# data sim



## nickyr (Mar 9, 2016)

hello

my data sim has run out after a year and looking around they all now seemterribly expensive and complex, and I can't even find a 12 month pre-loaded one. My last one from Amazon cost me something like £20 for 24GB which lasted a year.

Any recommendations for a replacement?

thanks, Nick


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## poobahuk (Jul 5, 2016)

I popped one of these in recently, works fine, am pretty sure I'm not in danger of hitting the data limit:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01 ... UTF8&psc=1


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## F1SpaceMonkey (Nov 21, 2015)

just hook your phone up to the car, works just as well.


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## KevC (Jul 12, 2016)

3 Mobile do a 12 month data sim. Several of us use these, different sizes to choose from.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01CMD4VKC/


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## ross_t_boss (Feb 28, 2017)

I had expected to just use my phone data but it does my head in having to open the hotspot to get it to connect - just want to chuck it in the phone box - then I get the additional functionality. CarPlay seems to want a cable but not too fussed about it, I have the wireless charger and expected it to thus support wireless CarPlay as well :roll:

Am I missing something obvious here or is it really better to just stick a SIM in and forget about it? I'm thinking about putting the Three 24GB / 24month one in, £45 on Amazon.


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## phazer (Apr 2, 2018)

I have mine setup to allow Remote Sim Access, the phone then connects to the Car's wifi for it's data connection. Works fine and I don't have to do anything when I get in, it all connects automatically.


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## robes (Jul 6, 2016)

For the 1st year we used the Three 12 Gb 12 month card which worked for nearly 13 months. Replaced with the 24 Gb 24 month sim as better value at £45. Never got anywhere near 12 Gb in the 1st 12 months, and think that next time I would consider the EE 6 Gb card, as I think we'd be unlikely to exceed 500 MB a month. You can view the amount of data the car has used in the options to give an idea of data usage as I have never managed to find out how to view the amount of used via Three.


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## pcbbc (Sep 4, 2009)

robes said:


> I have never managed to find out how to view the amount of used via Three.


Quite easy, when you know how...

1. Connect to the car's WiFi hotspot using your tablet, phone or computer.
2. Make sure your device is using WiFi for internet access (and not any built in 3G connection - most devices will default to WiFi if connected).
3. Go to the three site here https://www.three.co.uk/My3Account/Login
You won't need to register or provide any login details, because three can identify you automatically as you are connecting over their network

Somewhere in there is your remaining allowance. I checked this the other day, so I know it works!


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## KevC (Jul 12, 2016)

I can't remember off the top of my head but is there anything that says the date the card was activated? I know mine is some time in November but not exactly when. I just got my replacement but don't want to put it in too soon. I can't remember what I did last year!!


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## nickyr (Mar 9, 2016)

phazer said:


> I have mine setup to allow Remote Sim Access, the phone then connects to the Car's wifi for it's data connection. Works fine and I don't have to do anything when I get in, it all connects automatically.


thanks everyone for the responses.

How do I go about connecting my phone this way phazer? Whenever I tried in the past it was always a ballache trying to get it to work!


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## pcbbc (Sep 4, 2009)

nickyr said:


> How do I go about connecting my phone this way phazer? Whenever I tried in the past it was always a ballache trying to get it to work!


My understanding is that RSAP protocol is only implemented on Android, and therefore if you have an Apple (or now discontinued Microsoft) device you are out of luck.
See here for reference.
Therefore, with anything other than Android, you need to manually connect each time?


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## nickyr (Mar 9, 2016)

thanks for the reply

I'm on Apple so I guess this option is a no go.

I ordered one of the 3 sims - 12GB should last me a year.

I was quite surprised at how much they'd gone up by though. About double what I paid last year :-(


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## KevC (Jul 12, 2016)

nickyr said:


> How do I go about connecting my phone this way phazer? Whenever I tried in the past it was always a ballache trying to get it to work!


I have the car set to be a hotspot. When I get in my iPhone links to the cars wifi and that's it. I don't have to do anything. To set it up I just hooked in to the wifi when I got in the first time. It shows up as a network in the wifi list on the phone.


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## Swiffyc (Jan 7, 2017)

nickyr said:


> thanks for the reply
> 
> I'm on Apple so I guess this option is a no go.
> 
> ...


Yep I noticed that when I mine ran out earlier in year. Was also very surprised how little data I had used...probably just use my phone in future. I only really use online traffic and see fuel prices though..


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## robes (Jul 6, 2016)

pcbbc said:


> robes said:
> 
> 
> > I have never managed to find out how to view the amount of used via Three.
> ...


Thanks! Will give this a go.


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## GoodThunder (Jul 19, 2016)

Three has a data only SIM with 24GB for 2 years:
https://store.three.co.uk/view/content/mbasket

P.S. I'm in the same situation, will try the tips above to make it work with my iPhone connection


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## The Architect (Sep 30, 2017)

Hi,
Can you tell me please with the EE Data SIM card purchased from Amazon, do you need to activate it first before you can use it. It says to place it in the device to register it. Any help would be appreciated.
Many thanks.


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## KevC (Jul 12, 2016)

If it's anything like the one from 3 that a lot of us use, when my old one runs out I just put the new one in and it carries on where it left off.


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## moro anis (May 27, 2010)

The first SIM I bought a couple of years ago was EE and it nearly drove me to distraction trying to activate it. Subsequently I have used the 3 ones.

Re knowing when its run out IIRC you won't see "Online" in the Nav display. I may give the hotspot one a go when this runs one out as I use very little data. Does anyone know if you connect to the car this way you can still use a separate iPod player simultaneously?


