UKC

Hi all,

Heading over to N Wales on my larry for the first time this weekend, to meet up with a climbing partner there. Very aware that I get absolutely no signal at Gwern Gof and that generally I get none, at times when friends tend to get some, in several areas in the Peak, Lakes and N Wales (Gwern Gof, Baysbrown, Rothswaite, Edale, etc). Not entirely comfortable with staying in a campsite with no means of contact (or arranging climbing plans) in case I'm unwell or my car plays up (both have been a little up and down of late).

So - looking to get a PAYG second sim. Which providers do you use which have *some* signal in these areas? (Helpful if also provides me with a bit more coverage in the Lakes too.) 

I am with Giffgaff (O2), so definitely not them. I suspect I need either EE or Vodafone. (Won't change permanently as I like my EU roaming, though a side note, turns out O2 is utterly unaffordable when you don't have it, ie Switzerland!) 

Had alternatively looked at heading to a hostel so there would at least be a landline available, but it seems both Ogwen Cottage and Llanberis are only offering private rooms for 200 quid now. No idea if that's a permanent end to their shared rooms.

Cheers. 

Can't comment on Wales but EE is by far the best in the lakes. Rarely do I have no signal. 

I recently switched to Lebara (which uses the Vodaphone network, I believe). I used to be with 3. Since switching, my mobile reception has been significantly better than it used to be when up at the Pass, over by PyB and in Ogwen. Not perfect, but good enough to stream podcasts and message etc. I never used to have any reception on the south side of Llanberis Pass by PyG, but now I do. Ogwen used to be a bit random, now its fairly steady.

O2 (which includes giffgaff and tesco) and Vodafone, mast share. So unlikely to be a difference between those two

Thanks all. I'll try EE then. 

Podcasts in Ogwen! Gosh. 

EE is best in n.wales.  you get signal some of the way into ogwen from capel.

I changed to EE from Giffgaff due to mountain signal.

Maybe have a look a 1p mobile:  https://www.1pmobile.com

They use the EE network so you get the same coverage, but you might find one of their SIMs is better value than EE themselves for a little-used PAYG second phone.

Yeah. My partner uses EE and gets great signal in Owgen too

Phone signal in the Lakes is utterly appalling,  especially for whatever network my work phone is on.  .

Now you’ve had some useful advice I’ll add a stupid anecdote 🙂

Bouldering in Ogwen recently and bumped into a mate coming up from the road. He was waiting for a mate but couldn’t get a signal. He wandered further up the hill, and I started heading off. Back at the car I looked up to see him holding his phone up, soloing up Milestone buttress. I’m not sure what network he’s on.

Quite possible this could be me, except I want the signal so that I can contact my partner, from the campsite, to arrange us going up Milestone Buttress (not soloing!)  

Honestly had no idea that others were getting anything much in Ogwen. As much as it's nice to get away from the Internet it's also rather impractical (and higher risk - I have horrible memories of being unwell and in agony, almost too much pain to walk, let alone drive, at 2am at Baysbrown once). So this may be a game changer. Thank you!!

I use 1p mobile for a small phone I use when running. No issues with them. It's £10 top up every 120 days, but you can transfer unused credit to the next top up, so it only costs a few quid a year.

I’ve never tried one myself but a multi-network payg sim might be the answer? I assume one of those would pick whichever network it could find.

For Vodafone look at Lebara on uSwitch. 30 day SIM with 5GB data and unlimited calls/texts, £5 

Actually if you're a low data user you might want to permanently swap over as they include EU roaming and 100min of international calls (to certain countries incl EU) as standard.

I didn't know these were a thing, thanks!

Thanks. I'm with giffgaff atm who have EU roaming, which is the only reason I haven't swapped up EE. Unfortunately I did end up spending literal hundreds to use them in Switzerland though (no time to buy a Swiss sim).

I actually can't see that EE have proper PAYG now, though - it all seems to be monthly rolling contracts (don't really want that as I have that with Giffgaff day to day; I just want a second EE sim that I can top up and use when I'm in the sticks and don't have Giffgaff coverage). Does anyone know if this is a thing that exists...? 

My mum still has a traditional PAYG with EE, but it's a really old SIM so no idea if they still sell them to new customers.  

We have Manx (Isle of Man) SIM cards in some of our works phones as they're multi-network.

General consensus is they're not any better than just using an EE SIM card around Cumbria.

I don’t think EE really do a proper payg any more. 1p Mobile use the EE network and they have their “classic payg” which I think does what you want https://www.1pmobile.com/classic-sim

More or less the same here - I have a big 'ruggedised' waterproof phone on 1P that I use for getting outdoors, and which doubles as a sometimes v useful GPS device and a pretty decent camera.  As a bonus taking that phone with me and leaving the other one behind is the next best thing to not having a phone at all.

EE all day long

EE had changed their offerings at least meantime as I understand. They are taking over all of Bt/Plusnet’s mobile customers over the next few months. All part of the streamlining of the brands I was told and is currently on phased transfers.

Whether the EE Payg sims are just suspended temporarily until the transfer are completed or are to be permanent I’ve no idea, but if a Payg is required “now” as a new customer you will need to look elsewhere as far as I know.

BTW, something to consider, my so far v limited experience going from a MVNO using EE, to now EE, the service before and after does not appear the same. I got signal today on EE in a place I never got a signal on the previous MVNO using EE network, and data seems to connect much faster for email/internet. The move over is too early to say if it will remain better or the network has improved across the board. Time will tell.

I think IIRC this was also my past experience of both O2 and Giffgaff as the MVNO using O2 when I used both of them, but that was some years ago. Of course the virtual companies are usually cheaper so maybe there is/was a different level of service. 

Mvno?

Mobile virtual network operator.

All those that don’t have their own network, but use a host network; like Giffgaff that you use, uses O2 as the host.

I've been on EE in the Lakes now for 3 years and the signal is much better than others I've used in the past. They do do a sort of pay monthly thing - where you can pay £10 a month for a rolling monthly PAYG that you can cancel any time - you can also set up a direct debit for it which makes it very straightforward. (I was on this for a few years before needing a new phone and switching to a contract.) 

While they share most masts, they do not share all of them. There are some unilateral O2 or Vodafone sites.

Sharing a mast does not mean that they share the same frequencies, and they don't always share the same antennas or other equipment. So the signal can still vary significantly.

EE & 3 share the majority of sites, yet EE's coverage is significantly better than 3's if you look at the country as a whole. There are some sites where one network will have the all singing, all dancing 5G, 4G & 3G, while the other network may only have 3G.

Your overall point that OP is best to go for EE/3 is correct: if you are going to use 2 networks, you are definitely best off having one from EE & 3 and one from O2 & 3.

Too late to edit my above reply.

Cheers all. EE sim bought, some buttons pressed (most confusing activation ever), now to see if it works in Wales tomorrow! Ta

Update, just in case anyone cares: I send this from my tent in Gwern Gof Isaf (not tried Uchaf) with perfect signal on EE. Excellent.