Local Data SIMs for Your UK TV Router, Across Europe
If there is no fixed broadband where you are staying, a SmartHub VPN router runs perfectly well on mobile data — a local SIM in a USB dongle, or the router tethered to your phone or a Mi-Fi. It is the same trick that keeps UK TV working in a motorhome or a rental with no line.
The question is which SIM to buy. You want three things: plenty of data, a plan a visitor can actually buy, and — the one everybody forgets — a plan that is allowed to be used in a router at all. Here is the best local SIM in each of the ten most popular European destinations for British travellers and expats, checked against each plan's own terms.
One thing to be clear about first: the SIM is only the internet. It does nothing to unblock UK TV on its own — your connection still looks foreign. The UK residential IP on the router is what makes iPlayer, ITVX and the rest work. The SIM is the data pipe; the router is the UK address. You need both.
First, the part the SIM sellers skip: is it allowed in a router?
Most "best SIM for [country]" lists quote the marketing and stop there. But a lot of big-data plans quietly forbid the exact thing we want to do with them.
France's SFR Discover, for example, lists "putting the SIM in a router to share access" in its terms as grounds to suspend and cancel the line. Three in Ireland says the SIM "must be in your handset only". Digi in Spain bans use in anything that is not a phone.
The pattern is easy to remember once you see it. Data-only SIMs and travel SIMs are made for this and allow it. The plans that hide a router ban are almost always the big unlimited-voice packages, where the carrier is guarding against people replacing a home broadband line. So the picks below lean towards data-only and traveller plans, and where a voice plan is the best option we have read its terms to be sure.
The best local data SIM, carrier by carrier
Grouped by country, with the plan, the data, the price and a link. Prices and allowances change often, so treat them as a starting point and confirm the current deal — and the tethering terms — before you buy.
France
- Free — Forfait Free 5G+
- Data: 350 GB
- Price: €19.99/month, no commitment
- Router: allowed — the terms do not ban it
- Buying: in a Free store on arrival, or an eSIM — for visitors and residents alike (needs a payment method for the billing)
- Link: mobile.free.fr
- Orange — Orange Holiday Europe
- Data: 500 GB (physical SIM)
- Price: around €50, prepaid — nothing to set up
- Router: hotspot and router use expressly allowed
- Buying: passport
- Link: travel.orange.com
- Lebara — Forfait Mensuel
- Data: 200 GB
- Price: €18.99/month
- Router: allowed
- Buying: passport
- Link: lebara.fr
- Avoid: SFR Discover and RED — their terms forbid the SIM in a router.
- → Setting up UK TV in France
Spain
- Lebara — Todo Incluido
- Data: 250 GB
- Price: €15, 28 days
- Router: allowed — the terms only rule out reselling
- Buying: passport, activate on arrival
- Link: lebara.es
- Avoid:
- Digi — bars the SIM from anything but a phone
- Lycamobile Spain — says its plans do not work in routers
- → Setting up UK TV in Spain
Italy
- Iliad — Giga 250
- Data: 250 GB
- Price: €11.99/month
- Router: hotspot included — allowed
- Buying: a free codice fiscale plus your passport, no residency
- Link: iliad.it
- → Setting up UK TV in Italy
Netherlands
- Lycamobile — Holland Bundel
- Data: unlimited
- Price: around €40/month
- Router: tethering guaranteed by Dutch net-neutrality law
- Buying: no registration
- Link: lycamobile.nl
- Vodafone NL — Prepaid Unlimited
- Data: unlimited
- Price: around €44/month
- Router: allowed
- Buying: no registration
- Link: vodafone.nl
Portugal
- Digi — prepaid
- Data: 200 GB, with rollover
- Price: about €7
- Router: allowed — no restriction in the terms
- Buying: a free NIF tax number
- Link: digi.pt
- Lycamobile — Boss
- Data: around 200 GB
- Price: around €8
- Router: allowed
- Buying: passport-friendly, if you would rather skip the NIF
- Link: lycamobile.pt
- → Setting up UK TV in Portugal
Greece
- Cosmote — Mobile Internet (data-only)
- Data: up to unlimited, by bundle
- Price: around €25–35 for the big bundles
- Router: built for it — the terms describe the SIM sold inside a 4G Wi-Fi router
- Buying: passport
- Link: cosmote.gr
Cyprus
- PrimeTel — Travel Internet Pack
- Data: 250 GB, up to 500 GB
- Price: €20, up to €50
- Router: allowed — no tethering restriction
- Buying: passport; data-only
- Link: primetel.com.cy
- Cyta — soeasy
- Data: around 200 GB
- Price: €20
- Router: allowed
- Buying: passport
- Link: cyta.com.cy
- → Setting up UK TV in Cyprus
Ireland
- 48 — Unlimited
- Data: unlimited
- Price: €12.99/month
- Router: tethering allowed — the router pick
- Buying: prepaid
- Link: 48.ie
- Avoid:
- Three Ireland — the SIM must be in a handset only
- Lycamobile Ireland — bans modems, dongles and tethering
- Tesco Mobile Ireland — the SIM must be in a mobile device
Germany
- Lebara — prepaid
- Data: around 150 GB
- Price: around €30
- Router: protected by German law, regardless of the terms
- Buying: an ID check to activate — a UK passport clears it by video or in-store
- Link: lebara.de
- Avoid: Lycamobile Germany — its terms ban tethering.