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## GoodThunder (Jul 19, 2016)

Just a quick update: finally I ended up with a free (means free!) data SIM from Three. They offer 200MB for free every month which is in my case more than enough for satnav live traffic data.

Running for 3 months now - works like a charm and I didn't have to pay anything.

Here's a link to this plan if anyone interested (was available as on 28.12.2018): https://www.three.co.uk/Free_SIM_MBB/Order


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

olly2016 said:


> Just a quick update: finally I ended up with a free (means free!) data SIM from Three. They offer 200MB for free every month which is in my case more than enough for satnav live traffic data.
> 
> Running for 3 months now - works like a charm and I didn't have to pay anything.
> 
> Here's a link to this plan if anyone interested (was available as on 28.12.2018): https://www.three.co.uk/Free_SIM_MBB/Order


Cheers mate, I just started looking into a SIM and this sounds perfect!


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## F1SpaceMonkey (Nov 21, 2015)

nickyr said:


> thanks for the reply
> 
> I'm on Apple so I guess this option is a no go.
> 
> ...


I have an iPhone - works perfectly. the only thing you have to do is ensure you go to the personal hotspot screen on the iPhone and leave it until the car connects - about 30secs to a min usually.


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## GoodThunder (Jul 19, 2016)

ajayp said:


> Cheers mate, I just started looking into a SIM and this sounds perfect!


No probs! Just make sure your phone won't hook up to the car wi-fi. 
This bastard can suck up 200MB in no time


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## Blade Runner (Feb 16, 2018)

pcbbc said:


> robes said:
> 
> 
> > I have never managed to find out how to view the amount of used via Three.
> ...


If you register (Three sends you a password by text as soon as you insert the SIM) you can just login to the "3" website (i.e straight to step 3 above) and check your remaining data under 'Data Allowance'. It also tells you when the SIM expires. Their 12GB SIM is cheaper from MyMemory than Amazon, and hasn't gone up since I bought mine in June. Still £27.99. I have actually used very little data so far, so I think I will try to use my phone instead when it runs out. I have just upgraded my (Android) phone, so should now be easier connecting than with my old Samsung A3...


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

olly2016 said:


> ajayp said:
> 
> 
> > Cheers mate, I just started looking into a SIM and this sounds perfect!
> ...


Cheers mate, received the SIM card today so gonna have a play 

Just faced the first issue, the full size sim needs to be registered by phone that accepts a full size sim.
Not got one of those so am a little puzzled at how to register the sim?

Thinking of pooping it out and putting it in my iPhone but not sure it will pop back into the full size template


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## Blade Runner (Feb 16, 2018)

ajayp said:


> olly2016 said:
> 
> 
> > ajayp said:
> ...


I think you just need to read the text that should be sitting in your inbox on your car's MMI. I had the same puzzle till the "penny dropped". Go to the Telephone menu and look for the "Text message (SIM card)" option, then Inbox. The text will contain a password. You just need that and the sim card phone number in order to register on the 3 website. HTH.


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

Blade Runner said:


> I think you just need to read the text that should be sitting in your inbox on your car's MMI. I had the same puzzle till the "penny dropped". Go to the Telephone menu and look for the "Text message (SIM card)" option, then Inbox. The text will contain a password. You just need that and the sim card phone number in order to register on the 3 website. HTH.


Thanks mate, will give that a bash


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## csi_basel (May 11, 2006)

Hi 
I had a data sim in the car and barely used it and so it's annoying that the card is deliberately limited to just a year!
So now I am using the iphone hot spot connection feature. So now the car is connected.

My question is - is it possible to have other people's phone connect to my car wifi if I'm using the above method?

Thanks!


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## pcbbc (Sep 4, 2009)

Blade Runner said:


> I think you just need to read the text that should be sitting in your inbox on your car's MMI. I had the same puzzle till the "penny dropped". Go to the Telephone menu and look for the "Text message (SIM card)" option, then Inbox. The text will contain a password. You just need that and the sim card phone number in order to register on the 3 website. HTH.


Or just connect to the car WiFi with your phone or tablet. Then register from the web browser on your device through the cars WiFi and ultimately over the GSM connection. This has always worked for me when registering the 3 SIMs.

Because you are accessing the 3 site over the 3G connection (Phone WiFi -> Car WiFi -> GSM via 3 SIM) you do not require a password to register (they already know the SIM card being used).

Note that the 3 website is a bit unclear on the registration page about this. The instructions there tell you to turn *OFF* WiFi on your phone/tablet. That advice only applies if the SIM is physically in that phone or tablet. The objective of turning off WiFi in that case is to force the phone or tablet to connect over 3G. In our case we *must* use the WiFi, as the SIM is not physically present in the registering device.


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## Swiffyc (Jan 7, 2017)

I got one of these free 200mb data SIM and lasted 2 journeys totalling about 300 miles..which is odd as only use online traffic and my old sim used 3 gb for whole year, eg averaged 250mb a month.Am connected now via WiFi hotspot. Ideally I would like to connect via Bluetooth but I don't seem to have that option. Any ideas what I am missing?


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## cliveju (Jun 27, 2018)

I don't think you can use Bluetooth for internet connection on this car.
I have a free app that turns on the hotspot automatically so I don't even think about it any more.


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## Wedge0107 (Jun 5, 2017)

Not as standard but you can connect via Bluetooth for data if you have the car fitted with the Audi phone box and Audi connect and your phone is compatible with the rSAP protocol. 
Cliveju - Out of interest what app are you using to auto connect your hotspot?


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## cliveju (Jun 27, 2018)

Wedge0107 it's an Android app called Hotspot Automatic. No ads and I think it was free


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## Wedge0107 (Jun 5, 2017)

Cheers Cliveju will give it a try!


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