Beware, Smarty have a 60 days in rolling 12 month catch too,
8.1 We may Suspend any or all of our services you use without notice if:
...
(i) If we have identified that you have used our services outside of the
UK for a continuous period of 60 days or longer in a rolling 12-month
period.
A
On 30/03/2023 18:10, Stephen Wilcox wrote:
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Summarising replies so far including quite a few private ones..
suggestions have been Lebara, Smarty, Gradwell, Twilio (virtual), AAISP
(virtual), Plusnet, O2 and Voda..
Aside from a good deal on the contract and roaming fees, the issue is in
the detail, it seems some operators including Three implemented a "Fair
Use Policy" over the last couple years which is where the catch lies -
in Three's case you can't use the service in EU for 2 consecutive months
else you get the breach and suspension notice I did. Out of date
comparisons like uSwitch & Which suggests other major operators may have
similar tripwires hidden deep in the policies linked to their terms and
that's what I'm keen to avoid.
uSwitch made this list in 2021:
https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/guides/best-network-for-international-roaming/ <https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/guides/best-network-for-international-roaming/>
.. operators with fair use policy eg max 2mo abroad of every 3-4mo:
Three, Voda, O2 (note even tho Three is listed, it is only now in 2023
that they are giving me a notice)
Not sure if that 2021 list is accurate, but if so for extended roaming
on a real SIM, it leaves Lebara, Smarty, Gradwell, Plusnet.
Steve
On Thu, 30 Mar 2023 at 19:58, Keith Mitchell <ke...@smoti.org
<mailto:ke...@smoti.org>> wrote:
On 3/29/23 14:35, Stephen Wilcox wrote:
> I spend most of my time outside the UK and while I do have a
local SIM,
> I need my UK number to be active as a bare minimum so I can
access UK
> Gov, banking, basically anything with 2FA which is UK specific.
Not to
> mention it's been my main contact number for over 20 years.
>
> Do any of you know what providers are offering good packages with a
> focus on not too crazy roaming charges which do not place a time
period
> in the contract on which you can't stay outside the UK -
information on
> uSwitch etc suggests most operators have offered a time limit
stance but
> the pages I found are 1-2 years old so thought I'd ask the
collective.
I have a UK Voda contract which includes charge-free roaming to EU, US
and most other useful countries. It is not exactly cheap, and there's
contradictory information about what the data cap is exactly, but I've
never had any issues with multi-month absences (longest 16mo during
Covid, usually 3-4months) from the UK threatening the contract. OTOH I
almost never turn on the data roaming while in the US, just voice and
text for banking etc 2FA.
Voda do at least seem to have finally got their heads around VoLTE
roaming, which was initially a big mess to/from the US when the 3G
shutdowns kicked off.
Keith
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