# SIM Card



## Alan Sl (Nov 11, 2009)

Can anyone recommend a cheap data only type SIM card to use. I will only be using a very small amount of data and don't really want to be tied down to a monthly contract. Would prefer a 12 month renewal on refresh it when the data is used up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## keithS (Jun 20, 2016)

The Three payg data sim is 12Gb valid for 12 months. Its £24.95 here:

https://www.mymemory.co.uk/3-payg-4g-tr ... -data.html


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## marrog08 (Jul 26, 2009)

What actually uses data because I have had a £9 Three SIM card in for months and it's still working?


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## keithS (Jun 20, 2016)

As far as I'm aware:
- satnav for online traffic info
- MMI connect stuff
- Google earth if you use it
- wifi hotspot if used


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## Omychron (Sep 9, 2016)

Also, the amount of data used is quite reasonable.
I maybe use 300MB per month, but it's generally lower.

Keep in mind that WiFi hotspot can drain the data fast, off course.


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## EvilTed (Feb 5, 2016)

I use the Three PAYG 12m data only card recommended earlier in the post. 
I ran the whole year on one £30 card and I use Google earth, traffic, Wifi Hotspot and stream music over it from Spotify too.
General usage is pretty similar - about 400Mb a month I think.

the other thing to note about 3 is that they seem to have deliberately set their 3g coverage around main roads. If you look at their coverage checker there are loads of roads which have 3g tracing all the way along them but not very much further afield. This is perfect for a car 3G and I've never had any connectivity problems.

Also great is that at the end of the year it just stops, it doesn't auto-renew or bump you up to a monthly contract. You just order a new card and swap it in.


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## Pugliese (Aug 4, 2010)

Another vote for the Three card, works brilliantly all over Europe

Does anyone know when the 12 months time limit start? i.e on purchase or first use.

Also is there anyway you can check in car how much data you have left? If not how do you check?

Thanks


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## KevC (Jul 12, 2016)

Pugliese said:


> Does anyone know when the 12 months time limit start? i.e on purchase or first use.


I'd hope it was first use. You'd be a bit miffed to find the one in the shop has been on the shelf for 50 weeks and runs out almost as soon as you plug it in 



Pugliese said:


> Also is there anyway you can check in car how much data you have left? If not how do you check?


I can't think of the exact menu path but it's in the connection manager settings > online settings. There's a menu that shows you the data usage so far.


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## pcbbc (Sep 4, 2009)

KevC said:


> Pugliese said:
> 
> 
> > Does anyone know when the 12 months time limit start? i.e on purchase or first use.
> ...


My seller stated it was from first use. Mine hasn't run out yet, so can not confirm. But, unless seller somehow has to "activate" before shipping which would seems unlikely, like you I can not see how it would possibly be otherwise.



KevC said:


> Pugliese said:
> 
> 
> > Also is there anyway you can check in car how much data you have left? If not how do you check?
> ...


The menu path is quite "involved", but yes - buried under connection manager somewhere. 

You need to select the correct connection for the cars built in data in the first menu, and then a menu deeper somewhere under that (IIRC) there is a data usage meter option which when selected shows total used so far and also an option to reset usage (Presumably when you get a new SIM, you'll want to be using that).

Agree the 3 SIM is great value for money at basically £2/m, and that the 12GB is more than adequate for cars purposes and occasional use for a WiFi data connection from a tablet/laptop while out and about. The other great thing is there is no monthly usage limit, so burn through your data as fast as you like if required, knowing you might use less next month or can just replace SIM if you use up the full 12GB before 12 months is up (would seem highly unlikely from my personal experience).


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## EvilTed (Feb 5, 2016)

You can also log on to your Three account online and see data usage there.
Having said that I've never actually registered my Three account given that I don't really care what my usage is.


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## beetle1 (Jul 5, 2017)

Morning all and please excuse me for what might be a dumb question but I don't collect my new car until next Thursday so have no experience as such. The car Im buying unfortunately doesn't have nav fitted and at £1500 I don't think I will be getting it. So, if i want to use my iPhone on Vodafone for nav purposes is this the way to go, buy a sim then connect phone to 3g sim and use its data rather than phone or am I missing something, thanks


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## jryoung (Feb 8, 2015)

if you don't have the tech pack, then you won't have the sim slot either, so it will just be nav on your phone.


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## beetle1 (Jul 5, 2017)

Thanks for clearing that up for me


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## Matrix (Apr 11, 2016)

keithS said:


> The Three payg data sim is 12Gb valid for 12 months. Its £24.95 here:
> 
> https://www.mymemory.co.uk/3-payg-4g-tr ... -data.html


£22.99 today


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## keithS (Jun 20, 2016)

Matrix said:


> keithS said:
> 
> 
> > The Three payg data sim is 12Gb valid for 12 months. Its £24.95 here:
> ...


 [smiley=cheers.gif]

I just ordered another one as the first 12 months was up!


