 Poster: A snowHead
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This may, or may not, be a divisive subject, but I have good reason for asking.
For context, my 16 year old son has some complex additional needs, and as such, having some down time on his XBox as a way to chill and keep in touch with friends is very useful.
We are driving to Val Cenis at Easter, and whilst he will happily slide around the mountain with me, I would be surprised he could cope with, or even want to ski for 9 hours a day, so we need some down time options. We were in Orlando for a couple of weeks in the summer, and he had the odd day away from the parks, just chilling online. We have learnt that we need to pick our battles, and we know what works and what doesn't.
We are staying in a reasonable apartment, Résidence Les Chalets de Flambeau, with 'some' wifi included.
My questions is this - if he was to bring his Xbox on the trip, is it likely that the included Wifi would up to the job, or am I better off getting a mobile wifi box with a PAYG unlimited data SIM? If the later, where would I get one, any suggestions?
This isn't about the merits of teens being away from it all in the mountains, but more about making some adjustments to ensure that my son has the best time possible, whilst retaining his 'connection' to what for him is a hugely important part of his life.
I'm aware that this isn't a 'normal' request, but we have lived a far from 'normal' life since we adopted him and his sister in 2009, so I'm not after judgement, more solutions please.
Since I mentioned his sister, if we could find a solution for him, she would almost certainly want to bring her Xbox too.... 
Thoughts welcome please.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Perhaps worth checking if someone from the chalet company will be kind enough to do an internet speed test in the flat, standing near the TV (assuming this is where the xbox will be placed).
https://www.nperf.com/fr/ - this speed test does download speed AND upload speed. I find the normal "ookla"/ speedtest.net speed test only does download when using the mobile website, and you'll want to know the upload speed is good enough as well if he's playing games online.
* They should do one on wifi and if they're extra nice also one on 4g in the building.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Wed 8-02-23 13:09; edited 1 time in total
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@SHAP, as with the suggestion from @under a new name, there's some good options from Orange and SFR where you get about 100-150GB of data for c. €25/month for a SIM with no contract. You can use a Wise (formerly transferwise) bank account which I think is free, and gives you the relevant account details to handle French direct debits. However, in both cases you'll need to stop off at a store to arrange it. Be wary of UK contracts with 12GB roaming limits; I suspect 2 xboxes could get through that pretty fast.
It would be worth checking the coverage maps for your accommodation to work out if either provider has good coverage. On Orange france, we get 60Mb speed which is fine for movies, gaming, zoom and work VPN. Simultaneously.
You'll need a device to put the SIM in (spare phone, suitable router etc) but most people have one of those.
Social interaction IRL is hard work, gaming and interacting with their friends is how many kids these days relax - our kids do it as well. I wouldn't view it as unusual at all.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@under a new name, @SHAP, for what it is worth, I do stints working remotely from the alps, including video calls and it works absolutely fine on a 4g connection, this is obviously location dependant.
I do this hotspotting from my phone and have found that my "mifi" device (similar to the one posted on amazon) is actually less stable than my phone (i.e hotspotting off my phone proves more reliable). In my experience you only need to ensure you have a sim that will work and a modern enough smart phone.
O2 seem to be the best of the "Big networks" for roaming currently, I get 25gb of EU roaming on my contract. You can also get a PAYG sim and if you top up with one of their "big bundles" you can use the data abroad too - currently I can see there's a £15 one that offers 20gb of data, so perhaps buying 2 of these would sort you nicely.
I cannot comment on the 4g signal in your building and I haven't heard the best things about using a hotspot for an xbox/ PC / Playstation if playing multiplayer games, due to fairly sizeable levels of ping.
There can be good French prepaid sims, but you are tied to their network in your building, whereas if you use a UK sim you can use any of their networks, depending on which has the best signal.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We use Red by SFR for a 4G router, get 130gb for €18. Needed a bank account for the DD, we used our French, but our neighbour used his Revolut. Needed to put €5 on a card at the start (for the SIM) which was a little bit of a problem as it wouldn't accept a UK credit card, nor the neighbour's Revolut card, so had to blag a mate's carte blue from his French account to get that done.
