Tp-link mobile WiFi

[Borders2]

I'm waiting for the Eureka moment when some one with more time and money than I am blessed with says this kit works perfectly ALL over the NE Highlands of Scotland, at that point I will pay attention.

We are on O2 and it is for sure hit and miss. Actually we were 20 miles from home on a lovely spot with a phone mast 300m or so above us on the hill top and bugger all signal, phone and TV. Hmm......

B2

 

[Wooie1958]

I went over to Tesco mobile ( O2 ) earlier this year before the cut off date of 16th June when they stopped including free roaming from January 2023 for new contracts, i did a 2 year deal which takes me to May 2024 and that includes free roaming.

I`ve got to say that the Tesco roaming partners are as good or slightly better than Three`s ever were even though they are the same ones and a few months back i had a good strong 4g signal everywhere including some very remote areas of the Pyrenees. Phone calls, texts and data usage whether it was on the phone itself watching BBC News, tethering the laptop or the Firestick was all great with no buffering at all.

The wife was still on Three and got stung for the £2 a day roaming fee for the last 10 days of our break which tripled her monthly bill, she`s now with Plusnet ( EE ) and they include free roaming although if you are with EE direct they don`t include free roaming .

 

[barryd]

I'm waiting for the Eureka moment when some one with more time and money than I am blessed with says this kit works perfectly ALL over the NE Highlands of Scotland, at that point I will pay attention.

We are on O2 and it is for sure hit and miss. Actually we were 20 miles from home on a lovely spot with a phone mast 300m or so above us on the hill top and bugger all signal, phone and TV. Hmm......

B2

Yeah that would be good but as said above when roaming it seems much better. I've been all over the Pyrenees and the Alps and via Vodafone who always had a good range of providers signal is generally pretty good. Here though and particularly Scotland not so much. I bet they put more masts up etc in the Alps and Pyrenees than Scotland though as well as the piggy back providers. More people maybe I dunno.

 

[Borders2]

Yes it's all about population. The figures the providers quote so happily "97% coverage" is not geo its bods...LOL

B2

 

[Geek]

Is the SIM you purchased for data access or phone usage?

A phone SIM may not work in a router. It may require a data SIM.

Simply not correct any more. A phone sim will work in a router. The regulations changed several years ago so that blocking routers using phone Sims was outlawed.

 

[Geek]

I must have spent more money on the quest for WiFi than anything else in my van!! I now have bought this tp-link. I bought an ee sim from Tesco. The link is working I have the WiFi symbol and it says it is connected to my phone My phone recognises the link but says it is not connected to internet !! Have I bought the wrong Sim ?? Do I need to change some setting on my phone ?? Any advice welcome thanks

I'm guessing that you bought an EE SIM, not a Tesco SIM.
You have put the SIM I to the tplink router. What you need to do is to look at the routers web page to see its status.

The address is probably http://192.168.1.1 but your phone's WiFi status will show you the address of the "default route" if you click, double-click, long click or whatever magic invokes network details on your phone.

If it's a real EE SIM, the APN is "everywhere" but I don't remember whether or not you have to put EE SIM into a phone to activate it first.

Their lifespan starts from when you first use them, so don't do it early.

On the other hand, EE SIMs have a relatively short shelf life: you can only keep them a few months before activating, unlike three SIMs which you can keep for years.

 

[suneye]

Been in contact with Ee and apparently the top up wasn’t loaded properly still waiting for a solution to this !!!

 

[Rumour]

Simply not correct any more. A phone sim will work in a router. The regulations changed several years ago so that blocking routers using phone Sims was outlawed.

Simply not correct. We have a Tesco (O2) sim and although it does work in the UK in our router, it doesn't work across the channel! Several years ago, the company's were bound by EU law, now they are not. That is why roaming has started to be charged for.. Just another B bonus!

 

[Geek]

If you have an O2 SIM you can't expect much: by far the worst network in the UK (though not in every location, of course). If you are having trouble when roaming, try changing the default TTL to 65ms.

 

[Borders2]

Geek? Interesting you say that as we are both on O2 and have found numerous black spots up here in Scotland. The last one was sitting below a mast which was some 300m above us. Which network would you suggest as we can add a 2nd sim?