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## jonstatt (Mar 30, 2017)

I got the Three SIM card but the TT refuses to go to 4G with it and is stuck on 3G. Any ideas?

Edit: solved it by choosing manual network selection, choosing the wrong network and then choosing automatic again. Weird but then got LTE 5 bars!


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## Matrix (Apr 11, 2016)

jonstatt said:


> I got the Three SIM card but the TT refuses to go to 4G with it and is stuck on 3G. Any ideas?
> 
> Edit: solved it by choosing manual network selection, choosing the wrong network and then choosing automatic again. Weird but then got LTE 5 bars!


Thanks for this I will give it a go with my new sim.


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## Matrix (Apr 11, 2016)

Just reporting back. The new sim is still only 3g. According to Three's website the car might not be compatible?


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## GrantTTS (Mar 18, 2016)

I am sure mine has never shown 4G but it does show LTE when available (alot). LTE is not 3G it is almost full on 4G well LTE Advanced is 4G.

http://www.techadvisor.co.uk/feature/mo ... e-3605656/

It could be that your car is working completely correctly, as I say I am in the South East and can't remember 4G being shown but to be fair if the displays and functions are all working I don't tend to look down to the line where it is displayed.


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## jonstatt (Mar 30, 2017)

GrantTTS said:


> I am sure mine has never shown 4G but it does show LTE when available (alot). LTE is not 3G it is almost full on 4G well LTE Advanced is 4G.
> 
> http://www.techadvisor.co.uk/feature/mo ... e-3605656/
> 
> It could be that your car is working completely correctly, as I say I am in the South East and can't remember 4G being shown but to be fair if the displays and functions are all working I don't tend to look down to the line where it is displayed.


In this case LTE = 4G . In the US LTE = 3.5G. This is very annoying and confusing. But if the TT in the UK shows LTE it is 4G.

What I had at the beginning was a complete refusal for the car to show anything other than 3G. After faffing around I got it to LTE. However I have found that if it drops to 3G due to reception it doesn't always go back to LTE. It seems 3G is sticky! There is a menu option to alter the priority of the signal lock (telephony first, data first and automatic)....I may play with this at some point.


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## ticitybo (Jul 29, 2017)

Purchased a 24GB, 24 month Three SIM card earlier this year which was registered and inserted it on 1st February 2017. Just checked my data usage and I've got 17GB remaining. Based on current usage the SIM card is costing me £1 a month.

I use Google Earth all the time with real time traffic updates and I occasionally use the car as a WiFi hot spot to connect my laptop, I also check the weather for the destination and regularly receive news feed updates via the Virtual Cockpit. My phone connects seamlessly and I can make/receive calls, send and receive texts and also check and respond to emails - incoming emails and texts can be read out and when it's safe to do so I can also send replies.

The Tech Pack was a great option for me and from my perspective it's a brilliant piece of kit. No separate sat nav, no trailing cables and I can send destinations to my car from my laptop, using Google Maps or with the MMI app on my phone or I can search using the Virtual Cockpit. And I've also got the latest speed camera database installed which also works seamlessly.

Hope this helps and I'm happy to answer any questions.


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## Matrix (Apr 11, 2016)

jonstatt said:


> What I had at the beginning was a complete refusal for the car to show anything other than 3G. After faffing around I got it to LTE. However I have found that if it drops to 3G due to reception it doesn't always go back to LTE. It seems 3G is sticky! There is a menu option to alter the priority of the signal lock (telephony first, data first and automatic)....I may play with this at some point.


I had a EE 4g sim,that worked great but was expensive in comparison to both the 3 SIM cards I've purchased. They refused to connect to despite the claim they are 4g. It doesn't matter too much as I only need them for the maps & connect services


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## jryoung (Feb 8, 2015)

I just bought a Three 12 month data sim , and it also only said 3G for all of a 100 mile cross country journey. Previously I used Giffgaff which almost always showed LTE. Haven't tried the manual setting trick yet, but thinking to go back to Giffgaff - also use the data for the hotspot in the car.


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## bezza (Nov 26, 2016)

ticitybo said:


> Purchased a 24GB, 24 month Three SIM card earlier this year which was registered and inserted it on 1st February 2017. Just checked my data usage and I've got 17GB remaining. Based on current usage the SIM card is costing me £1 a month.
> 
> I use Google Earth all the time with real time traffic updates and I occasionally use the car as a WiFi hot spot to connect my laptop, I also check the weather for the destination and regularly receive news feed updates via the Virtual Cockpit. My phone connects seamlessly and I can make/receive calls, send and receive texts and also check and respond to emails - incoming emails and texts can be read out and when it's safe to do so I can also send replies.
> 
> ...


How do you enable the speed camera database?


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

You download the locations in whatever format you want from whatever supplier you want then push them into myaudi, add icons an export. You then load that POI package into the car.

