Our holiday in Wales was good, but we didn’t always have good phone reception whilst we were there. Now, it’s a holiday, and you can argue that we probably should have had a break from phones, social media and the like. But we also need our phones for certain things – I use Google Maps for navigation, for example, and we needed apps to find out where to charge our electric car.
In North Wales, most of the population is concentrated in a relatively narrow strip of land between the hills and the north coast. Providing a mobile service is therefore more difficult and expensive – each mast is likely to cover a smaller and more sparsely populated area than in a big city. For the most part, there were few places where we had no signal whatsoever. But even when showing full bars, we couldn’t make calls or use the internet in some places.
Here’s how we handled it:
Downloading things on Wi-Fi beforehand
It’s a bit hidden, but Google Maps lets you download offline maps on a Wi-Fi connection. We had good internet where we were staying – the Conwy area has been upgraded to full fibre broadband – so we could download a map of the area. This meant that we could still use Google Maps to navigate without a mobile data connection.
Note that Google’s guide, linked above, is a little out of date. At the time of writing, you need to:
- Search for a place
- Swipe right on the lower panel where it says ‘Directions’ and ‘Start’, until you see a button that says ‘More’
- Tap ‘More’ and then ‘Download Offline Map’
- You can then pinch and zoom to select the area – a larger area will take up more storage space
There are limitations – you won’t get live traffic data if you’re using an offline map without a phone signal. However, once Google Maps is able to reconnect, it’ll update your route if needed. If you use Gmail and sign in to Google Maps with the same account, you may get push notifications ahead of upcoming trips to prompt you to download offline maps. I’d recommend it, especially if it’s somewhere you’ve not been before, or somewhere particularly remote.
The same applies for content that you want to consume whilst outside of mobile data range. If you use Spotify Premium, you can download playlists ahead of time. I make sure that I download, rather than stream, any shows on BBC Sounds that I want to listen to.
Hotspotting where possible
If there’s free Wi-Fi available somewhere that you’re visiting, use it. Most National Trust properties have free Wi-Fi in their cafés, for example.
If you have another device on a different phone network, then you could try hotspotting off that too. My phone is on 3, but my iPad has a mobile data SIM on a virtual operator which uses EE. Whilst it was a bit of a pain to have to carry my iPad around as well, it meant I could use the iPad as a Personal Hotspot for my phone and get online. You may be able to do this with a newer car, if you have a data plan on it, or a portable Wi-Fi hotspot device.
Get an eSIM on a different network
When I’ve travelled abroad, I’ve used eSIMs from Airalo rather than roaming on my existing SIM, as it’s cheaper. But you can buy UK eSIMs too. If your primary SIM has poor signal, then you could buy an eSIM on a different network that may work better. My iPhone (and I assume most new-ish Android phones) can switch between multiple SIMs on the fly, if one loses signal. If you decide to buy from Airalo, use the code NEIL6715 for some extra initial credit.
If you want to go further, try Honest Mobile’s Smart SIM. This can connect to all four UK networks (3, Vodafone, O2 and EE, although 3 and Vodafone may merge their networks soon), and costs £45 per year. However, whilst there are no data limits, it is limited to set pre-approved apps. These are mainly navigation apps like Google Maps, messaging, news, weather, banking and apps for electric car parking. There’s about 400 in total, but it excludes any social media apps, or any that involve streaming audio or video. I signed up to Honest Mobile after coming back from Wales, and I’m giving it a try for a year to see how I get on. Here’s my referral link if you want your first month free.
Honest Mobile’s Smart SIM has been heavily advertised on my Facebook feed, and so I read this post by Martin Brophy before committing.
Ultimately, what works for you will depend on how often you’re without a mobile signal, and how much you rely on your phone. I normally get a good signal on 3 in most places, but I’ll see how I get on with Honest Mobile.
