Tag: Internet

Let’s Buy British SIM Card in UK (Northern Ireland)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Before going to Northern Ireland, I had been to Scotland in terms of the UK trip, and it was before Brexit as well as in 2019. I have used a SIM card from Telia’s brand called Super since I came to Estonia. As of 2019, as Super’s services were different from recent days, I used Super’s SIM card in Scotland as well.

However, this time the situation was different. Brexit has been done, and the UK is excluded from the roaming package offered by Super because it’s valid in the EU.

Asking Super’s support, the only reasonable way to use the internet in the UK was to use a British SIM card. Otherwise roaming on the Super’s SIM card is very expensive.

Then I googled British SIM card brands/providers, and found that in the UK having a contract with the provider is pretty common unlike Estonia. However, a few of the providers sell SIM cards without any contracts, and I decided to buy a SIM card from either LEBARA or giffgaff.

Table of Contents

     1. Where did I buy a SIM card in Belfast?
     2. After inserting a SIM card
     3. The provider I chose
     ★Summary

1. Where did I buy a SIM card in Belfast?

I went to Belfast from Dublin by coach, and arrived at the coach station in Belfast. The Belfast coach station is located in the centre of Belfast, and there is a convenience store called WHSmith. (This convenience store is kind of hidden so it’s a good idea to ask the exact location at the coach station info centre.)

I searched stores where they might have SIM cards in advance, but it seemed some of them didn’t have SIM cards, and unfortunately WHSmith in the Belfast coach station didn’t have SIM cards. (In Estonia, you can buy SIM cards basically at any R kiosk. Also it was surprising that the convenience store in the coach station didn’t have SIM cards.)

The manager of that convenience store asked one of the security guys (?) to guide me to the device accessory store where I could buy SIM cards. This device store can be found after the doors near the ATM in the coach station. A guy who seemed to be from India or somewhere runs this store.

I asked this Indian guy for a SIM card, and he just showed me only a part of the shelf where he had lots of SIM card options. Later I found LEBARA and giffgaff’s SIM cards on the opposite side of the shelf, and got giffgaff’s one.

Asking how much it cost, he just told me to bring it to the pharmacy next to the device accessory store. I went to the pharmacy, but the clerks said “Sorry, you can’t topup that provider here. You need to go to Tesco.” Then I went to Tesco outside of the coach station, and the Tesco clerk explained everything to me nicely.

I didn’t pay for a SIM card, which appears to be okay in the UK, and yet I am not quite sure about this as this Indian guy didn’t handle my request properly.

2. After inserting a SIM card

After inserting the SIM card, I couldn’t connect to the internet, so I asked the Indian guy at the device accessory store where I got the SIM card, but he was just showing me a fake smile, talking on the phone. However, when some other customers came to the store, he handled their requests. I told him “The SIM card doesn’t work. There is no internet.” Then he said “I’m talking to my boss 😊”, showing me a fake smile. He still handled other customers’ requests while he was talking on the phone.

After waiting for him for one hour, I turned off my phone, and connected the internet, solving the problem on my own. Then I said “I solved the problem by myself” to him.

I felt so annoyed and disgusted because those who were nice to me were all the whites. The Indian guy at the device accessory store properly talked to only the white customers. This is the fact that “the minority bullies the other minority”.

The beginning of the trip in Northern Ireland was awful.

3. The provider I chose

I topped up giffgaff’s SIM, paying 10 GBP. I think I got 15 GB for 10 GBP. If I remember correctly, given that you top up more than 10 GBP for the giffgaff’s SIM, you can use roaming up to 5 GB in the EU for free, so I used giffgaff’s SIM until I got home in Estonia.

I cannot recommend giffgaff as I’m not an expert in terms of British SIM cards or internet providers, but this service was pretty good, I think.

In Estonia, you can buy a SIM card for 1 EUR, and I buy 1 GB for 3 EUR, so I felt 10 GBP was expensive in the beginning, and yet with 15 GB, actually giffgaff is cheaper. Since I’m outside quite often while travelling, I was happy to have giffgaff’s SIM with 15 GB for 10 GBP, which I didn’t have to pay attention to the amount I could use.

★Summary

To use giffgaff’s service I needed to create their account, but as it was a top-up SIM card, I still keep their SIM card even now. Also, I want to go to Northern Ireland again, and want to visit Wales some day, so it would be useful anyway.

One thing I learnt this time was I should bring a paper clip next time when I need to change the SIM card because I had only earrings that hang on the holes in the ears, not those need to catch from the back, and the ones that hang on the holes in the ears are too weak to open the SIM card port. You still need a bit more power if you use a paperclip to open the phone SIM card port, but you can break paper clips, and they can open it. In order not to forget the paper clips, I store them with the SIM in a bag now.

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Changes Home Internet.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Since I moved to the current flat, I had used the Estonian internet provider called elisa at home.

In August 2022, I had to work from home due to the office change since I had a new job.

However, owing to elisa, there was a problem that I could not connect to my company’s VPN. Strictly speaking, if I connected the VPN, the internet was automatically disconnected, and if I wanted to use the internet, I couldn’t use the VPN.

Thanks to my job position, I didn’t have to use the VPN during the whole working hour, and at that time coincidentally I could work without the VPN, but it was still problematic.

I contacted elisa multiple times, and they checked, but they said there was nothing problematic on elisa’s side. Then, I asked the tech guy in my company, and he said elisa is the one who had an issue.

Then elisa asked me about the situation and detailed the problem with the company’s VPN, so I contacted elisa via the email address that they gave me.

However, they replied to me in one week.

I didn’t know when I needed to work from home, so this wasn’t pleasant.