Real simple, tells you step by step on myaudi. Its pretty fool proof.


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## bezza (Nov 26, 2016)

Toshiba said:


> You download the locations in whatever format you want from whatever supplier you want then push them into myaudi, add icons an export. You then load that POI package into the car.
> 
> Real simple, tells you step by step on myaudi. Its pretty fool proof.


Great stuff, thanks. Will give it a go shortly.

Are you able to setup alerts so the car warns you as you're approaching a speed camera?


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## Matrix (Apr 11, 2016)

bezza said:


> Toshiba said:
> 
> 
> > You download the locations in whatever format you want from whatever supplier you want then push them into myaudi, add icons an export. You then load that POI package into the car.
> ...


On My17 cars upwards apparently.

My Sim has finally connected to LTE [smiley=huh2.gif] I was driving in a city today when I happened to notice the connectivity so I will put this down to Three not having very good coverage.


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## jryoung (Feb 8, 2015)

jryoung said:


> I just bought a Three 12 month data sim , and it also only said 3G for all of a 100 mile cross country journey. Previously I used Giffgaff which almost always showed LTE. Haven't tried the manual setting trick yet, but thinking to go back to Giffgaff - also use the data for the hotspot in the car.


I followed the advice to change the settings to manual, deliberately select some other provider (O2 in my case) and then set it back to Automatic, and it locked on to LTE immediately. Next time I started the ignition, it reverted back to 3G, so whilst on, I ejected the sim and then put it back in, and it connected to LTE. Hopefully now it should stick to that


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## F1SpaceMonkey (Nov 21, 2015)

just cancelled my car SIM - its just not worth it. google maps is ok, sure my phone's data can do that. the rest of the stuff on there is available on your phone. the novelty has worn off!


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## ticitybo (Jul 29, 2017)

Hi Bezza, to load speed cameras on to the sat nav follow these instructions.

1. Create an account with PocketGPS.com and pay the subscription fee for the speed camera database updates.
2. Download an app called SpeedCameraToPoi from https://github.com/mcaddy/audipoi - save this to a folder for future use.
3. Insert an empty SD card into the card reader and run the above app by double clicking the SpeedCameraToPoi.exe file. I chose the Audi A3 option even though I have a TT.
4. Remove the SD card from the card reader and insert it into slot number 1 in the TT, remove the 2nd SD card from slot number 2 if inserted, and turn on the ignition.
5. Go to the NAV menu and select "Special Destinations"
6. Scroll to "MyAudi Special Destinations". DO NOT PUSH DOWN ON THE MAIN BUTTON, but instead click it right to bring up the "+"/Right Context Menu"
7. Once you get the right context menu (Options) up choose "Import MyAudi Special Destinations"
8. Choose the SD card.
9. Follow the on screen instructions.

To enable alerts
1. Go to the nav screen
2. Press the Right Options button
3. Scroll down and select "Navigation Settings"
4. Choose "Arrival Notifications"
5. Tick the option for "Display notification when nearby" and optionally "Play notification tone"
6. Select "MyAudi Special Destinations" and choose which camera type you want notifications for.

Works for me. The only issue with the speed cameras on the TT is that you get a warning when they are in the vicinity which could mean that the camera is on an adjacent road.

Oh, and if anyone has got any doubts about spending a few quid on a SIM card to get full connectivity that allows the full use of all features that the Tech Pack offers, my advice is go get one. The functionality is great, full WiFi mobile hot spot for laptops, iPads etc. and it's great for receiving destinations from Google maps. In essence I can send destinations from my laptop, my phone or an iPad using Google maps or by using the Audi MMI app. It's great.


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## jonstatt (Mar 30, 2017)

jryoung said:


> jryoung said:
> 
> 
> > I just bought a Three 12 month data sim , and it also only said 3G for all of a 100 mile cross country journey. Previously I used Giffgaff which almost always showed LTE. Haven't tried the manual setting trick yet, but thinking to go back to Giffgaff - also use the data for the hotspot in the car.
> ...


You got past the first step using my crazy hack to get it to give any LTE anywhere. That's good news.

The second problem is if you are in an area where 3G is a stronger signal than LTE, it seems to choose that. Once it locks onto 3G it doesn't seem to like moving back to LTE, until you remove and re-insert the SIM or shut-off the ignition and restart. I don't have any magic for this one yet, but I want to try choosing the data preference option setting buried in the menus. The SIM card can also be used for making calls and the car only supports voice on 3G, and not VoLTE...which may be part of the reason it prefers 3G.


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## jryoung (Feb 8, 2015)

Unfortunately you can only use the sim for calls if you have the "Phone Box" option, as far as I can tell


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## jonstatt (Mar 30, 2017)

jryoung said:


> Unfortunately you can only use the sim for calls if you have the "Phone Box" option, as far as I can tell


Ah could be. The phone box option adds a few not well documented extras such as being able to Bluetooth connect to two phones at the same time.


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