

You can get monthly SAM'S for £3.84 for 3GB according to this if i've understood it properly:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ch...nder/sim-only/

I'm not sure how much data I'll need though. How much would a few hours a day of doing emails, surfing the Internet and watching the odd short video use

Is there a way to check how much data I use via Virgin broadband?

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

you can prob ask them for an average. They normally use it when I ask to downgrade my service. They always say well you use such and such you really should not downgrade haha

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

Good idea! I'll pluck up courage and wait until I'm in a very good mood before I ring them though :D

Re: Best free or cheap mobile data services.
 

My personal usage was 67 GB download & 5 GB upload last month, so £2.50 a week sounds fine. Wheres is this from please?

The cheapest unlimited data SIM I could find was Smarty at £16, though Talkmobile do a 100GB SIM for £11.95 a month.

What happens if you go over your allowance? Do they cut you off or add a surcharge?

If I initially want to only try it for one month, should I give my month's notice on the same day that I set it up? Is that even allowed?