Any alternatives to Three who also offer Unlimited Data?

I have been looking onto moving from my rural landline 5.0 down 1.0 up to 4G Mobile.

Since I currently use around 125Gb per month I have been looking at Unlimited Data deals and the main contender seems to be Three. The catch is that when I use the Three Coverage Checker for 4G I notice that they do not have any cells on the nearest mast to me. Because of this they estimate I will be right on the edge between "No Indoors, Outdoors Possible" and "No Service".

I would assume that without an elevated antenna I would be unlikely to get a decent 4G signal from them.

Their 3G coverage is a little better at "Outdoor good, Indoors variable" but would offer slower internet speeds.

Looking at current offers from other providers such as O2 and EE who do show coverage at my location, their data deals seem to top out at between 30Gb and 50Gb per month which will simply be insufficient.

Any suggestions?

Vodafone. The other physical network with Unlimited offers (2G,3G,4G, or 5G).

£30/month for any speed, cheaper for 10mbps speed cap, or 2mbps speed cap:
https://www.vodafone.co.uk/unlimited-data-plans/

VirginMedia also offer an unlimited plan, but I think only if you have their cable services, and as they are a virtual network on EE you would need to be in EE coverage to use.

I am certainly in O2 and EE but not Virgin Media as they don't serve my area. The Vodafone coverage checker shows me as between "Good outdoors, no indoors" and "Limited outdoors".

Looks like I'll have to wait for USO/R100 and then smile while they go through the same checks that I have just done. Ah, the delights of living in the countryside.

Your best bet would be to order some free sims from them, top them up and do some speed tests. My three coverage checker says my location is only good when outdoors, yet my speeds are 50+mbps with my 4g router indoors. Certainly worth a shot

I should also state that when i walk my dogs, i can get a great 4g signal in locations they say they have no coverage. It's not the most accurate thing in the world.

Edited by deleted (Mon 12-Aug-19 20:33:39)

Good idea about the temporary SIM, thanks.

Our house is timber construction but the panels between the timbers are covered in a metal foil which is great for blocking radio. Even the glass is that funny metallised stuff for energy efficiency! Indoors on O2 I get zero to 1 bar with frequent dropped calls but 5 bars outside. Thank goodness for wifi-calling!

There are affordable 4G routers that you can mount outside.

I would add if Three are spotty inside at a rural location the other networks are likely to be the same.

As you say there are a range of options for outdoor rated 4G modems/routers that can be powered using PoE then a bit of exterior grade Cat5e/6 to an indoor router is likely to give a much more robust solution than trying to get a network that works with a router located indoors.

Sure it's a bit more involved and costly in getting the setup working, but in the end it will pay off handsomely.

Thank you for the tips everyone - it is much appreciated.

I have ordered a test Three PAYG SIM so that I can check the indoors and outdoors signal around my area. I will check 3G and 4G on by current mobile which is on O2 then compare with the Three results. Once I have an idea if there is a usable signal in this area, I'll be back to talk about (almost certainly) a professional outdoor antenna/modem.

In the mean time I have a couple of questions...

1. Three Mast Location - is there a usable Mast Locator so that I can get an idea of which direction the masts are located? I have looked at MastData.com but cannot filter it for 3 masts.

2. Assuming I was using my own equipment, is there any important technical difference between the SIMs offered with the Unlimited Mobile SIM on the 6mth at £10 then £20/mth for 24 months and the HomeFi Broadband 6mth at £11.50 then £23/mth for 24 months offers?

Hi Daniel,

You might have already done this, but if not, use this link and get a free sim with 200mb per month each month for no cost.

https://www.three.co.uk/Free_SIM_MBB/Order?manufactu...

I have ordered their £10 PAYG 2Gb doubled to 4Gb because I am likely to be doing numerous speed tests at locations around the property but thanks for the tip.