PAYG sims for both Ireland and UK

March 31, 2016 8:37 AM

Which pay as you go SIMs should we buy in Ireland that will allow us to access data in the UK as well? We are spending time in both Ireland and the UK (flying into Shannon), so we would like one service that will work in both countries.

Vodaphone.ie will let us roam in the UK for 2 Euros per day (on Red roaming) which gives us 200MB of data and unlimited talk and text to Irish numbers. Is there another company that will give us a better deal, or are they all pretty similar?

We will mainly be using data for navigation and expect texts and calls to be minimal. How common is it for a payg SIM to offer tethering?

posted by soelo to Travel & Transportation around Ireland (4 answers total)

Three (UK) let you use your minutes and data in the EU for no extra charge.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:42 AM on March 31, 2016

The link EndsofInvention points out is only for Three UK customers who travel to Ireland, not necessarily the other way around.

Also, Three PAYG does not allow tethering.
posted by vacapinta at 10:02 AM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Looks like you can get the Three Like Home add-on for a prepay sim with 3; they should be able to sort that out for you at any 3 shop in Ireland.
posted by macdara at 10:33 AM on April 1, 2016

It's probably easiest to just get a sim in Ireland and then another one in the UK. Get a Three pay-as-you-go and top up with €20. That will give you 15GB of data for 30 days and you still have the original €20. Free calls to Three and free weekend calls to any network. You can burn the €20 in the UK on data (not sure how much the roaming charges are) and then get another one over there. You can tether on the Irish PAYG from Three (at least I do on mine). I don't see an option for Three Like Home in my add-ons section, so that might be restricted by account type.
posted by nevan at 11:34 AM on April 1, 2016