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This may have been covered previously, in which case I apologize but I need answers. I have been using Skydemon since the last quarter of last year. I have it on an iPad Mini and I have nothing but praise for the product. If you are not able to access wifi you can connect via mobile data. I only use mobile data on a daily basis (no contract) as I only want it on a flying day. A contract would be inappropriate for the few times I need it. I have discovered that the mobile data only works in the UK. I cannot get a sim that allows mobile data in Europe.This seems odd. I have a Samsung Netbook with a mobile data dongle that I can use anywhere in Europe (roaming). It would be much more convenient to have the filing of flight plans etc, done on the iPad Mini, rather than carry two devices. Does anybody know of a sim provider that allows Europe wide roaming on a daily, non contract basis?

Propman
Nuthampstead , United Kingdom

IF you are going to the right places then THREE allows data usage at the same price as UK – but only in certain countries. Still it includes most of Europe, the USA, and Australia if you want to fly that far.

A 1gb sim only costs £3.99 and lasts for a month.

Darley Moor, Gamston (UK)

a Luxemburgish operator offers PAYGO for 1EUR/month (almost PAYGO) EU-wide
or 150MB/10EUR/month EU-wide as well

ELLX (Luxembourg), Luxembourg

Finding a SIM card for a tablet which gives you lots of data for home, plus a non ripoff rate when roaming abroad, is the world’s second oldest profession

In order of preference, I would suggest the following:

1) Get a contract for your phone on which you get all this. IMHO the best deal which really does work across Europe without stupid caveats is a simple Vodafone SIM-only contract which is about 12 quid for 500MB/month or 14 quid for 1000MB/month, and phone them to enable Euro Traveller on it which allows this to be used in Europe (not just EU) for 3 quid a day. The voice and SMS allowances on this will be enough for a 14 year old girl Then use the phone as a wifi hotspot for the Ipad. This is what I do (doesn’t work with an android tablet – unless it is flashed with custom firmware – unless the phone is also android). And forget the Ipad’s SIM feature, though rumours are circulating that the Apple GPS takes a long time to get the initial fix unless a SIM card of some kind is present, possibly even without any credit on it (we did that here – nobody knows for sure what exactly Apple have done).

2) Get a contract SIM for the Ipad – data only. The Ipad doesn’t support voice or SMS (it can do SMS if you jailbreak it, but then you are stuck with the useless SIM card number). Data contracts that actually work properly across Europe and don’t totally rip you off start at about 10 quid/month and again Vodafone would be my choice, based on years of wasting my life messing with this stuff. But a lot of people hate spending 100+ quid/year on getting data on their Ipad.

3) Get a PAYG SIM for the Ipad. These are usually massive ripoffs (especially if “provisioned” for a USB dongle) but if you get the most common Vodafone Simply Plan SIM (almost free on Ebay) which is intended for a phone, you get something like 25MB for a quid a day when UK and 25MB for 2 quid a day when abroad. And Voda kill their PAYG SIMs after 90 days of non-use, so you have to spend some money on it periodically (use it for data, or put a £5 topup on it). This option is OK for low level usage.

4) If you are going to a specific foreign country in which a data SIM can be bought for a reasonable amount (I have had Croatian and Greek ones for ~ €20 for 5GB for 30 days) then you can stick that into the Ipad. The number of the SIM of course doesn’t matter.

5) A slicker version of the last one above is an E586E (unlocked) or a similar 3G-to-WIFI product and pop the locally purchased SIM into that. Then a number of client devices can share the WIFI. This is really slick, but is an extra device to keep charged.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Do three offer a ‘feel at home’ deal for iPad?

The Three SIM that I tried didn’t, and on the second day came up with a nasty little message saying “we have detected that you are not using this SIM in a phone” and blocked data use. Worse than that, it also somehow blocked Skydemon operation, so that it just reset on opening. Quite a head banger considering my intended scud running departure from Copenhagen until I figured that physically removing the SIM allowed Skydemon to open.

My contract based T-mobile SIM offers ‘Euro boosters’ each time I land somewhere, but these never work in the iPad because it says it “doesn’t have a network connection”… So like Peter, I usually make straight for a convenience store and a PAYG SIM for that country.

Note that many phone SIMs detect and prevent tethering in foreign countries, apparently working to start with an then cutting off the data at an arbitary moment. In America I’ve some success with ebay sourced US SIMs from Red Pocket and T-mobile, T-mobile being the easiest to use because you can test it in UK before you leave.

EGBW / KPRC, United Kingdom

The detection of tethering is another unknown process, with much speculation as to how they do it and who actually does it, but I can confirm that

  • my Voda contract doesn’t care when I am using the phone as a wifi hotspot (Joikuspot on a Nokia) or tethering over bluetooth
  • I have various Voda “Simply” PAYG SIMs which all work in various non-phone devices
  • I am fairly sure no network can detect tethering if you are doing it over bluetooth (rather than wifi)
  • I am 100% sure no network can detect tethering if you use a VPN so long as the VPN itself works in the first place (a strictly anorak option )

The problem with Iphone or Ipad is that (unless hacked) it uses a different APN when it is used to act as a wifi hotspot, so the network doesn’t have to do anything clever to detect tethering… the i-device just tells them!

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

this to be used in Europe (not just EU)

my mistake, Europe-wide, not EU-wide for the luxemburgish operator Join

ELLX (Luxembourg), Luxembourg

There is no way to detect tethering by looking at network traffic short of analysing traffic patterns which would be very uncertain. If tethering is blocked, it must be because the network tells the phone not to allow it. Which means that on an Android you could theoretically circumvent the block.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

I thought they can detect tethering by looking at the screen size of requests through from the http header?

EGBB

If you are going to another country, and want to buy a local sim card, this is a very good website to inform you of the different options. It can save a lot of research!

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

Last Edited by dublinpilot at 26 Mar 19:29
EIWT Weston, Ireland
21 Posts
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