Any difference between a data only sim & the one that comes with a 4GEE router?

[camy252]

I'm currently using a 4GEE sim (one that came with an EE 4GEE router) and looking to upgrade but only options I see are 'data only sims'.  Is there actually any difference between these sim cards?

As I'm sure you can see from my previous posts, I'm still concerned about the device caps as my understanding was that data only sims have a device limit of 11 but the 4GEE router and sim don't have such a cap (maybe a cap on the router itself but not the sim?)?

To put it into more context, would EE or the router know that I've put a different sim card into it?  Different being the 4GEE sim or the data only sim.

[EssexBoyEE]

The Router doesn't care which SIM is inserted (or any EE Sim if the Router is locked to EE).

Any Network can detect which device the SIM is being used with and or whether it is being used for Tethering. EE doesn't have any restrictions on how EE Sims are used and in which Device as EE allow Unrestricted Tethering be it a Data SIM Plan or a Phone SIM Plan (subject to the Data Plan and use in the UK).

You don't need to worry about using a EE Phone SIM Plan in a Router, but as you point out you do need to be aware of the FUP on any SIM Plan which are in the Networks T&C's

[camy252]

So is there a difference between the 4GEE sims and the data only sims?  The T&Cs confuse things more because there also a table outlining speed caps at 30mb/s on plans less than  £40 a month.  But these only apply to the 4GEE plans which are only obtainable through the tariffs which include a router.  There are no deals to upgrade your tariff to a 4GEE plan without a router but seems thats only way to get around the 11 device limit on the data only sims.

I want to go with the £32 a month unlimited data only sim however I don't want restricted to 11 devices nor have my speeds restricted.  FUP also puts the unlimited data sim at 600gb max download limit.  Considering the next deal down is for 500gb that doesnt seem very unlimited. 

Also why would you have such a low FUP limit (when it used to be 1000gb), if anything, device bandwidth has only increased in the past 5 years with 4k streaming now being the norm, video games being above 100gb in size, ring doorbells, wifi security cameras, high quality youtube vids, working from home etc.

Getting quite annoyed by all this as I've been researching this for over a year now and can't understand why its so complicated and why there's no definitive information.

[camy252]

[germ1]

Guess what, there's a huge difference between phone and data sim!!!

After having had a Three sim in my router for some years and it getting worse and worse I decided to give ee a try.

I ordered a phone sim  with unlimited data as everyone at ee I had spoken to told me that there was actually no difference between the two. Except one guy who stated that the phone sim was limited to 1TB if it was used for tethering or for anything else but a mobile.

Turned out to be a little better than Three, but not enough to keep hold of it for the premium price.

Having reinserted my Three sim I realised that it actually was so bad that I gave EE another call and asked them to reconnect me!

As it would have taken longer to reconnect my existing number and cost £20 admin charges I decided to take out a new plan and to try the data plan.

With committing to 36 months it came with a nice 5g router which has got 4 aerial ports for outdoor aerials (you can still cancel it within 14 days) and guess what:

It's so much faster. It uses two cell ID's simultaneous on 4G so instead of a theoretical max of 150 Mbps you've got 300mbps which makes a difference for me as I'm a long way from any mast and am now getting a constant 25-30 Mbps rather than anything from between 2mbps and 10Mbps.

My phone sims for Three or EE I never saw using to cell ID's simultaneously.

And I've got a 5G router just in case they put up a mast near me.

But I shall carry on using my Fritzbox till then.

Hope this will help someone.

[camy252]

@germ1 

I also received conflicting info about data vs phone sims.  Although the one I heard was you only get 100GB of tethered data when a sim is put into a router.

I held off for ages getting an unlimited sim because I was getting so much contradictory info about the FUP, tether and device limits.  I've had the unlimited sim now for about 2 months and so far so good.  Not had any issues with my device limit (says 11 devices but I've got about 24 connected) and I've used way more than 100GB so i suspect the tethering rumor wasnt true.  

It does suck that the FUP max is 600GB and not 1TB as with most home internet deals but I'm avg 400-550GB a month so should be okay.  I just leave my Warzone and Steam updates until the end of the month and make sure I have enough spare data.

[EssexBoyEE]

@camy252 As replied to you back in January there are no Tethering Limits, you are Free to use your Data as you wish, subject to the Monthly FUP and the Normal Network T&Cs.

The 600Gb/1000Gb FUP is not set in Stone its an ongoing Fair Use, as long as you dont hammer the life out of the Data Use every Month you should be fine.

This fictitious 100gb Limit of Tethering often pops up on here and gets confused with the 100gb Data Gift Limit on the Unlimited Data Plans (120gb on some Phone UL Plans) and has nothing to do with Tethering or using Phones Sims in Data Devices, its purely a Data Gifting Limit to another User.