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Mobile carriers

Some of these links are affiliate links, but it has not impacted my recommendations.


The big UK carriers are:


  • EE (formerly T-Mobile and Orange, now merged; they often come up tops for network coverage and reliability, so they’re a good option if you want to go with one of the big guys)

  • Three (infamously troublesome, I recommend you avoid them)

  • O2

  • Vodafone


There are also smaller companies that offer great deals. These companies generally share signal coverage with one of the carriers listed above, often O2 or Three.


  • Smarty (SIM only). An excellent month-to-month option you can cancel anytime. Affordable and simple. This is what I use, and they’re great. You’ll need to buy your own phone. That link will start you off with a £10 gift card.

  • Giff Gaff (SIM only). No-frills, no-fuss, affordable PAYG deals.

  • Lebara (SIM only). The most affordable option if you’re going to be making a lot of international phone calls. 

  • VOXI. A great budget network for teenagers and heavy social media users.

  • Virgin Mobile. Some decent bundles and packages if you’re happy to sign a long-term contract.

  • Sky Mobile. If you’re going to want a satellite TV package, you might want to get a whole mobile-broadband-TV bundle from Sky.

  • iD Mobile. Often the best value long-term contracts (with phones). 


The wonderful website MoneySavingExpert has a useful wizard to help you figure out what mobile phone deal to get. Or if you want to keep things simple, just sign up for Smarty.


Dual-SIM and eSIM options


If you want to maintain a SIM card in your home country (maybe because your bank sends you one-time-pins over text message), you'll need to get a phone which supports either dual-SIMs (two physical SIM cards) or one regular SIM card and one eSIM. 


Buy a phone


If you don’t already have a phone, and need to buy one, I’ve had great luck buying refurbished phones from GiffGaff and Back Market.

 
 
 

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