Finally, I convinced myself that “elisa sucks”, so I started looking for some other internet provider.

When it comes to the biggest internet provider in Estonia, people would say Telia.

In my experience, after coming back from studying in Ireland and until I left Japan for Estonia, I used a pocket/mobile Wifi in my flat which did not have the internet. Utilising that experience, I looked for a similar service. However, the demand for mobile Wifis is quite low in Estonia, and there were basically few rentals.

Then, the Telia support told me about a service called “diil”.

diil is a brand in Telia, and it has only the internet compared to Telia which has more options for a phone or a TV. Since I don’t have a TV at home, I watch stuff only on Disney+, and I’m satisfied with the current SIM in my phone, diil seemed to be perfect for me.

Reference

diil has four options for the internet, and the most expensive one is 19.99 EUR. At that time, they had a campaign until the end of year 2022, so the maximum data 90 GB was unlimited.

Considering the data usage on my company laptop, my own laptop and my phone, the maximum usage seemed to be around 60 GB. However, since it’s unlimited, I almost chose that option.

The problem was a router. I decided to buy the same router at a different shop, which diil sells because routers with a SIM card are more expensive, and because I had to think about the wave or circuit in Estonia.

Given that you use a comparison website called hind.ee, you can compare the same products at different prices. I looked for the router there, and purchased it for around 50 EUR at an online shop called kaup24.ee. It was approximately 10 EUR cheaper than buying at diil.

However, the router itself is a bit old, and it requires a USB micro B. I compromised this point.

After ordering the router, I called elisa, and terminated the internet use at the end of September, 2022.

Then, on the first of October, I returned the router that I rented from elisa to the elisa shop, and then headed to Telia to buy diil’s SIM card.

Then the shop clerk asked me

“Are you sure? Telia has a better option, and it’s cheaper and unlimited.”

Just in case, I asked her how different they were, but she couldn’t answer my questions. Another clerk explained to me instead. When I looked at one of Telia’s options that she told me, I, with a bit of knowledge of the internet, thought

“But Telia’s this option, isn’t it slow?”

So I asked this male clerk, and he said

“It’s very slow. If you call online, the connection is very slow.”

I knew it.

Phew. I almost failed to choose the correct one.

It’s so bad when the clerk’s knowledge is less than the customer’s.

Eventually, as planned, I bought diil’s SIM card. The payment was the following month.

In regards to the VPN, since my company uses Telia, of course my new internet worked with VPN.

I’m so relieved.

If it’s about only the home internet, elisa is probably enough. However, these days we sometimes work from home, so if we choose Telia, you probably won’t have any issues later on. There is another provider called STV, and yet personally I don’t have a good experience with STV, so it’s out of discussion. (Of course there are people who use STV.)

Aitäh! 🙂

Zooks Calls Technician to Have Internet at Home.

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

How’s everything? The other day I wrote a story about moving to the new place. For such an event we would need to get some necessary home appliances and daily essentials, but there is one more crucial thing — the internet.

I knew that I had a LAN cable hole at home, so I simply bought a WiFi router and was going to sign a contract with a provider. That was my initial plan.

In Estonia there are some internet providers. According to some people who I know:

  • STV: “Who would use such a provider?” by my former colleague
  • Tele2: the best
  • Telia: you won’t make a mistake
  • elisa: “Just expensive. Who needs it” by my friend

Now you know which one is best.

When signing an internet contract in Estonia, Telia would be the best option. If you can invest and afford, buying a router that works with a SIM card and signing a contract with Tele2 is also an option. (I wrote like this because I’m not 100% sure if Tele2 has a WiFi renting service.)

Based on my colleague’s and friends’ advice, I decided to go to Telia in the shopping centre. The clerk told me that I needed a technician, so I booked a time when he would come on the week that I would completely move in.

Then one Friday the technician came and said

This is the older type of internet.

?????

He mentioned there was Telia’s network in the building, but the network that went to my room was by elisa, so he had to bring a cable from the outside to the inside in order to connect the internet.









Neither the broker nor the owner said such a thing…








Also he said he had to make a hole to have cable for the internet around the doorframe. I called my owner, but the technician couldn’t speak Russian so the owner’s husband answered the call. We got a permission to make a hole, and the technician made an effort, but

I can’t proceed. There is metal inside so I can’t make a hole. 

Really.

Eventually the technician couldn’t have the internet at home, so we gave up.

Next day I went to the Telia shop, and cancelled the contract. Then immediately I went to the elisa shop and booked another technician. Their service was available even on Sunday. I saw some positivity to work at home on Monday.

On sunday the technician came to my place, and checked the internet status:

The connection is cut somewhere.

??????

Why????

Just in case I told him that the Telia technician came and made a hole, and he said that was probably the reason.

Although the technician had another booking in half an hour, I had a permission from the owner already, he made his effort.

After a while the technician successfully and thankfully set the WiFi, and I could work on Monday at home.

This time I learnt when getting the internet at home:

  • Go and talk to the provider before buying a WiFi router. (Possibly the WiFi cannot be used, and the providers give you an option to rent a WiFi router);
  • Call a technician definitely;
  • Give up providers if they are not in your room.

This is no one’s fault this time. However, I thought either the owner or the broker should have known this. By the way I lived in a flat without the internet in Kyoto some years ago, but I could get a rental Wifi router (pocket WiFi). In Estonia I couldn’t find such a solution. (All the pocket WiFi routers that I found were for travelling.)

And one more thing — it cost 10 EUR for 15 minutes at Telia to have a technician, but elisa didn’t charge me. Anyways, I’m glad to have the internet at home.

The hole is big so I cover it with a tape.

Have a lovely internet life at your place too.

Aitäh! 🙂