Changing Internet Providers Update

Moving to VOXI was the Right Way to Go

Yesterday, I wrote about how I would be changing our mobile internet provider from SMARTY to VOXI, and I wanted to give you a quick update.

I received the SIM card yesterday and, as sad as it sounds, I got really excited to get on with the setup process. It turns out that VOXI is only £2 more expensive than SMARTY. Well, kind of—VOXI has base packages like 8GB of data for £10, which also gives you unlimited social media access outside of your data balance. This is great for us, as we tend to use Messenger and WhatsApp to chat with everyone.

Once you’ve got your main package, you can optionally add extras such as unlimited music streaming and unlimited video streaming. As you can imagine, I’ve selected both of those extras, bringing my monthly bill to £22.

The Data Challenge

The one thing I am worried about is how quickly the data will run out when we are playing games on the PS4—well, when I say games, I mean Fortnite. I’m not entirely sure how much data Fortnite uses, but I’m sure we’ll find out in the coming weeks. To get around this, I could shell out for the completely unlimited data allowance, but that’s £35 a month, which is just unaffordable for us at the moment.

The Results

The reason I am so happy with this internet upgrade is that not only is our signal much stronger—after spending an hour moving the 4G modem around the house to find the best signal (which turns out to be on top of a cupboard in the kitchen)—but we are also getting better download speeds.

Our download speeds have more than doubled, our upload speed has tripled, and our ping time has halved. All that for just changing a SIM card and paying an extra £2 a month. It’s well worth it in my eyes! Let’s just hope we can keep within the data limits when it comes to gaming.

The weird thing is that 17.8Mbps is about what we had for the two months we had "broadband" installed, and it’s only likely to get faster once 5G arrives. Having said that, I will be installing real fiber as soon as I can so I won’t have to worry about usage allowances and the like.

Would you be happy with this upgrade for just £2? How have you fixed your broadband troubles? Let me know in the comments below!