SIM recommendation for short trip to Ireland

woolymammoth

Howdy folks - as title suggests, am flying into dublin this week, have not been home in almost 6 years, so nfi what the mobile scene is like now. Only there for a week or so, plan on grabbing a sim when i get there for data, not overly worried about calls.. by comparison, the cheapest data pack i can get before i leave is $25 dollarydoos (~17 yolo money) which gives 300MB - f-that.

Does anyone know if stores in the airport sell any data only / data oriented sim? Or are there some other better options i should wait to get into the city for? What are lyca mobile like? I see they sell sim cards at Spar which i think is in the airport. But no clue what the coverage is like, will need rural coverage.. do all mvnos piggyback off Three now, so i should just pick one and hope for the best?

Thanks in advance

Ten Pin

Try Meteor, just go in to an Eir / Meteor shop, they'll give you a SIM and then you can opt in to a Simplicity offer as follows:

7.5GB for 10 euro or

15GB and unlimited calls for 20 euro

Both are valid for 30 days.

See here for details.

Check your phone compatibility here

There's also Three and Vodafone but Three's coverage isn't wonderful and Vodafone are pricey.

Lyca have the biggest data allowance but coverage could be an issue and they block hotspot / tethering whereas Meteor don't.

Tesco have same coverage as Lyca, 15 euro for all calls and 10GB but for another 5 euro you'll get more data and probably better coverage with Meteor.

MarkR

I've been trying iD mobile this month, Having no issues.

http://www.idmobile.ie/shop/phones-plans/build-your-plan?type=prepay

woolymammoth

Ten Pin wrote: »

Try Meteor, just go in to an Eir / Meteor shop, they'll give you a SIM and then you can opt in to a Simplicity

Thank ya Ten Pin. I was with meteor before i emigrated, never had many issues with them. They claim to still have 'excellent' coverage where i'm off to, so might be a a safe bet.

20 eur for that data and calls on simplicity seems like a bargain to me.

willmyphonework.net, that's actually pretty cool if you didn't know about phones.

Ten Pin wrote: »

There's also Three and Vodafone but Three's coverage isn't wonderful and Vodafone are pricey.

Lyca have the biggest data allowance but coverage could be an issue and they block hotspot / tethering whereas Meteor don't.

Tesco have same coverage as Lyca, 15 euro for all calls and 10GB but for another 5 euro you'll get more data and probably better coverage with Meteor.

My old man is with three, i know he gets rubbish coverage. I read a lot of ****e about them merging with O2 and basically whoring out the network. Lyca and Tesco being some of those punters? Tempting 'cos of the price, but they gotta make that coin back somehow! Was not aware Lyca might block tethering, so def keen to avoid. I do also recall voda being a premium service.

MarkR wrote: »

I've been trying iD mobile this month, Having no issues.

http://www.idmobile.ie/shop/phones-plans/build-your-plan?type=prepay

Thank you MarkR - though they run off Three as well, so might be crap coverage for me in the drumlins of cavan / monaghan?

Appreciate both your replies - you have given me some good considerations. Guess i'll just have to wait to get into the city to pickup a sim from meteor. God forbid someone find a business opportunity to catch tourists with something they'd need at the gate.. :pac:

MarkR

If three is rubbish, then iD would be too. Probably vodafone or meteor would be best best so.

GreenFolder2

Meteor most definitely is your best option.
They also don't give a damn whether you use tethering or not with the SIM.

woolymammoth

Hello again internet chums - i thought i'd follow up for the interest of anyone else looking for the same.

I ended up waiting until i got into the city, and picked up a SIM from meteor in St. Stephens Green. It was no problem to buy and get working. Coverage was mostly fine. I found speeds to be lagging throughout the country though. Coverage in the hills of cavan was atrocious (expected) despite meteor website coverage map saying otherwise. My fathers house, which is on top of a hill within 6km of a tower, pretty much had zero signal. damn trees.

I did notice that, on departing dublin airport, there was a small cardboard stand for a vodafone sim pack. It was tucked away out of sight of incoming travellers, about here. I don't recall the details, cannot find it online, i think there was a fair bit of data and calls for 25 euro. Had i seen it, i probably would have bought it instead for convenience, but whatever.

Thanks again for the replies fellas. Hope this helps someone else.

GreenFolder2

Is it a US handset?

Meteor : GSM 900 & 1899
UMTS 2100 & 900
LTE mostly band 20 800MHz

woolymammoth

GreenFolder2 wrote: »

Is it a US handset?

na - gt i9300 running cm14. I only meant that i found 3g network speeds noticeably slower in comparison to what i am used to in australia. The mrs' Galaxy s7 was the same. No big deal really.

GreenFolder2

woolymammoth wrote: »

na - gt i9300 running cm14. I only meant that i found 3g network speeds noticeably slower in comparison to what i am used to in australia. The mrs' Galaxy s7 was the same. No big deal really.

That's odd. Although, I would have to say I mostly don't use 3G very much anymore other than as a fallback, so it has been a while since I have tested it.

There's a bit of an issue in the sense that I think Ireland has a lot of very generous data plans in comparison to most places and some of the 3G networks wouldn't necessarily have ever been designed to cope with the volumes of data they're currently handling. I know on 3's networks you can find sometimes the speeds are very good at 7am and very bad when everyone suddenly goes online.

There's a lot of music and video streaming and tethering going on. For example it's not uncommon to steam music in the car in mobile here. Where as I know in Belgium for example that would be ridiculously expensive as you'd blast through small caps fast.

They're all going through a rebuild that basically allows them to move all of their 2,3 and 4G services onto a single platform and assign bandwidth much more efficiently. As it stands the 3G nets wouldn't be nearly as well connected to IP backhaul as their 4G counterparts.

Perhaps Aussie networks are policing heavy 3G users more aggressively / applying caps?

Also are you comparing urban areas on Aussie networks with rural Irish ones or like with like?

Vodafone here is usually a lot faster largely because they don't sell nearly as much data or charge a lot more for it.