Best Sim only Plan to use in A7?

[PapaEchoUK]

So firstly this isn't another moan / query about the BT / IPhone / MMI poor implementation in A7s - I accepted this design limitation soon after purchasing my car back in Mar '12.

Since purchase I have used a Three standard phone and data Sim at initially £10 then £15 / month - firstly it was the Sim100 plan until mid 2013 but then 3 stopped tethering support on that (they detect and block data access in the network) so had to change to their One Plan - only plan to officially support Tethering; this was working fine from November '13 until a couple of months ago when I started getting blocked data connections again.

Having wasted many hours talking to countless people in India, Three's offshore tech support - I have been formally informed and confirmed that the One Plan sim is for phones only and the network doesn't recognise the A7 as a valid device and is blocking data / tethering - the same would also apply if I were to use a mobile broadband sim - not withstanding the loss of phone calls.

I am happy having a second Sim - I forward all calls to car from main iPhone when needed - car uses iPhone address book for contacts etc over BT.
I automatically tether my iPad and iPhone when in car, as does my wife and daughter with theirs when in the car also.

So...

As three no longer have a Sim only plan that will work in the A7, does anybody know which provider / plan will offer tethering support, phone and data, and not block access because it's a Car and not a phone or dongle?

Thanks

PE

[M1tchy]

I don't seem to be having any problems with three. I've got a SIM card that cost around £20 and gives 3gb of data or 3 months (whichever is up first). I just buy a new one every 3 months.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest 2]

Welcome.

There are a couple of big threads on the very issue, check in the C7 A6 section also.

[jk88]

Take a look at the Three 321 plan. Main advantage is that any credit doesn't expire for 3 years, so ideal if you're not a heavy or frequent user of the data services. It includes calls and texts, however I don't use them as I have the same set-up as you inc iPhone and this works fine for me. Everything worked fine out of the box when I bought it six month ago, no config required. I just leave the sim in the slot not pushed in (but still under the cover) and then just click it in when I want to use the data services.

[Scott K]

I got an EE card from ebay. 6gb for 3 months for about £16 delivered. Seems to be working well but only had the car since Friday. The kids managed to log onto the wifi and all the audi connect services and live traffic are working. You can get 12 month cards but I wanted to find out how much i will use and if the service is good up here first before i commit to £70.

[@mark]

There are a couple of threads on this if you search but it really depends if you need/want voice.

If you can do with data only then there any number of SIM only PAYG options out there. The Three £20 for 3GB over 3 months (and then buy another one) works really well. As you say though, Three are funny when it comes to Voice SIMs hence you find yourself in this position

Personally I use a Vodafone SIM in my car but considering that's who I work for, I would do wouldn't I? In any case, any of heir RED plans allow full tethering. Indeed Vodafone provide all the smart SIMs for Audi and BMW in Europe so you would expect them to work. We currently have a number of sign written 4G equipped Audis in the company car park (not allowed to borrow them though).

But it comes down to if you want voice. It sounds like you are doing what I do which is to forward the phone to the car when you are in it in which case Vodafone fully supports this

If it's data only though then I really would point you at Three PAYG