If you don't want a long story, skip to the bottom paragraph.

I use little data mainly for traffic updates so get a 12 month data SIM for my RRS (and Evoque) every year. I'm had over a dozen now and have just stuck with EE - I think 3 might have a slightly better 24 month option these days. I get a 500MB/month SIM for 12 months at a cost of £20-30, usually via Amazon.

When you insert the SIM in the car there is a page you go to so you can "register" it - this involves putting in your email address and the SIM phone number (why it asks, I don't understand, as it must already know given the landing page has it in the top left). I have that paged saved as a favourite in the RR web browser as I have used it so often. Then you press the "activate" button and your first 500MB starts, another 500MB being added in a month's time. I guess they do this as the SIM may sit on a shelf for months or even years.

Until activation, you can only access the EE website. Although registration itself is easy, I have always found it a pain to subsequently activate, often having to repeat the process two or three times and the activate button just doing nothing. This time it was a right pain, only managing to activate one of the two cards and then on the fifth attempt. I must have tried several dozen times on the other card before ringing their customer service when they opened the following morning. After about 45 minutes, the very pleasant lady had completely failed to help me make it work and I told her I would just go to an EE shop, with the SIM, later. Unfortunately the shop was entirely useless, wouldn't even plug the SIM into a device to try anything and just tried to sell me a data contract at £7 a month.

I didn't want to pop out the nano SIM to try in my phone, in case trying to make it back into a micro SIM caused it to pop out and get stuck in the RR slot. I was just about to do that anyway, when I remembered that the RR had a hotspot! 2 minutes later, hotspot on, iPhone tethered and Safari opened I was immediately just taken directly to the registration page. Input data, click activate, job done.

In 12 months time, I'll insert my new SIM, start up the hotspot and activate it via a phone or laptop tethered to the car, ignoring the built in web browser. Assuming 3G still exists. RRS MY17 SDV6 AB
Evoque MY17 TD4 AB

Hi Syl,

In my last three Sports I’ve used a “Three” SIM from Amazon.

24GB or 24months (whichever comes first) for about £37.

Never had any issues.

My new one has an eSIM and data plan so I don’t need a physical SIM anymore.

Scrumps Somerset - Where the apples do grow and the cider do flow!
2021 Defender 90 D250 HSE in Tasman with white roof.
24MY D300 AB - Verasine Blue - 😀
19MY SDV6 AB - Byron Blue - Gone
17MY D5 SDV6 HSE - Firenze Red - Gone
16MY SDV6 AB -Aruba Silver - Gone
13.5MY SDV6 "HSE Black" - Baltic Blue - Gone
10MY TDV8 HSE Galway Green - Gone
14MY D4 HSE in Scotia Grey - Gone
05 TD5 D90 CSW in Cairns Blue

As Scrumps says use a Three sim, insert and that's it.
No need to register, insert and go!  2026 P460e Autobiography on order

2022 HSE Dynamic P400e

2017 Discovery 3.0 HSE Silicon Silver Nimbus interior and a few extra toys SOLD

2013 HSE Black, Orkney Grey, Ebony Seats and Ivory Interior SOLD

2006 HSE

Plus a few other cars inbetween!

Last edited by jimbg on Fri Dec 22 2023 3:40pm. Edited 1 time in total

I was concerned about 3G being obsolete so have found a work around which has been working well for over 12 months now:

Modem/Dongle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08CY7...8&th=1 (note - I paid about £60 for this)

Problem is plugging this into the USB port caused issues because the USB port wanted to communicate with it rather than just supplying power so it was necessary to purchase a separate power supply.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003YH...8&th=1

This supplied a wifi hotspot to which I now connect the main head unit to (rather than the on-board SIM) and hey presto I have 4G connection for in-control, traffic etc.

I use a Three SIM 24GB for 24 months from Amazon. MY17 RRS 4.4d V8 Autobiography - Aintree Green (also referred to on Topix as British Racing Green)

Cheaper and newer version now

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brovi-E3372-325-4...b_title_ce 2026 P460e Autobiography on order

2022 HSE Dynamic P400e

2017 Discovery 3.0 HSE Silicon Silver Nimbus interior and a few extra toys SOLD

2013 HSE Black, Orkney Grey, Ebony Seats and Ivory Interior SOLD

2006 HSE

Plus a few other cars inbetween!

That's brilliant RRT
Does the dongle ever have reception issues please and how do you connect the head unit to it? 2017 3.0 SDV6 HSE

The dongle is held on the underside of the "centre console arm pad" by an elastic band (using the clips on the underside) and I have not had any connection issues.

In the head unit there is an option to connect to a hotspot. My initial testing was using my mobile phone as the hotspot which proved the principle that it worked without any cost (if you do this remove the SIM from the car's inbuilt modem so there is no chance of connecting using this SIM), however having to remember to activate the hotspot on my phone each time I got in the car was a pain, which is why I then went down the dongle route.

As above I first tried getting power from the USB in the centre console, but it seems the car gets confused (I assume it thinks data can be transferred over the USB cable in the same way as it would be using AndroidAuto/AppleCarplay) and I couldn't get it to work, but as soon as I took the power from an adapter plugged into the 12v (cigar) socket everything worked as expected.

Hope this helps MY17 RRS 4.4d V8 Autobiography - Aintree Green (also referred to on Topix as British Racing Green)

Spot on - many thanks 2017 3.0 SDV6 HSE