Ireland visit - internet & mobile phone connectivity

mariesnowgoose

mariesnowgoose

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Starting to think about what I might need on the road over in Ireland in April to keep me connected to everything.

The house sit has internet access, so OK while I'm there, but apart from the trip to Orkney last year I haven't really ventured any distance in the camper, and certainly never ventured "off shore", as it were.

Any recommendations? Yes, I know this subject has been done to death in many threads many times, but I really need to get my head around this before I set off. It will also be necessary if/when I plan to head off over to Europe at the end of this year...

So, I have an iPhone XE which is a couple years old. The phone number and contract with Vodaphone dates back to the Ark! Have an entry level iPad (version 10 I think?) a year or so old, and an ancient MacBook Pro, which is still in date for their latest operating systems etc. and does everything I need.

At home we have monthly contract for landline and internet access with EE which has worked fine for the last few years.

Any suggestions for sorting out connectivity on the road over in Ireland? I'd wondered about moving mobile phone over to EE, but not sure.... or even getting a second cheap phone with a separate sim - dunno why, just sounds as though it might be less hassle than changing my long standing phone number over to another service 🤷‍♀️

I really am behind the times when it comes to the latest whizzy stuff these days, and I find even getting the simplest of things done can be a real hassle, so don't be too hard on my ignorance folks...! I feel like a rabbit in the headlights and honestly need any options described to me as though I were a 5 year old... 😵‍💫🫠 🙏
 
I think with EE roaming is included for the republic of Ireland but a lot of providers it isn't. The north wont be a problem as its part of Britain. As you have a contract already for the landline with EE they may do you a good deal for a mobile contract. You should be able to keep your number.

There are other providers that piggy back off EE also but beware. They might not include roaming in ROI.

Who uses EE's network?

There are numerous MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) using EE's network, which you can read about here.
www.4g.co.uk www.4g.co.uk

If you are going to use it for data you can set up your phone as a hot spot and use a laptop or tablet to connect to it but you need to get your data limit right. We both have 250gb on ours which is effectively unlimited as we never get close to using it all.
 
If on ee then all will be ok, why not run with onepenny mobile as a year at £48 or bigger pakage gets you all calls and email plus half a gig or more a mth data, on the home page you can buy extra data as you require.
dasta bosts.jpg
data c.jpg
 
Nabsim said:
Are you wanting to use a lot of data Marie?
Click to expand...

Not sure... the only things I do regularly are briefly checking emails, a bit of social media (mainly this site! :ROFLMAO::rolleyes: ), a few YouTube channels I regularly follow and one or two other online media channels, but mostly YouTube, tbf 🤷‍♀️🤔

I don't bother with Netflix.

In Ireland I'm hoping to be travelling around and doing "real world" stuff through the day - and hopefully the evenings too! - so it will be mostly used during any "down time" when I'm in the camper in the evenings, maybe first thing in the morning. Will hopefully be doing a big catch up on some book reading too, no internet required! (y)

I don't even know what my data usage is here at home! Think we have an unlimited data contract with EE - I need to go away and check, I guess! 😂🤪
 
YouTube or TV Streaming eats data at around 1gb per hour but can be more but it doesn't sound like you will be doing much of that so maybe 50gb to 100gb would be more than enough. You will get a better deal on a contract.
 
We switched to Lebara 3-4 months ago, £15 monthly for 40Gb Data and Unlimited UK calls and Texts. Also includes 500 minutes of Phone usage across EU, India and China, though roaming is limited to 30Gb max, based on the average of, IIRC, the latest 2 months UK usage and the 60 days EU usage (I think this is to stop the UK purchase of the SIM Card and then clearing off to Europe forever and a day, but we haven't been with Lebara long enough to test the boundaries!)

The 40Gb is plenty. Last month I used about 25Gb but that included 2 x SatNav European Map downloads, and n number of other downloads for insurance, house purchase, Planning Dispute, and sundry other formalities. In Spain at present and used just under 1Gb in 2 days.

Steve
 
Its also worth haggling and not just going on whats on the websites. When we moved from Vodafone to TalkMobile they have a 250gb deal thats not on the website and it came in at £13.95 inc VAT. TalkMobile are on Vodafone but nothing Vodafone have will touch that. The roaming allowance is crap though.
 
I may be reading it wrong but the 1P mobile Trev posted looks good for calls but not if you use much data. I do what you say in the van as well as stream Netflix/TV/Other providers and last I checked I was anywhere between 100 and 250Gb a month used. Obviously its less in summer, light nights and warmer weather and higher in Winter.

I have a prepaid data sim in the van that I from Scancom on EE, my phone is 3. I am only UK so no idea what works abroad
 
If your phone can accept e sims you could run two sims for data use. I have done this, using ID mobile,got an esim for £10 a month. The other advantage is that if you get another sim on a different network you can pick which network has the best signal.
 
I would second the recommendation of marchie for Lebara. The carrier is vodaphone in the U.K. you can use up to 30gb per month in EU.

Look at U switch for deals, I got my 30gb package for £7 per month with the first 3 months at £3.50 ish. The added benefit is that it is a 30 day contract, so could be ditched on your return to GB.
Bear in mind you will also get up to 12gb on your existing sim to use.

Or call in to a phone shop or supermarket when you get to the Republic. NOT N. Ireland or you would end up with a U.K. sim.

P.s. just looked at Uswitch. You can get the 30gb for £7.95 with first 3 months at £2.39 per month.

Davy
 
barryd said:
I think with EE roaming is included for the republic of Ireland but a lot of providers it isn't.
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Are you sure?

I believe the opposite. I imagine it is impractical to restrict roaming on the island of Ireland due to problems that would arise along the border.
 
Canalsman said:
Are you sure?

I believe the opposite. I imagine it is impractical to restrict roaming on the island of Ireland due to problems that would arise along the border.
Click to expand...
Depends on your contract.

As for issues around the border, no different than Spain/France bth
 
Boris7 said:
Depends on your contract.

As for issues around the border, no different than Spain/France bth
Click to expand...
They are both in the EU however.

Further research indicates that EE, Three, Vodafone, O2, GiffGaff, BT Mobile, Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile do not charge for roaming cross border in Ireland. However a fair use data cap applies to some.

This arrangement seems to be a reciprocal agreement with the network providers in Ireland who don't charge for roaming in the UK.
 
One thing to be aware of is once you are on the ferry, I turn my phone off just so that it cannot connect to the maritime Wi-Fi as it will cost you an arm and a leg.
I had mine connect to it even though I didn’t use whilst I was on the ferry, i got charged £15,
Other people that haven’t been aware that have used their phones as normal have ended up been charged hundreds of pounds
 
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