Why would you buy a data only SIM?

Is there any specific reason why you would buy a data only SIM over a normal SIM (with data, voice and text)?

However unlikely does having voice and SMS make the data worse and you should go for data only?

Researching possible options and the data only SIMs seem to generally be similarly priced and you get less?

Thanks

Purely for a mobile broadband router.

Partly if it's cheaper for that purpose, and I suppose it makes the SIM less useful to anyone who nicks the router. At least they can't rack up expensive calls with the SIM in a phone.

Functionality for data they will be the same speed though?

I have my suspicions I will get a speed of 0-1Mb/s so having the ability to put it in a phone for a month if the experiment goes wrong will be an advantage to me.

I am waiting for the router to arrive if you are by any chance running the Nordic firmware on your ZFE and can help with my questions in the other thread that would be great.

https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/mobilebroadband/t/...

Thanks

Data only SIMS I think originally came about because of tablets - they have data capability but no phone capability and they used to be cheaper due to that. I don't think many people would use a data only SIM in a smartphone but may do in a router (as Pluralist says) or a tablet where phone functions are not supported.

In reply to a post by think26872:

Is there any specific reason why you would buy a data only SIM over a normal SIM (with data, voice and text)? However unlikely does having voice and SMS make the data worse and you should go for data only? Researching possible options and the data only SIMs seem to generally be similarly priced and you get less?

Previously (before Ofcom) data SIMs had less data but were free to access anything, but phone SIMs had crazy items such as unlimited access but with limited resolution pictures etc.

Ofcom interfered and now they are quite similar.

Data SIMs often let you make calls but at costly rates.

I use smarty data only for £12 a month and getting great speed on 5G. Better than ADSL2, VDSL2 and G.fast from expensive side Openreach ISP.

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/d/72c500c4-4442-...

Bog standard Three spec ZTE which doesn't have 5G capability.

4G suffices for me but I shall probably upgrade to 5G in July at contract end, just to see if it works well. My phone is obviously 5G capable but only in the front bedrooms upstairs, which isn't much use .

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I use smarty data only for £12 a month and getting great speed on 5G. Better than ADSL2, VDSL2 and G.fast from expensive side Openreach ISP.

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/d/72c500c4-4442-...

It isn't fair to people looking for help to keep going on about your £12 without telling them it's a social tariff! Often giving false hope to them and others.

I bought a Three standard phone SIM with unlimited calls and SMS and 100GB data per month and have been using that in my ZTE286D router for about four months now.
I get decent speeds of up to 60Mbps down 40 Mbps up on 4G, about a mile or so from the nearest base station. I don't believe that a data only SIM would give me better speeds but I doubt that it would. Anyway, i am quite pleased with what I get compared to Plusnet ADSL which I had before.

Data SIMs turn out to be more expensive, e.g. 120GB of data only on Three at £20/month. A Three "phone" SIM with 100GB of data costs me £7 per month after cashback. There is a good website to compare SIM deals here https://www.smartphonechecker.co.uk/sim-only

Having said that, there is a company that sells prepaid data only SIMs giving you a certain amount of data every month until the card expires e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-500GB-Data-SIM-Preloa... which works out even cheaper but you have to cough up a bundle of meoney up front.

I didn't know about them long term prepaid data SIMs if I do manage to get somewhat of reliable fast connection I may consider them.

Do you happen know what bands your connection runs on to get your 60/40 speed?

Unless masts in my area have had a decent upgrade over the past few years I doubt I will break the 1Mb/s speed but I want to give it a try.

Thanks

To try things out, you can always get a PAYG SIM from Three (or Smarty or IDMobile) before committing yourself to something long term.

I prefer Three over Smarty/iDMobile as they are the only network where you can get a public IP address, as I am running VoIP over 4G and did not want the problems associated with CGNAT. Alternatively, you could get a public IP through a VPN provider and use Smarty or IDMobile if that works out cheaper. Just for speed tests etc. it should not matter who you chose and speeds should be pretty much the same on Three, Smarty or IDMobile.

My router connects to the same mast on Band 3 all the time, I am probably lucky as we are in a semi-rural location and the mast is probably not too busy most of the time. But in more built-up areas 9with more users) there should be more capacity deployed and you should see reasonable speeds as well.

you dont quote how much data you get for that amount