Buy a data bundle online: you are picking a pack, not an amount
Ordering data online is not the same transaction as topping up credit. You choose one of the operator's published packs, with its size and its validity attached — so what the screen can tell you before you pay, and what it cannot, is worth thirty seconds of your attention.
A bundle and a top-up are different purchases
Both arrive on the same number through the same checkout, but what you are actually buying is not the same thing — and that changes what you should check before you confirm.
| Plain credit | A data pack | |
|---|---|---|
| What you choose | A value, from the operator's own list of amounts | A named product, from the operator's own catalogue for that number |
| What it comes with | Nothing attached — it sits on the balance until it is spent | A size and a validity period, both set by the operator |
| How it gets used | Spent on whatever the line does next, data included, at the operator's per-unit rates | Drawn down against the allowance until the size or the validity runs out, whichever comes first |
| What to check first | That the amount is enough for what they need | The validity as much as the size — a large pack with a short window can be the worse buy |
Which size to pick at all is a separate question, and it is answered on mobile data bundles — the bar chart of what a gigabyte actually gets you, and how to compare two packs properly. This page is about the ordering screen.
What the screen can tell you before you pay
Buying online means buying without the phone in your hand. Most of what you need is on screen; two or three things genuinely are not, and knowing which is which saves a wasted order.
On screen, before you confirm
- The packs that operator publishes for that particular number — the network is worked out from the number itself.
- Each pack's size and validity as the operator states them, priced in the destination's own currency.
- Our service fee, which varies by country, operator and amount, and the single total your card is charged.
- Whether that operator is available right now — one that is not is greyed out and no order can be placed against it.
Not on screen, and no way for us to show it
- The number's current balance. Nobody outside the operator can read it, so we cannot show it and neither can any other top-up service.
- How much of a pack already on the line is left, or when it expires.
- Whether buying a second pack now stacks onto the first, replaces it or waits in a queue — that rule is the operator's and it differs by network.
- Whether the handset is actually set up to use data. A bundle cannot override a switch on the hardware.
Whoever holds the phone can see all four of those in seconds — in their operator's own app, or with the short code that network publishes. Reading a prepaid balance sets out the ways to check and why the reference code we return is a receipt for the order rather than a statement of what is on the line. For a device with no screen to check — a router, a tablet, a dashcam — the data-SIM page covers finding the number and the settings that stop data appearing.
When the pack you expected is not in the list
The catalogue is not ours to edit. It is what that operator publishes for that number, so a gap in it is telling you something.
It belongs to a different network
The list loads from the number you entered, and a pack advertised by one operator does not appear under another. Worth re-reading the number against the phone before assuming the pack is missing.
The operator restricts it
Networks routinely offer a pack only on certain plans, to certain customers or in certain regions. Those conditions live entirely on their side, so a pack you saw advertised may simply not be sold against this line.
Only credit is offered
Some markets and some networks sell no data packs through this route at all. Where that is the case you will see amounts rather than packs — credit still buys data at the operator's own rates.
None of the three is a fault you can retry your way past, and none of them takes your money: an operator that cannot be delivered to is greyed out rather than sold. Payment problems are a different animal — declines, holds and orders that stall mid-checkout are covered on buying a top-up online.
What arrives, and what to expect afterwards
The order ends on the operator's side, which is why the confirmation you get is theirs rather than ours.
Buy a data bundle- Most orders are credited 5 to 60 seconds after payment clears.
- Every completed order returns the operator's own reference code, shown on the success page and emailed with the receipt.
- The allowance is applied by the operator, so the pack behaves exactly as it would if it had been bought on their own app.
- Nothing credited within 30 minutes is re-queued automatically, and if the retry fails too the full amount — service fee included — goes back to your card without you asking.
- If the operator refuses the line, we refund in full and pass on the reason they returned. The delivery policy lists every case.
Do you need a data bundle app?
Not for this. Buying runs in whatever browser is already on the device in front of you — there is an app for this service and you do not need it either way. Which of the two suits you, and what each one needs, is set out on topping up online.
The other app in this question is the operator's own. That is where the person holding the phone watches an allowance go down, sees when a pack expires and manages any sharing the network runs — none of which any third party can do for them. The two apps do different jobs, and only one of them is a shop.
Buying data online, question by question
Sizing, coverage and refund questions are answered on the pages either side of this one.
Open the help centreCan I see what is already on the number before I buy?
No, and neither can any other top-up service — a prepaid balance is readable only by the operator and by whoever holds the phone. If it matters, ask them to check in the operator's app or with that network's own short code before you order.
What happens if a pack is already running on the line?
That is the operator's rule, not ours. Some networks stack a second pack onto the first, some queue it until the current one expires and some replace it outright. We cannot see which applies, so on a line you are unsure about it is worth asking the operator first.
Where do the pack sizes and prices come from?
The operator. We show their catalogue for the number you entered and add our service fee on top, which is displayed before you confirm. We publish no pack list of our own and set none of their prices.
Is it the same price as buying in the operator's own app?
The credit is the operator's own value either way. What differs is the service fee on top here, which is shown in full before you confirm, and the fact that a foreign card works — the usual reason a local checkout refuses someone. We add no spread on the exchange rate; your own bank applies its conversion as usual.
The pack landed but the device still has no data. Now what?
That is almost always the hardware rather than the order. Mobile data switched off, an APN that does not match what the operator publishes, or roaming disabled on a SIM used abroad will each block a bundle that arrived perfectly. The data-SIM page walks through all three.
Where to go next
This page is the ordering screen. The decisions either side of it live elsewhere.
Buying for a number that is not yours? Topping up someone else's phone covers what they see and what you must never ask them for, and sending airtime abroad covers the case where the number is in another country.
Know the number? The catalogue does the rest.
Enter it with its country code and the operator's own data packs load, sizes and validity and all, with the total before you confirm.