Sim only unlimited data options - is Lycamobile really as bad as reviews suggest?

Quick update. I got a Lycamobile SIM with the 'UK Plan Unlimited' after their support said it was fine to put in a router. That plan is £20 a month for unlimited data for the first 3 months, £25/month thereafter. I stuck it in a TP-Link MR6400 and it's working fine so far with speeds as expected and multiple devices attached to the router. Time will tell.....
How is this going? I am using a giffgaff sim in my MR6400 router as O2 is my best signal in the village, but dear step daughter is burning through about 50G a week, so unlimited would be fab!
I was a bit concerned about the "if it is not being used in a handset (in a SIM box for example) " clause in t&c.
 
How is this going? I am using a giffgaff sim in my MR6400 router as O2 is my best signal in the village, but dear step daughter is burning through about 50G a week, so unlimited would be fab!
I was a bit concerned about the "if it is not being used in a handset (in a SIM box for example) " clause in t&c.
I've been using the Lycamobile SIM for over a month now, and I got through just over 100GB the first month with no issue re: bandwidth. Whilst they said it was ok to use in a router, the helpline is useless if you do, they only have answers for phones, and just say they can't gaurantee it will work in other devices (despite telling me it would, before getting the SIM). For some reason I had to turn on data roaming on that router to get the SIM to work. I do have one issue - Google has decided my Lycamobile IP address is in Belgium, which is very irrtitating. Nobody else thinks that but it means I get prices back in Euros on Google, Belgian sites on ads etc. Tried everything to correct it, but no joy - setting your local country in the search settings only half fixes it. I'm sticking with Lycamobile for the time being but the location problem may become irritating enough to make me switch to O2 in the end.
 
Just ordered the unlimited sim plan (mins & data) and wanted to know how is it? Is it truly unlimited data? Any speed restriction? Any throttling? Will be used in London so expecting signal to reasonably good but concerned how speed and throttling be applied after certain data used?
 
Hi, how are you getting on with the lycamobile sim? Im wanting to change from vodafone and worried about the throttling after 9gb - do they actually do this?
 
Hi, how are you getting on with the lycamobile sim? Im wanting to change from vodafone and worried about the throttling after 9gb - do they actually do this?
I have the unlimited plan on the Lyca SIM, and 3 months in, getting well over 100Gb a month. I had to activate it in a normal phone first, but can get up to 15 Mb up and down most of the time! :)
 
Yes, the unlimited plan has been great. No issues at all. Worth it, currently if you order a new sim via online you can get the unlimited plan for £19pm for 3 months and then £25 thereafter.
 
Hi all.
I've just got the Lycamobile unlimited data sim, stuck it in a TP-link Archer MR600 only to find it won't connect to the nearby mast. Spoke with Lycamobile help and they said their SIMS aren't configured to be used in routers.

Are there some settings that I'm missing as I see others have managed to get connected?
 
You need to activate it on a mobile phone first. Once youve done that, put it in your router and set the apn settings and you should be good to go. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks Davmann. Already activated it on a mobile and have set the APN settings up. Realised that I needed to switch on data roaming in the router for some reason and now it works. Experienced what I think was some throttling late last night but can't be sure. Thanks for the advice anyway.
 
Just posting to warn people regarding this unlimited sim tariff. After 3 weeks, ive gone through 100gb and the connection is now unusable. Spoke to their customer service, the unlimited plan is capped at 100gb a month, once you go over that it's then throttled to speeds so slow that it wont load webpages.
 
Seems like I may have already exceeded that limit within a week as my speed has dropped to 5Kbps since last night. Davmann - have you found this 100Gb limit Customer services are referring to anywhere in their T&Cs?
 
Hi Glock16261, no, its not mentioned anywhere and customer services confirmed that to me. I complained to them about it and they say its covered by their fair usage policy (its annoying they dont state that the fair usage is capped at 100gb). They say they can still call it unlimited rather than 100gb as you can still use as much as you want with the throttled speed, which is obviously completely useless at that speed and effecitively makes it a 100gb cap. Ofcom are toothless, so not going to bother with a complaint to them about it, ill just go elsewhere.
 
I am also using the Lyca unlimited UK plan on a MR600. All of a sudden the speed is slow. Although I have consumed 200GB+.
 

Attachments

  • MVIMG_20201220_012415.jpg
    MVIMG_20201220_012415.jpg
    582.4 KB · Views: 186
I’ve been using Lycamobile unlimited sim for four months with no issue. On Saturday, three days into my new month, they throttled me. No explanation, no justification. O2 is the strongest network reception here, now back to giffgaff I go!
 
Hi guys.

I can't get fibre at the moment so have gone down the mobile broadband route. O2 have the best coverage in my area (4G+ in most rooms upstairs), so I bought a TP Link Archer MR600 router and now need a O2 unlimited data sim.

From reading the comments here it seems best to stay away from Lycamobile. Tesco mobile have an unlimited data sim for £25/month but apparently you can't use it in a router..

O2 have 2 options - a phone sim deal for £30/month or a mobile broadband sim for £34/month which i'm guessing will definitely work but seems pricey..

Lastly, Giffgaff is the most expensive at £35/month for unlimted data.

Has anyone used a Tesco Mobile or O2 phone sim?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
I have used Three in the past and currently use its alter-ego Smarty and have had no problems whatever with throttling. My usage is usually around 400-800 GB per month but it has gone well over 1TB in the past.
Having said all that it's pot luck whether you're in a good reception area for them. Also they can be oversubscribed and I've heard that if you're unlucky this can get really bad. I get around 100-120mb/s down from a 4g+ connection for most of the day with a Huawei B818 4G router but it can slip to 20-30mb/s in the evenings. The B818 does band aggregation and I'm lucky enough to be able to receive and aggregate bands 1 and 3 from my nearest mast. Evening speeds are still good enough to stream TV with very little buffering but downloads are better done earlier in the day. I got an intro to Smarty for £16 per month with a free month and a £15 credit which over a year cost about £14.50 per month. There's no contract.
I've heard reports of 5G in some Three reception areas with download speeds of up to 800mb/s. You'd need a 5G enabled router but you might also consider a tethered phone.
 
Personally I would say you try Lyca mobile - currently they have unlimited data for half price for 6 months. It's a rolling month so you can cancel anytime. Worth a try.

Lyca unlimited data

I was going to try Lycamobile but a few posters above have mentioned there's a 100GB cap.. I've emailed them to find out if this is true.
 
Last edited:
Spoke to a lycamobile agent on the live chat who confirmed the data is unlimited BUT the sim will work only in a mobile device and not a router!

Back to square one again.
 
I think it does work. I remember placing the sim in those portable hotspot router and it worked and was able to tether from it. Lyca might be just saying that as they don't people to simply use it as a router only.
 
I tried both Vodafone and O2 sims in the router and they worked! I ran a speedtest with the O2 sim (my current phone contract sim) and was getting around 25mbps whereas the Vodafone was weaker as imagined.
I've ordered the unlimited data sim for £12.50/month from Lycamobile, hopefully this solves my problems!
 
Lyca Sim arrived and works perfectly fine in my Archer MR600 Router (you need to set data roaming to on though). In the day time I get around 20-25mbps but in the evening it reaches 60mbps even with 2 bars signal so can't complain. Best spot I've found is upstairs near the window which has 2 bars solid and 3 if I open the window and stick my arm out holding the router pointing it upwards and to the left towards the mast (might get an antenna in a few months if this still works and have 3 bars constantly).

For £12.50/month for 6 months it's a really good price, I'll see how this goes and keep everyone updated if anything changes.

Thanks guys.
 
Last edited:

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom