Good SIM-only deal

The TescoMobile contracts have expired on mine and MrsR’s iPhones which we now own outright. I’ve been paying £10 a month since then for 2GB data which is crap, she’s been paying around £15 for 5GB. Popped in-store earlier and we can get 12GB each for a combined £17 which is obvs a lot better – don’t have to piss about setting anything up. Been pretty happy with O2 as their provider TBH. Anything better out there with a reliable provider? Need to decide and commit tomorrow…cheers

I get 20GB and unlimited calls and texts on giffgaff for a tenner.

GiffGaff – clear pricing and good service. 20GB for a tenner – 35GB for £15/month…

https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-deals/monthly-rolling

They run off O2 as well – so service will be the same.

Been with ID for a while now. Cheap and works ok. The rolling over of data is a nice feature too.

Also no need for a big commitment to anything. You can try another provider or tweak your allowance anytime you like with Giffgaff or ID. Just pay monthly

ID mobile here as well,£7 for 20 gb and includes roaming

Spusu – on the EE network, 16GB of data, £3 per month for the first three months then £8 thereafter. Cheaper deals for less data is also available. Includes roaming.

The other networks are cheaper, but coverage isn’t quite as good.

Sims arrived the day after I ordered them.

Smarty £8 / 50GB.  Signal is better than o2 where we use them but ymmv.

id do seem to have the best deals for a trustyworthy provider at the moment, £7 for 24GB.

I was on Vodafone for ever until the past year when the price and deal started to look like really poor value. Moved to ID, but I have to say the lack of reception I now seem to suffer on the network they use has surprised me. I assumed they would be as good or better than Vodafone, but so often have no signal now which is disappointing in this day and age. This is not just rural areas, but towns and even central London.

ID and Smarty use Three network – never used it – how does it compare to O2 in terms of coverage and reliability? I managed on 2GB somehow so jumping to 12GB will be more than enough I reckon, and saving a bit of cash between us

I’m on EE.

20gb data for £10

They also have 6 months free trail of Apple TV or Apple music for EE users

I’m paying 5 quid on Three. 4GB I think, it’s plenty for me anyway. Also, good roaming deals when I go abroad (though that’s a separate PAYG sim actually, so no real link to the monthly contract).

As for coverage, probably depends where you are. I think some people struggle round here even in town on other networks, I’ve got strong coverage at home but out in the countryside (dales) it certainly drops off in places.

1p mobile get the full use of the EE network and they do some good deals.

Smarty here too, 60GB for £10 at the moment. Wife is 5GB/£6.

Some of these SIM-only deals didn’t support WiFi calling when I looked, which I needed. GiffGaff was one I think.

@thegingerone

If you were happy with Vodafone then have a look at Voxi, it’s their giffgaff equivalent.

For the OP no complaints about Voxi and the options, upgrades etc. are easy to get your head around.

iD here too. Very cheap and includes 5G and wifi calling.

Money Saving Expert has got a decent deal searcher that you can put your requirements into.

Lebara here, 15 Gb for £6.75 including roaming.  60% off for the first 3 months, I think through money supermarket and top cashback too

My partner is on 02 sim only and always has crap coverage, £5 a month – 10gb.

I’m on ee, I contacted them when I wanted to leave and they did me a sim only deal, I always have coverage, £9 a month – 60gb.

Voxi

Talkmobile is Vodafone network, only does SIM only. Generally super cheap.

https://talkmobile.co.uk/sim-only

Had to move from Plusnet Mobile as they are closing and wanted to stay on EE network for the coverage; limited choice but went with Lyca as there is a Uswitch deal of £6.90 for 15Gb plus free roaming. Early days but the sim arrived quickly

What’s the coverage like on ID mobile, got spanked by Giffgaff whilst roaming in IOM a couple of years back & looks like ID cover it 🤔

I’m another ID user, switched when Plusnet stopped doing mobile and the ‘great deals’ they were offering on EE were pants. I was a bit nervous about the 3 coverage but it’s been fine. What really swung it for me was the 5g, wi-fi calling, and roaming.