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@SHAP, as per the messages above you really need to know what it's like in the specific location.
My experience (probably most relevant is Les Coches) where the connection is massively variable - even in the same building.
However, the other factor is the time of day, peak evening times speed/responses drops.
We've only hired a unit once. I normally use an online service through my laptop and use connectify to run a hotspot. Using the unit didn't work well at all.
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PS had to put the SIM in a phone to start to be able to activate it with a PIN, thereafter it's lived in the router, using data, but clearly no calls nor texts, without problem.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Thanks for the info.
@under a new name, no French account, but have Revolut and FairFX options which both allow for Euro transactions, though not sure that helps massively.
That said, I may well pick up a wifi router - I can use use for our trips to Egypt and Italy later in the year, subject to picking up local SIM's of course.
That suggests that i can maybe by one here, and it'll work wherever I travel, with the correct SIM?
If that's the case, am I likely to able to pick up a PAYG SIM at any old supermarket on my drive down to France, or even better, can I order one to be sent here before we go?
@Ruswit, no idea if that's an option, but will try and find out. I'd expect it to be fine for browsing etc, but as mentioned above, happy to pay to get something that is more fit for purpose.
@snowdave, useful - I'm with EE on everyones phones now, and utilised the 'roaming' in the States in the summer without issue. I'd need to check if they limit to, as you say, 12GB or so, I have unlimited data, and can gift a certain amount, or I could upgrade the kids to unlimited for the time we are away, and they could 'hot spot' maybe? Probably over thinking it....
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@snowdave, Ah, probs yes, if Wise give you a "RIB" (basically banking credentials) then you're probably OK. Although Bouygues (as they were "giving" us a box wanted residency etc. Probably not needed just for a SIM.)
"Our" household currently works off a Bouygues 4G box which is pretty good (we had them in our rental studios as well) - with 2 ~10 year olds on devices all the time it seems, plus streaming content, most hours of the day. It hasn't been quite so stable the last few weeks which may be down to how busy the valley is.
@Ruswit, I am slightly surprised your phone is more stable as a hotspot, than, an actual hotspot? My phone (2020SE) gets somewhat warm on the odd occasion I use it as such. But, yes, a foreign SIM might well give you more flexibility.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@under a new name, I'm not hugely surprised that it's more stable than a cheaper hotspot, most decent phones cost a few hundred quid these days, so to me it's not unsurprising that they have better radios. At best the 50 quid/euro level of hotspot will be as good as a mobile hotspotting, whilst obviously costing you an extra bit.
By all means if you had more enterprise level gear, like a teltonika rut, I would expect that to be better (especially if you can set up external or directional antennas).
Phone sure does get warm and the battery gets absolutely rinsed, but that's only an issue really if you're out and about I guess 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Having done some quick digging, I can use 'roaming' as usual it seems with EE, as I have an older, legacy contract. I can add unlimited data for the kids for an additional £25 each pm, so not bad, as I'm limited to how much I can gift, despite being unlimited myself. I did this for the US in the summer, but mainly for when we were out and about as I knew the villa would have decent Wifi. it worked pretty well for them streaming YouTube etc, but not tried to 'game' using it. Maybe we should trial run before we go.
I think he will expect, and accept, some latency issues, as long as it is useable.
My only concern would be how 'hot' the phones end up running when used as HotSpots...
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@SHAP, You can always try hotspotting for half an hour in the UK and decide if you're fine with the heat.
I always take my phone out of it's rubber case if I am hotspotting, and sometimes if I am feeling "extra", I put it on a cool surface eg a tiled floor or even a ceramic plate.
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You know it makes sense.
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@SHAP, I’ve never been to Val Cenis, but given my knowledge of Tignes and it’s multi media centre which encourages gamers, I did a quick Google and Val Cenis has a multimedia centre but it’s a bit vague on detail. If that sort of environment is suitable for your fella, it might be worth investigating further.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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@under a new name, absolutely r.e battery drain and heating up being 2 sides of the same coin.
