Free data roaming with 3

[mcanderson]

Not sure where to put this, but today I found out that from 1 Jul 14 you can data roam for free using your current account with 3 in France. Perfect for me using PAYG and I'm next down on our bout in Beaulieu Sur Mer in 2 weeks. I got a new sim for my mifi thingy for £20.49 it has 3 GB of data and will last 3 months. Perfect for our weekend blasts on board.

No link to 3 etc, etc.

 

[[3889]]

It is a great step forward but beware you must convert your credit to an Add On, with a 1 month duration, to get free roaming on a voice sim.You cannot simply use your credit under the 1-2-3 plan. Not sure how this applies to data sims.
Anyone interested in an Orange France PAYG sim with 10E credit :chargrined:

 

[david_bagshaw]

We have just come back from Ireland and my uk 3 data sim PAYG continued to work as normal, all 3 shops I saw there were promoting the end of Roaming charges in europe. Wish Voda would do same for calls etc

 

[Jamesuk]

We have just come back from Ireland and my uk 3 data sim PAYG continued to work as normal, all 3 shops I saw there were promoting the end of Roaming charges in europe. Wish Voda would do same for calls etc

Great deal with three. £15 per month all you can eat. With Roaming

 

[KevB]

Not in Spain though :ambivalence:

 

[Windy_Stu]

We are in Sardinia and use our Uk 3 dongle and a 3 Phone... the service we have is "feels like home" there are a number of countries where it works, Italy being one, maybe they have added France?... we simply use our UK contract minutes / Gigs.. just like we where at home ... so far have to say very good service... not part of three.. blah blah blah

Stu

 

[DaveRo]

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home

 

[MASH]

Great deal with three. £15 per month all you can eat. With Roaming

Except it really isn't "all you can eat". No tethering which is particularly annoying. Why not if data is unlimited? Grr.

And the free roaming is only in certain countries so far, only a few tho most of the closer ones. Bring it on!

 

[RobbieW]

Except it really isn't "all you can eat". No tethering which is particularly annoying. Why not if data is unlimited? Grr.

And the free roaming is only in certain countries so far, only a few tho most of the closer ones. Bring it on!

The T&Cs also limit you to 25Gb in each participating country and explicitly say this is not for long term use, so fine for holidays but not extended visits

 

[sailorman]

Except it really isn't "all you can eat". No tethering which is particularly annoying. Why not if data is unlimited? Grr.

And the free roaming is only in certain countries so far, only a few tho most of the closer ones. Bring it on!

in the uk i teather, no probs

 

[[3889]]

in the uk i teather, no probs

But excluded in Feel at Home T&Cs, also only 2GB data allowance for PAYG Add Ons. For me, a much better option than Orange France, though.

 

[DaveRo]

Except it really isn't "all you can eat". No tethering which is particularly annoying. Why not if data is unlimited? Grr.

Obviously because they want to limit the data volume by restricting it to one device. Pretty reasonable. It's made clear in the theconditions.

All-you-can-eat data - Explained:
http://www.three.co.uk/Privacy_Cookies/Terms_Conditions?site=d&content_aid=1220469566802
Personal Hotspot on your phone:
http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI...nternetapps,varset_subcat=3582,Case=obj(3599)

(These links sometimes don't work.)

I think that whether the operator can tell you've got tethering on, or that you're using a tethered device, depends on what device you have. iPhones and some Android phones seem to know whether you're allowed to use the hotspot facility, or allow the operator to find out that you have it enabled. I suspect that this is limited to devices where the hotspot is built into the operating system.

I don't think that the operator can't tell if you're using a dumb or 'feature' phone as a modem - or not without examining the data traffic (looking for someone running Firefox on a Nokia, say). Likewise if you plug a dongle into a laptop and then share the internet connection over a network I don't think the operator can tell. (Technically is just a PPP connection.) And if they could, by sniffing the data, I doubt if they would bother - most of their traffic is smartphones.

Edited to add:
Here's a good piece about how operators can detect tethering. As I suspected, some OSes simply ask the operator whether tethering is allowed.
http://android.stackexchange.com/qu...-companies-detect-tethering-incl-wifi-hotspot

 

[nicholat]

Has anyone tried this with a 3 Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband SIM? It was bought off Amazon with a bundle of 3GB initially.

I have one that we use in a MIFI in the UK but we're currently in the Med and interested to know if anyone has topped one up successfully abroad (it seems I have to buy an Add On to benefit from Feel At Home) using this type of SIM and got it working in a MIFI.

Not sure how tethering applies to MIFI devices......

Thanks, Nichola

 

[david_bagshaw]

Has anyone tried this with a 3 Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband SIM? It was bought off Amazon with a bundle of 3GB initially.

I have one that we use in a MIFI in the UK but we're currently in the Med and interested to know if anyone has topped one up successfully abroad (it seems I have to buy an Add On to benefit from Feel At Home) using this type of SIM and got it working in a MIFI.

Not sure how tethering applies to MIFI devices......

Thanks, Nichola

dont see how a mi fi could work without tethering.


Just to reiterate, I have used:-
a 3 gb over 3 months sim from three in an unlocked mifi in the uk and in ireland in June this year, without additional charges or any other form of penalty.

However I did not need to top up so havnt tried, as it is better value to buy another 3gb over 3 months from e bay.

 

[mcanderson]

I just spent the weekend in France with my 3 mifi and a new sim that cost £20.49 for 3GB which will last a 3 months. It locked on fine and I just need to accept the fact that I was roaming and off it went. It wasn't fast enough to stream radio, which was a tad annoying, but it worked fine on both our iPads and iPhones with no other issues. We used 1 GB over the weekend and I will buy another before we have a 2 week break in Sep. We can connect to a free orange France wifi network in our marina, but I want a secure connection for banking and the likes.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

I just spent the weekend in France with my 3 mifi and a new sim that cost £20.49 for 3GB which will last a 3 months. It locked on fine and I just need to accept the fact that I was roaming and off it went. It wasn't fast enough to stream radio, which was a tad annoying, but it worked fine on both our iPads and iPhones with no other issues. We used 1 GB over the weekend and I will buy another before we have a 2 week break in Sep. We can connect to a free orange France wifi network in our marina, but I want a secure connection for banking and the likes.

As a comparison, €20 will buy you 3GB on 4G with joemobile.fr, which you can pay with a UK credit card (only lasts one month though). Joemobile is a virtual network carried by SFR; 4G is available in Antibes, and is quick enough for hd streaming (via a vpn) from the UK.

 

[DaveRo]

Deleted.

 

[mcanderson]

Jimmy,

I might try that next year. My 3 dongle is only 3G so I would need to buy a new one. How have you found the 4G coverage along the coast?

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Jimmy,

I might try that next year. My 3 dongle is only 3G so I would need to buy a new one. How have you found the 4G coverage along the coast?

Haven't really tried it anywhere other than Antibes (good 4G signal which I am using to post this), and Villefranche where there's only 2G when I'm anchored in the bay.