Originally Posted by
cargueiro
UK mobiles are among the worst in the world in my opinion. I have had top up problems with several UK PAYG Sim cards. Data is often very slow. The worst thing though is the coverage. I haven't found a UK Sim card that works nationally. The coverage maps also lack any detail so you can't plan. Sometimes you just have to go and buy another Sim and top up to make a call.
If you can find a public telephone box it is broken, more often than not, and normally always reaks of urine. Why can't they clean and maintain them?
This trip I decided to get two SIMs because of where were traveling: 3 out of habit, and EE which the map showed had better coverage in the Highlands of Scotland and the islands.
I've had a decent time with coverage and speeds (4G) but not sure how it works elsewhere in the UK. Three/3 UK was decent throughout most of the country, except for the islands signal was non-existent and EE was quite fast. In general, I found EE to be more reliable, with better speeds and coverage compared to anything in the States. The SIM gave us great 5G in the cities when used in a phone. Over here, on Verizon which is one of the better carriers, it's nearly impossible to get 5G anywhere, even in cities.
Despite my frustration with Three/3, I will give them credit on one thing... free roaming in EU (Holland in my case). I was limited to 12GB which wasn't great, but connection was solid on KPN. EE wanted to charge me per day to use the last 2GB on my card.