Unlimited data sim card in a 4G router - Actually unlimited?

[camy252]

I've now spoken with EE on three different occasions and been given conflicting info on this each time.

I signed up to an unlimited sim only deal for £35 which I put into a 4G router.  When speaking to EE a few days later about another matter, the advisor eluded to the fact that if i put that sim into a router, it thinks its a hotspot and i actually only get 100GB a month! I was a bit frustrated at being misled the first time so I asked if this could be confirmed.  The advisor confirmed that i would get 100GB a month!

So i had to cancel that contract and take out a £50 a month one that is only 500GB a month but they said thats the most they do.  I'm now spending more a month, have a data cap AND a router I'm not going to use but paying for.  But, I settled with it thinking that was my best choice for home broadband.

Spoke to another advisor today and he's not aware of any issues putting an unlimited sim into a router.  There isnt much about this on the internet but from what I've read, you should get unlimited data even if you put this into a router.  

So now I'm a bit confused (and a little annoyed) but all this so can anyone confirm if they have been able to use more than 100GB on their unlimited sim?  

Its a rubbish situation to be in because I'd have to use more than 100GB to test this theory which would probably take more than my 14 days grace period to work out! My worry is EE have misled me so i'd take out the more expensive deal.

[XRaySpeX]

You've been misinformed! The 100GB pm limit relates only to gifting data to other users on your a/c. You may only gift data to others from the 1st 100GB of all your data. Other than that you may use the rest of your 1000GB data for your own use, like tethering devices to the hotspot holding the unlimited data SIM.

[camy252]

Bit more confused now.  No matter who i spoke to, they all agreed hotspotting data was restricted to 100GB.

The issue was whether putting the unlimited sim into a router would be considered hotspotting and therefore would restrict the user to 100GB a month instead of 1000GB.

[XRaySpeX]

As I told you, it's all untrue! Hotspotting/Tethering is NOT gifting data to which the 100GB limit applies & only to that.

[camy252]

Okay thanks.  Appreciate the replies, it just that contradicts what I've been told by all the EE people I've spoken to.

Guess i dont really care about hot-spotting, just more about what happens when you use an unlimited sim in a 4G router.

[camy252]

I think some clarity from EE when you're buying the contracts would be good here as I see a few people have been caught out by all this.

I would certainly make it very clear that:

You can put a phone sim into a router BUT it has the following restrictions.....11 devices, a hotspot data cap (if applicable), gift data cap etc.

State that to avoid the device cap (other than the one set by the router - 64 devices on my Tp-Link 4G router for example) you need to take out a wifi 4g plan but the most data you can have is 500GB.  

Unless its a loop hole which is going to be closed very soon.  In which case, im sorry to everyone for bringing it up!

They do have an unlimited wifi 4gee deal with the Huawei CPE Pro router at £70 and thats unlimited so i dont understand why they dont offer an unlimited deal with the cheaper routers, or offer an unlimited sim only deal for broadband 4G (not phone sim) without the device limit (which is related to hot-spotting)

[XRaySpeX]

It's all covered in Unlimited Plans.

How do you know that this doesn't equally apply to the 5GEE Home Router with Antenna (Huawei CPE Pro router)?

[camy252]

Cos it says 1000GB of data with the CPE Pro deal (i know not unlimited but same as FUP 1000GB so consider it the same).

But thats for a sim card thats clearly designed for use in a router, as it comes with a router.  So I'd be surprised if that had a hotspotting device cap of 11 considering its clearly for home broadband use.

What I'm suggesting is a sim card only deal for unlimited (1000gb FUP if needed) broadband not phone mobile data.  So no device cap (other than the one set by the router).  Basically whatever conditions the CPE Pro £70 p/m sim card comes with, is the one we want.  Just without the router costs.

[XRaySpeX]

It was your interpretation that 1000GB = Unlimited that prompted my Q 😉.

[camy252]

Yup im with you on that one.  For simplicity I'm equating 1000GB to be unlimited for the sake of convenience.  Certainly unlimited in my eyes as i probably will struggle to reach that limit.  However I may go over the 500GB which is my most concerning issue.

Had a look through your link and theres no mention of an 11 device cap for unlimited sim cards when put inside a router.  Nor is there any mention of routers which makes me think its possibly a loop hole (that will closed very soon) that you can put one in a router without any issues.

What I really need is someone who has an unlimited sim card (for a phone) in a router to confirm if they were able to go over the 100GB and if they were able to add more than 11 devices to their home network. There seems to be a bit too much ambiguity surrounding this issue, especially when you speak to advisors at EE.