Sure, a phone has to do more, but "flag ship" phones don't tend to skimp on radios, 50 euro mifi devices may well skimp whilst also costing 50 quid. I have my doubts that these would ever have a better radio than a higher end smart phone. It's not that they definitely won't work, more that I see minimal upside if you're connecting 1/2 devices.
If you're getting a more specialist bit of hardware with external antennae, ethernet ports and the like, I have no doubt it would be better.
In the end, my main experience is personal to me - the mifi device I have used dropped out intermittently whilst my phone hotspot hasn't dropped connection once, hence I see no need to replace it with a better device.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Ruswit, if it ain't broke ...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@SHAP,
1) unlimited data usually still has fair use policy. My Smarty sim has 30gb of data, but overseas (roaming included) is limited to 13gb. Only costs £10 a month though.
2) not sure how feasible gaming is from a hotspot, due to latency/lag or complete drop outs/disconnect - this is due to IP tables & dynamic routing.
3) you may be better off buying a dedicated LTE / 4g router & VPN like a GL-X750. Wireguard server enabled at home, wireguard client on the router. All data is tunnelled between your home internet connection to your router & solves the dynamic routing problem.
4) he's 16. leave him at home 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| chocksaway wrote: |
| @SHAP, I’ve never been to Val Cenis, but given my knowledge of Tignes and it’s multi media centre which encourages gamers, I did a quick Google and Val Cenis has a multimedia centre but it’s a bit vague on detail. If that sort of environment is suitable for your fella, it might be worth investigating further. |
Certainly worth exploring. Thank you for that.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I've used SOSH (Orange) and RED (SFR) SIM only contracts which are monthly rolling contract and so can be cancelled after a month. SFR is currently €16 for 160GB.
You can either get a second hand or damaged phone (eg cracked screen) to tether to (and just keep plugged in) for the purpose or get a small 4G router for the SIM. I've done both without issue and has been fine for Zoom, Voip and Teams etc.
A half decent Vodafone contract allows for roaming up to the amount of data contracted. In the event of an unlimited data contract, there is a cap on the amount of usage.
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| sno trax wrote: |
I've used SOSH (Orange) and RED (SFR) SIM only contracts which are monthly rolling contract and so can be cancelled after a month. SFR is currently €16 for 160GB.
You can either get a second hand or damaged phone (eg cracked screen) to tether to (and just keep plugged in) for the purpose or get a small 4G router for the SIM. I've done both without issue and has been fine for Zoom, Voip and Teams etc.
A half decent Vodafone contract allows for roaming up to the amount of data contracted. In the event of an unlimited data contract, there is a cap on the amount of usage. |
Got a few damaged, but working, phones around, so could be an alternative. Can I buy French PAYG SIM, or a rolling contact option, from here or only in France?
Might be worth looking at, rather than boiling their iphones....
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Orange suggest that 4g coverage is perfectly fine in Val Cenis but whether the upload/download speeds are good enough for Xbox i don't know but perhaps the below link will answer the question.
We use a Huawei 4g router with a SOSH (the non contract side of Orange) sim card in our apt a bit down the valley from Val Cenis and it streams films in HD no problem without lag and our friends son has used his Playstation through the same and didn't complain!
https://reseaux.orange.fr/cartes-de-couverture/mobile-3g-4g-5g
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| andmelffion wrote: |
Orange suggest that 4g coverage is perfectly fine in Val Cenis but whether the upload/download speeds are good enough for Xbox i don't know but perhaps the below link will answer the question.
We use a Huawei 4g router with a SOSH (the non contract side of Orange) sim card in our apt a bit down the valley from Val Cenis and it streams films in HD no problem without lag and our friends son has used his Playstation through the same and didn't complain!
https://reseaux.orange.fr/cartes-de-couverture/mobile-3g-4g-5g |
Seems to suggest we won't do too bad, thanks Andy.