Turkey
- Türk Telekom / Turkcell — tourist SIM
- Data: around 20 GB
- Price: roughly €30, 30 days
- Router: tethering fine for a short trip
- Buying: passport
- Note: a foreign device is blocked after about 120 days unless you register it (which visitors generally cannot) — short trips only
- Link: turktelekom.com.tr
How the SIM connects to your router
There are three ways to feed the router, and the dongle route is covered in more detail here:
- A USB 4G/5G dongle. The local SIM goes into the dongle, the dongle goes into the router's USB port, and the router does the rest. All four SmartHub routers take a dongle this way, the Core included.
- USB-tether a phone. Put the SIM in an Android phone or an iPhone, plug the phone into the router's USB port, and switch on the phone's hotspot / USB tethering — the router draws the phone's data straight over the cable.
- A Wi-Fi hotspot. Or put the SIM in a phone or a Mi-Fi and have the router join its Wi-Fi hotspot wirelessly — handy when a plan allows tethering but you would rather not buy a dongle.
However you feed it, the router carries the UK residential IP, so every device on it — smart TV, Firestick, laptop, phone — looks like an ordinary UK household and your usual apps keep working.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put a local SIM straight into my VPN router?
Yes — every SmartHub router works with a USB 4G/5G dongle, so a local SIM goes in the dongle and feeds the router, or you can tether the router to a phone or Mi-Fi hotspot. The one thing to check first is that the SIM's plan actually permits use in a router, because some plans forbid it in their terms.
Do I still need the VPN router if I already have a local SIM?
Yes. A local SIM only gives you internet in that country — it does nothing to unblock UK TV, because your connection still looks foreign. The router is what carries the UK residential IP that makes BBC iPlayer, ITVX and the rest work. The SIM is the data pipe; the router is the UK address.
Which local SIMs are allowed to be used in a router?
As a rule, data-only SIMs and travel or visitor SIMs are made for exactly this and allow it. The plans that quietly forbid it are usually the big "unlimited-voice" packages — some carriers list "using the SIM in a router" as a breach of terms. Always read the plan's own terms, or a fair-use policy, for a line about tethering, hotspots or routers before you buy.
Can I buy these SIMs without being a resident?
Usually yes — most of the picks above are prepaid SIMs a visitor can buy on a passport, in a shop or airport kiosk on arrival. A few countries add a step: Italy needs a free codice fiscale, Portugal a free NIF tax number, and Germany an ID check. A handful of the very cheapest plans need a local bank account, which is why they suit residents rather than holidaymakers.
Final Thoughts
A local SIM is the flexible way to get your router online abroad — no contract, no fixed line, and far cheaper than roaming. Pick a plan with plenty of data, make sure a visitor can buy it, and check it is allowed in a router. Then the SmartHub does the part a SIM never can, and your UK TV travels with you.
Ready to get set up?
Browse our pre-configured VPN routers — they arrive ready to run on a local SIM, a dongle or a home line, wherever you land.