 

[Rumour]

If you have an O2 SIM you can't expect much: by far the worst network in the UK (though not in every location, of course). If you are having trouble when roaming, try changing the default TTL to 65ms.

Try changing the what now?

 

[Geek]

Geek? Interesting you say that as we are both on O2 and have found numerous black spots up here in Scotland. The last one was sitting below a mast which was some 300m above us. Which network would you suggest as we can add a 2nd sim?

My experieince is that EE has by far the best coverage generally, though that's less true in parts of Scotland.

The way to find out the best networks in the place where you are is from your phone.

Go to the mobile network settings and change it from automatic network selection to manual. The phone will then search for networks.
This will take a fair while, because it will try (and fail) to log on to each network it finds.

After a few minutes it will present the list of networks it found, in signal strength order, except that its own network will be listed first, as long as a trace of it was detected. Each network may be listed several times, showing each band separately.

Make a note of the results, then switch back to automatic network selection.

Note that the networks use different frequency bands, some of which your phone may not support, so a different phone might get different results.

 

[Geek]

Simply not correct. We have a Tesco (O2) sim and although it does work in the UK in our router, it doesn't work across the channel! Several years ago, the company's were bound by EU law, now they are not. That is why roaming has started to be charged for.. Just another B bonus!

Other was round. It was an EU rule that forced the networks to allow it. The EU did a lot for consumer rights. As you say, roaming is a whole new can of worms, now we have lost the protectionof the EU's "no roaming charges" rule.

 

[Rumour]

Other was round. It was an EU rule that forced the networks to allow it. The EU did a lot for consumer rights. As you say, roaming is a whole new can of worms, now we have lost the protectionof the EU's "no roaming charges" rule.

Yep! I believe that is what I said. The EU was responsible for free roaming. Now we have left the largest trading block in the world (and even the Telegraph and Mail are saying it was a mistake!) we were no longer tied to their rules. My Tesco sim card just will not work in the EU. I do have an O2 card that I will try next time we go over.

 

[Bigshug]

My Tesco sim card just will not work in the EU.

Mine was the same when I was over in France and Spain recently. When I was over there I got in touch with customer support and, after a lot of failed attempts they sent me a new list of the settings to try. This eventually did work, and it was fine for the rest of the time in the EU

 

[Wooie1958]

Yep! I believe that is what I said. The EU was responsible for free roaming. Now we have left the largest trading block in the world (and even the Telegraph and Mail are saying it was a mistake!) we were no longer tied to their rules. My Tesco sim card just will not work in the EU. I do have an O2 card that I will try next time we go over.

I`m with Tesco Mobile ( O2 ) and have just spent 4 weeks in France, my phone worked perfectly well over there, i also got more 5G that i could possibly dream of here in the UK and that included watching the whole of Her Majesty`s funeral on the tv whilst tethered to my phone.

It used 9.7GB of data just for the funeral and my total usage for the month was 22GB but i get 25GB EU roaming so that was fine so no extra charges

 

[mariesnowgoose]

I`m with Tesco Mobile ( O2 ) and have just spent 4 weeks in France, my phone worked perfectly well over there, i also got more 5G that i could possibly dream of here in the UK and that included watching the whole of Her Majesty`s funeral on the tv whilst tethered to my phone.

It used 9.7GB of data just for the funeral and my total usage for the month was 22GB but i get 25GB EU roaming so that was fine so no extra charges

Didn’t you say somewhere in an earlier post that you’d managed to get a contract with Tesco until 2024 that includes roaming and was before the new roaming changes for mobile data in the EU? I.e. you’re getting benefits that others might not be able to now? I might have got that mixed up with something else though and totally got the wrong end of the stick!

 

[Wooie1958]

Didn’t you say somewhere in an earlier post that you’d managed to get a contract with Tesco until 2024 that includes roaming and was before the new roaming changes for mobile data in the EU? I.e. you’re getting benefits that others might not be able to now? I might have got that mixed up with something else though and totally got the wrong end of the stick!

Yes i did but the only difference for newer contracts ( after 16 June 2022 ) is that they only get free roaming until 1 January 2023 were as mine will continue until 2024 when my 2 year contract is up for renewal and then is if i just stay with them on a 30 days rolling contract my free roaming will continue as well

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/06/tesco-europe-roaming-charges/