SkieCan students use their own SIM data in a hostel, and does the filter still apply?
Yes, they can, and the filter still applies. Skie's filtering DNS is locked on the device, so it works on mobile data, hostel Wi-Fi and hotspots alike. App control, Chrome rules and the blocked VPN and browser lists apply too. Disabling mobile data entirely is not available yet, though mobile settings can be locked.
The old way to filter a hostel was at the router, and it ended the day a student switched to a mobile plan. Because Skie's filter is on the device, the connection under it does not matter. Hostel Wi-Fi, the student's own SIM or a friend's hotspot all go through the same locked DNS.
The other protections are also independent of the connection. The app list decides what appears, the install guard removes anything added, Chrome is forced into SafeSearch with incognito blocked, and over fifty alternative browsers are always blocked. VPN apps, proxy apps and DNS changers are blocked, and VPN setup in Settings is blocked. The rules do not depend on the SIM, so swapping SIM cards does not escape them.
What a hostel can adjust is what the student does with that data. Night windows leave only calls and a clock after lights-out, so mobile data is of no use to a social app that is hidden. Study windows can do the same in the evening. If you do not want hotspots, tethering is blocked.
A hostel that wants no mobile data at all cannot get it from Skie today. Locking mobile network settings stops students changing them, but turning data off completely is not available yet, and the team is working on it.
Skie does not include a mobile plan or SIM. The student's or family's carrier is their own.
A practical tip: do not rely on the Wi-Fi alone, and do not promise parents a data-free hostel. Explain that the control is on what the phone can do and see, whatever network it uses.