Forum Discussion

JamesBe_2251963's avatar
JamesBe_2251963
SMARTY Maverick
24-03-2025

Temp plan upgrade while tethering phone

Hi, I am moving home soon. It may take a couple of weeks to get Broadband installed, meanwhile I will have to use my Android phone as a Router. I currently have a 16GB plan and I realise I will use a lot more data when tethered, so I need to upgrade my Smarty plan for a month or so, trouble is I have absolutely no idea to what data level. Suggestions would be very welcome. I wonder if  I can find out what my usual data usage is with Virgin Media?

Thanks for any help,

Regards, Jim

Chaning plans
Data
Network
Tethering

14 Replies

  • JodieC's avatar
    JodieC
    SMARTY Moderator
    31-03-2025

    Hi JamesBe_2251963 

    Thank you for reaching out to our SMARTY community forum!

    With SMARTY, you can change plans each month to suit your usage needs. You can change to our unlimited plan for a month and revert back to another plan once you have your broadband installed. 

    Keep in mind the plan you are currently on may not be available when you revert back as our promotions change regularly so if you would rather keep the plan you're on, I would suggest purchasing an add-on for the additional data. 

    You can view the add-ons in the SMARTY app.

    I hope this helps!

    - Jodie

  • Raymond_3171189's avatar
    Raymond_3171189
    SMARTY Maverick
    28-03-2025

    The 30 day unlimited data add on is currently only £17 and would start almost immediately. 

    • Raymond_3171189's avatar
      Raymond_3171189
      SMARTY Maverick
      28-03-2025

      I believe  the problem is you wish to use your mobile for tethering temporarily but think you may run out of gyour 16GB data ?

      A temporary solution would  be purchasing an unlimited data add-on.

      This is currently £17 per month.

      Although this would involve extra expenditure and still using your mobile for teathering .

      It could be a resolution. And used as a temporary fix.

      • MSF's avatar
        MSF
        SMARTY Guru
        28-03-2025

        Raymond_3171189  Apologies! I did not notice that you were talking about the add on - I misread that as a one month unlimited plan.

    • MSF's avatar
      MSF
      SMARTY Guru
      28-03-2025

      Raymond_3171189  Not if you buy it directly from the smarty website. Are you referring to a special offer somewhere?

      If you currently have a plan, you can only upgrade when that plan expires - unless you decide to start a new sim with a different number, purely to use in a router.

  • JamesBe_2251963's avatar
    JamesBe_2251963
    SMARTY Maverick
    25-03-2025

    Yes, I'll check it out shortly

  • JamesBe_2251963's avatar
    JamesBe_2251963
    SMARTY Maverick
    25-03-2025

    Thanks, I haven't tethered phone before so I hope it works out too!

    • MSF's avatar
      MSF
      SMARTY Guru
      25-03-2025

      JamesBe_2251963  It's worth trying that now, well before you want to rely on it.

      If you tether for a short while and test out on a few internet pages, you should not eat through a vast amount of your current plan data. Just in case you are not aware, you'll need to allow the personal hotspot in your Settings or something similar for Android.

      The Zoom meeting that I mentioned did use a lot of data over about 90mins (over 1Gb), but that is sending and receiving a lot of data

  • JamesBe_2251963's avatar
    JamesBe_2251963
    SMARTY Maverick
    25-03-2025

    MSF

    Hi, I'm not worried about the cost all I want is to be able to access the internet, using my PC and my tethered mobile for a couple of weeks while I get a new ISP at my new address. My existing ISP does not serve the area I'm moving to.

    • MSF's avatar
      MSF
      SMARTY Guru
      25-03-2025

      JamesBe_2251963  Of course, it will all depend upon the Smarty signal quality at your new home.

      Just as an example, I normally have a fairly good signal at home and recently was on a long Zoom meeting when the home broadband went down. I was able to tether my computer to the mobile and carry on the meeting with no problems in quality.

      Hopefully all will work out well for you.

  • JamesBe_2251963's avatar
    JamesBe_2251963
    SMARTY Maverick
    25-03-2025

    MSF 

    Thanks very much, MSF, I haven't checked but the unlimited plan would need to start some two weeks before the renewal of my current plan. I hope I can arrange this

    • MSF's avatar
      MSF
      SMARTY Guru
      25-03-2025

      JamesBe_2251963 I suppose the worst case scenario would see you buying the Unlimited plan for a couple of months.

      Given that you would be spending an extra £12 per month at worst, I guess that's cheaper than the cost of the broadband service you are having (admittedly maybe not as fast or reliable though).

      • MSF's avatar
        MSF
        SMARTY Guru
        25-03-2025

        JamesBe_2251963  You should be able to stop the auto-renew and choose another plan quite easily in your Account Dashboard.

  • MSF's avatar
    MSF
    SMARTY Guru
    25-03-2025

    JamesBe_2251963 I would suggest that the simplest way would be to buy the Unlimited plan for the month.

    Your current plan is £8 and the Unlimited would be £20 (you may see a deal by the time you want to buy) - in relation to the usual costs of moving home, that's quite small and would save you messing about getting data from the old broadband supplier (if they even make it readily available)