Best UK Sim Card To Use For Tourists Visiting United Kingdom

The UK is truly one of the dream destinations for most people. It offers a lot of fun and exciting experiences for tourists who are planning to visit this awesome country. From Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle to London’s Big Ben, it will surely give you the glimpse of UK’s rich culture and history to its modernity.

While traveling around the UK, it is important to consider necessities. One of those is choosing the best sim card that you can use while staying there. In this article, it will give you options about the best sim card that you can pick depending on your needs.

UK Sim Cards for Tourists

Giffgaff Sim Card

Network provider: O2

Network Type: 2G to 4G services

• It has strong 2G and 4G coverage, so it won’t be a problem getting mobile data wherever you go. 
• One of the best sim cards for visiting or moving to the UK. It’s because they provide free international delivery and they also allow you to top-up with a non-UK credit card.

Best Giffgaff mobile deal for travelers:

Giffgaff goody bag 3gb:

• This is the best deal that they have so far. Great price with a great offer, especially if you’re only staying in the UK in less than 1 month.
• If you’re not able to order a sim card from Giffgaff in advance, you can also pick up a sim card in person when you arrive in the UK.

Note: You can use a Giffgaff sim card in any device that is either locked or unlocked to the O2 network.

EE Sim Card

Network provider: EE Mobile

Network type: 4G services

• UK’s largest operators and has the most customers on its 4G platform.

Best EE sim card SIM-only deals for travelers (depending on your needs):

EE SIM 250mb:

EE SIM 1GB:

EE SIM 3GB:

They offer a lot of deals but these three are the best ones. It comes with a great price and great offers.

• EE sim cards do not post overseas. Meaning, you can only get a sim card when you arrive in the UK.
• You can pick up a sim in an EE store which would then be activated within 24 hrs. 

Lycamobile sim card

Network provider: O2

Network type: 4G services

• Lycamobile offers different types of plans. However, the best plan they have for tourists who will be staying for not more than 30 days is their ‘All in one plus 15’.

• Its price value is a bit higher than Giffgaff but it offers almost the same deal with it. However, the Lycamobile’s advantage is that it has unlimited calls internationally and its data is up to 5GB.
• Available in every convenience store.

SMARTY sim card

Network provider: Three UK

Network type: 3G and 4G services

• The only SIM-only mobile that offers all the flexibility of pay as you go. Their monthly plans start from £6.25 with no minimum term contracts.

PLANS OFFERED (All plans include unlimited UK calls and texts):

• Its 3G and 4G networks cover 97% of the UK population.
• Since SMARTY is owned by Three and Three doesn’t have a 2G network, there is no 2G coverage. So it means you can’t use a really old mobile phone.

These are the options that you can consider when choosing the best sim card to use when visiting the UK. However, these are just suggestions based on the services they offered. You can visit their website if you want more information about their deals. 

The 4 main mobile internet providers in the UK

EE Mobile

It is the UK’s largest network provider. It has the widest 4G coverage of any operator. It offers not only an enormous range of pay-monthly mobile phones and SIM deals but also a great range of tablets and data SIMs.

O2

One of the UK’s four mobile networks, and the only one that doesn’t offer home broadband. However, they do have SIM-only deals.

Three UK

Three is one of the UK’s four network providers. It offers a huge range of handsets along with a dizzying array of SIM-only options (including unlimited data) to suit all possible tastes and needs.

Vodafone

Vodafone provides its own network, offering mid-range phones, budget phones, and SIM-only deals. 

These are the four main mobile internet providers in the UK. It is important for us to know these four because it will help us decide on which sim card should we pick when we visit the country.

Now let’s take a look at the best sim cards that the UK has for us travelers.

Just like what I said earlier, it all depends on your needs and how often you use your phone and data. For me, the best way to choose the best sim card is depending on the activities I will do and the number of days I will stay there.

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