The best SIM-only deals in the UK
Everyone wants the perfect phone contract. Whatever your budget, you’ll always want the maximum number of texts, minutes and data in your monthly allowance. There are other factors to consider, such as the quality of the network and international roaming, but those are the basics. Sifting through endless deals will drive anyone insane, so we’ve done the hard work for you and compiled a guide to the best SIM-only deals in the UK.
To complete our list, we compared all of the plans available directly from Three, O2, Vodafone, EE, GiffGaff, BT, iD, Tesco Mobile, Asda Mobile and Virgin Media. While you might have signed up for a better deal years ago or haggled on the phone for a discount, our picks are based on what you can get right now on the high street. TalkTalk was also excluded on the basis that you have to be an existing customer to buy one of their SIMs. If you’re interested, however, you can see their current plans and pricing here.
The best “I want everything” deals
Some people just want it all. Texts, minutes, data — all three are equally important to them. The five deals above have huge allowances to make sure you can text, call and browse the internet without any worry of bill shock. The best deal we found is on Three, which offers unlimited everything for £27 per month. The network’s SIMs also come with free “feel at home” roaming in 18 countries, making it a decent choice for frequent flyers.
Links: EE (£28.99) | O2 (£28) | Three (£27) | BT (£25) | iD (£20)
Best unlimited data deals
For many people, data has become the most important part of their phone contract. After all, more of us are now texting and calling over internet-enabled apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype. Few networks offer a truly unlimited data cap each month, but here we’ve summarised the best from those that do. Three’s SIMs are often the best value, but we’re leaning towards iD here for it’s hearty dose of minutes and texts.
Links: iD (£20) | GiffGaff (£20) | Three (£22) | Three (£17)
Best £15.01 to 20.00 deals
Once you drop below £20, it becomes harder to keep every part of your contact perfect. We’ve therefore chosen to split our recommendations into three categories depending on whether you hold data, minutes or texts most dearly. Three offers some of the best data deals, but all of the networks have some competitive SIMs if you’re more interested in minutes and texts. One of our favourites at the moment is O2’s SIM packing unlimited minutes, texts and 2GB of data for £18 per month. Not too shabby.
Data: iD (£20) | Three (£17) | Three (£16)
Minutes: O2 (£18) | Tesco (£17.50) | EE (£16.99)
Texts: EE (£16.99) | Three (£16.99) | O2 (£15.50)
Best £10.01 to £15 deals
In this price range, it’s basically impossible to get a SIM with unlimited data. The trick here is to compromise in the areas that matter least to you and prioritise the allowances that you know you’ll be eating into every month. Whether that’s data, minutes or texts, we’ve highlighted the best SIM-only deals above. Some of our top picks include iD’s deal with 5GB, 500 minutes and 5000 texts for £15 per month and Virgin’s SIM packing 4GB, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts for the same price.
Data: iD (£15) | iD (£12.50) | Virgin (£12)
Calls: Tesco (£15) | Virgin (£15) | Virgin (£12)
Texts: Three (£11) | Three (£11) | O2 (£10.50)
Best deals for £10 and under
If you’re spending less than a tenner, you should expect some stringent allowances. Still, there are some excellent deals out there which are perfect for people on a tight budget. The best include Asda’s £7 per month deal with 500MB, 300 minutes and unlimited texts, and Virgin’s £8 per month SIM which ups the minutes to 1,250. If you’re looking for a cheap backup SIM, both iD and Virgin’s £5 SIMs are worth considering too.
Data: iD (£10) | Asda (£7) | iD (£5)
Calls: Virgin (£10) | Virgin (£8) | Tesco (£7.50)
Texts: Virgin (£8) | Asda (£7) | Virgin (£5)
(Editor’s Note: All prices listed are correct as of July 28th, 2015. Our choices will be updated on a regular basis.)
Filed under: Cellphones
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