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I have a similar question
We are off to tignes tomorrow and have just realised that my mobile contract doesn’t allow any eu roaming at all. Is it possible to get a prepaid sim with about 100GB data while I am there.
Thanks in advance
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@csb, In my opinion you're best off getting an o2 PAYG sim and then top up using one of their big bundles. If you bring a UK sim you should be able to use any French network. If you get a local sim and that network has bad signal in the area, you are sort of stuck.
https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/big-bundles
We just bought a sim in Argos - even if you buy the "7gb sim" from Argos you should still be able to text the code to get the 100gb data if you think you need that much (this is useful if Argos don't have stock of the right Sim).
Their website says you can buy them from an o2 shop, but we went in and were told no... 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Ruswit wrote: |
@csb, In my opinion you're best off getting an o2 PAYG sim and then top up using one of their big bundles. If you bring a UK sim you should be able to use any French network. If you get a local sim and that network has bad signal in the area, you are sort of stuck.
https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/big-bundles
We just bought a sim in Argos - even if you buy the "7gb sim" from Argos you should still be able to text the code to get the 100gb data if you think you need that much (this is useful if Argos don't have stock of the right Sim).
Their website says you can buy them from an o2 shop, but we went in and were told no... |
Thanks will try got the sim now
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@Ruswit, are you sure the O2 100GB all roams? I think O2 has a 25GB limit on roaming data.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Ruswit wrote: |
@csb, In my opinion you're best off getting an o2 PAYG sim and then top up using one of their big bundles. If you bring a UK sim you should be able to use any French network. If you get a local sim and that network has bad signal in the area, you are sort of stuck.
https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/big-bundles
We just bought a sim in Argos - even if you buy the "7gb sim" from Argos you should still be able to text the code to get the 100gb data if you think you need that much (this is useful if Argos don't have stock of the right Sim).
Their website says you can buy them from an o2 shop, but we went in and were told no... |
You may struggle with that based on their fair usage policy:-
25GB Roaming Limit
If your UK monthly data allowance is over 25GB, you’ll have a Roaming Limit of 25GB when roaming in our Europe Zone. This means you can use up to 25GB of your allowance at no extra costs - we’ll text you if you’re getting close to the limit, and again if you reach it. You can still use data if you reach our Roaming Limit, but you’ll be charged at £3.50/GB.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| andmelffion wrote: |
| Ruswit wrote: |
@csb, In my opinion you're best off getting an o2 PAYG sim and then top up using one of their big bundles. If you bring a UK sim you should be able to use any French network. If you get a local sim and that network has bad signal in the area, you are sort of stuck.
https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/big-bundles
We just bought a sim in Argos - even if you buy the "7gb sim" from Argos you should still be able to text the code to get the 100gb data if you think you need that much (this is useful if Argos don't have stock of the right Sim).
Their website says you can buy them from an o2 shop, but we went in and were told no... |
You may struggle with that based on their fair usage policy:-
25GB Roaming Limit
If your UK monthly data allowance is over 25GB, you’ll have a Roaming Limit of 25GB when roaming in our Europe Zone. This means you can use up to 25GB of your allowance at no extra costs - we’ll text you if you’re getting close to the limit, and again if you reach it. You can still use data if you reach our Roaming Limit, but you’ll be charged at £3.50/GB. |
Thanks. I am planning to get 2 of them and see how it goes
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Still limited to a max 50gb through their fair use policy, but you’d like to think that’s enough for most people….it is a holiday after all 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@andmelffion, I’d like to hope so
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks everyone for reply
Got the sim from EE with 50GB data for £15 but make sure to activate the card while in in uk
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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We took our Xbox with us a few years ago for the kids as their 'apres' as you are. It was a rental in Les Saisies and just worked perfectly fine on the WiFi (wasn't an expensive appt or anything). You'll be surprised by what you can get without needing any 'back up'.
Was quite funny when they logged into Fortnite.....their friends in the UK were very confused!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@kettonskimum, that's good to know. I may well be overthinking the whole thing, but knowing him, it's good to be prepared.
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FAQ