I know it’s not sim only but we got unlimited calls and data plus a Pixel 7a for £15/month (2 years and £10 upfront) on ID, was hard to say no I’ll just take the sim thanks could alway sell Pixel if you didn’t want it. Car phone warehouse if they still do the deal.

Three network coverage – can any more northen STWers confirm if the coverage on iD/Three is indeed as crap as their 4G coverage map suggests?

I’m an end of a 12-month Vodafone SIM-only contract, I’ve got a hol into Europe planned over the summer so the inclusive roaming of iD appeals but the potential poor network coverage up north concerns me. Worst case I know I could take a 1-month rolling contract over summer to deal with the roaming then switch back to a Vodafone/other deal, but I’ll likely be up north a bit over the summer too.

Or, any other suuggestions for good SIM-only deals inc roaming?

Three 4G coverage map:

Or, any other suuggestions for good SIM-only deals inc roaming?

1p mobile, use the EE network with no limitations on speed or band access and includes roaming and decent wifi calling rather than ID’s sorry excuse for wifi calling.

£10/mth for 25 gb

https://www.1pmobile.com/data-25GB-SIM

EDIT – the coverage maps are useless particularly for Three/ID.  They give no indication of a networks actual perfomance so you might be in an area with what looks like good 4g/5g coverage but reality can be very different with really slow data speeds desite the phone showing decent signal strength.  I’ve found EE to be the best ‘on average’.

EDIT – the coverage maps are useless particularly for Three/ID.

Thanks, and yeah I’ve always taken coverage maps with a pinch of salt. My only network experiences over the past decade have been Vodafone and Three, with Three being utter bobbins even in a normal populated area in Scotland’s central belt.

I’ll look at 1p. Much prefer the idea of EE coverage than Three.

ID Mobile here. I switched to O2 last year as part of my Virgin media deal and it was absolutely shocking, signal was crap everywhere I seemed to go and even when I had full signal internet was often unusable. I couldn’t wait for the 12 month contract to be up.

ID (Three) isn’t perfect but it’s a whole lot better than O2 & cheaper. EE or Vodafone might be better for Scotland generally but Voda doesn’t work at home for me and EE was too expensive.

ID Europe roaming is good too, except Switzerland.

Three network coverage – can any more northen STWers confirm if the coverage on iD/Three is indeed as crap as their 4G coverage map suggests?

Greetings, fellow Northerner.

I’m with Smarty, which is a MVNO for Three.  I rarely have reception issues (aside from inside Tesco for some odd reason), it’s not been noticeably different from my O2 contract which preceded it.  It’s a month-to-month rolling contract so you could try it for a month and then cancel.  Referral codes aren’t allowed on STW, so if you don’t want one then don’t send me a DM.

Oh yeah,

Should you ever need to know who uses what carrier, there’s a list on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobile_virtual_network_operators_in_the_United_Kingdom

I was on giffgaff but they wouldn’t/couldn’t enable wifi calling so switched to three.

£10 a month for way more of anything than I ever use.

With Smarty. Very pleased plus 12Gb data in Spain recently within £8 per month contract.

My wife and daughter are on Tesco 30gb is £11 less £1 each for clubcard. They work on wifi calling and 5g if you have a compatible phone. They never seem to put the prices up either.

ID mobile does look interesting though, those Pixel 8a deals that someone flagged up last week look great at £19 per month for 100gb and the phone

https://www.carphonewarehouse.com/google-pixel-8a?tariffcode=IDM7X146&giftcode=IDMWCON&productcode=IDMPXL8A128BL&filter_network_multiselect%5B%5D=idmobile

Spusu through money supermarket £7.90 for 50gb and unlimited calls and text. Roaming in EU included and eSIM support. No contract and price fixed for 18 months.

I’m increasingly of the mind that beyond a certain point, data allowance is just bigger numbers.  My Smarty contract is something ludicrous like 60GB, I couldn’t begin to trouble that limit if I tried.

I just looked at stats on my router, 100GB is about three weeks’ usage across my entire network (excluding the Xbox which is a total data whore).