Mobile Phone Deals
As a student, a mobile phone is one of the most important things you could possibly need during Uni – not only to keep in contact with your friends from home and at Uni; but for your obligatory call home to your parents once a week too… not to mention that all-important internet access to check out any important emails from Uni (and the occasional status update too… well, how else is everyone going to find out what an exciting time you’re having in your new city?!) Take a look at our round-up of top mobile phone deals to see which is the best for you.
Vodafone
Vodafone’s reasonable prices for monthly contracts and pay-as-you go deals, with low upfront costs and no hidden charges makes it our best company for mobile phones.
Monthly Contracts
Iphone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £49
Monthly cost: £38.50
Features: Unlimited minutes and texts, and 1GB of data
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £19
Monthly cost: £22.50
Features: 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 250MB of data.
For no upfront charge and £26.50 a month, you can instead receive 600 free minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data. The cheaper prices are due to the ‘Nearly New’ phone deals, where you will receive a phone that was bought and returned within 7 days.
Sim-Only Contracts
A 12 month contract for any phone costs £13.60 a month, and provides you with 750MB of data, 1,200 minutes and unlimited texts.
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
A range of ‘Freebee’ deals are offered depending on your use.
Freedom Freebee: for £10 a month, you can get 150 minutes, unlimited texts and 250MB of data.
Freebee Minutes/Texts/Data: Choosing your ideal contract, £10 credit provides you with either 150 minutes, 1000 texts or 500MB respectively, with the £10 credit remaining on your phone. The Freebee international minutes deal is a great choice for international students, with £10 credit staying on your phone in addition to 60 free minutes to international landlines and mobiles.
Tesco Mobile
Tesco provides some great discounts, perfect for students on a budget, with a wide range of pay as you go offers, and good-value-for money on iPhones, with no upfront fees and low monthly payments.
Monthly Contracts
Iphone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: N/A
Monthly cost: £32
Features: 750 minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB of data
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: £24 months
Upfront fee: N/A
Monthly cost: £26.50
Features: 750 minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB of data
Sim-Only Contracts
A sim-only contract for any mobile phone for 12 months at £10 per month, provides you with 750 minutes, 5000 texts and 500MB of data.
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
£5 top up a month provides you with either 150 minutes (equating to 3p per minute) or 5000 texts (equating to 0.01p per text). Data bundles are also on offer ranging from 500MB to 8GB a month, and to find out prices, you need to contact Tesco by calling 282. Furthermore, if you top up £15 per month, Tesco will automatically give you 5000 texts, 150 minutes to any network, or 500MB of data, with the credit still on your phone.
GiffGaff
The monthly costs for iPhones and Samsungs are some of the lowest around, and there are a wide variety of sim-only contracts, which you can easily tailor depending on whether you want more minutes, texts or data.
Monthly Contracts
iPhone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £60
Monthly cost: £31.75
Features: 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £60
Monthly cost: £23.50
Features: 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data
Sim-Only Contracts
There are a range of goody bags for sim-only deals, ranging from £5-£20 a month. The £10 a month bundle offers good value for money, with 500 minutes, free minutes for other Giff Gaff numbers, unlimited texts and 1GB of data.
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
Pay-as-you go minutes are cheap at 10p per minute to other users on Giff Gaff, with prices rising to 25p on O2 on Vodafone, and 35p on EE.
O2
O2’s monthly contracts are averagely priced, and its sim-only deals represents good value for money. If you’re on pay-as-you-go and use lots of minutes, you’ll have to pay a bit extra but overall, O2 offers student-friendly, value for money.
Monthly Contracts
Iphone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £49.99
Monthly cost: £38
Features: Unlimited calls and texts, and 2GB of data
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: N/A
Monthly cost: £33
Features: Unlimited calls and texts, and 2GB of data
Sim-Only Contracts
For all smart phones, £11 a month for 12 months provides you with 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
£10 a month on pay as you go will get you 100 free minutes, 1000 texts and 500MB of data, which isn’t that great if you make a lot of calls; but for £15 a month you can get 200 minutes, 2000 texts and 1GB of data, which represents much better value for money.
Three
The monthly contracts are competitively-priced, and although the sim-only contracts are slightly more expensive, you do get more minutes, data and texts. However, Three are known for having issues with coverage.
Monthly Contracts
Iphone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £29
Monthly cost: £35
Features: Unlimited minutes and texts, and 1GB of data; or 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 2GB of data.
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £29
Monthly cost: £26
Features: 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data
Sim-Only Contracts
The deals are significantly more expensive at £18 a month for 12 months, although you can have either unlimited texts, 600 minutes and unlimited data; or unlimited minutes and texts and 4GB of data. So whilst you pay more, you get more – perfect if you spend a lot of time on your phone.
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
The ‘All-in-one 10’ bundle for £10 a month provides you with 500MB of data, 100 minutes and 3000 texts. If you text lots and hardly call this is perfect, but if you make more calls, it may be worth paying £15 a month for 300 minutes, in addition to unlimited data and 3000 texts. For an extra £5, you can get 3000 3to3 minutes each month (calls to contacts on Three).
Orange
Despite 2-4-1 Orange Wednesday’s and the range of pay-as-you-go tariffs, from personal experience, Orange increases the VAT on monthly rates so you pay more than what you agree to; meaning other contract providers have better offers.
Monthly Contracts
Iphone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £39.99
Monthly cost: £39.99
Features: Unlimited minutes and texts, 4G, 2GB of data
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £9.99
Monthly fee: £18.99
Features: 500 minutes, unlimited texts, 500MB of data
Sim-Only Contracts
There are a range of sim-only contracts depending on whether you use more minutes, texts or data. The basic £9.99 a month for 12 months provides you with 500 minutes, 500 texts and 100MB of data, and £13.99 a month gets you 1000 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data.
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
Orange offers a range of bundles depending on your usage.
Dolphin: for £10 a month, you will receive 400 free texts and 1GB of data; and this increases to 600 free texts and 2GB of data if you pay £15 per month.
Canary: ideal if you use your phone more during the weekends and evenings, £10 a month provides you with 100 evening and weekend minutes to any network, in addition to 100 free texts and photo messages during the same period; and this rises to 200 free texts for £15 per month.
Raccoon: this offers the lowest flat rate, reducing the standard 30p per minute for calls to 14p. However, texts are also charged at 14p on this tariff as opposed to the standard 12p, so the Raccoon is only worthwhile if you use your phone for mainly calls.
Under 24s (perfect for students) can opt into U24 which, for £10 a month (in addition to any of the other pay-as-you-go bundles) you will automatically get an additional 1GB of data a month, in addition to unlimited calls and texts to any other mobile on Orange, EE and T-Mobile.
T-Mobile
T Mobile’s average monthly contract, low value-for-money sim-only contracts and non-existent pay-as-you-go deals makes it a poor choice; and having significantly decreased in popularity, is a company to be avoided, with much better options around.
Monthly Contracts
Iphone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £39.99
Monthly fee: £39.99
Features: unlimited minutes and texts, 4G, 2GB of data
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £39.99
Monthly cost: £29.99
Features: 1000 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB of data
Sim-Only Contracts
For £10 a month, T-Mobile’s Smart Pack provides you with 1GB of data, 400 texts and 100 minutes.
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
Perhaps as the smallest of the three brands under the EE umbrella, pay-as-you deals are not advertised on the website like EE and as such, to find out more, you will need to ask in store.
EE
EE’s high upfront fees for the iPhone, and non-existent advertising of pay-as-you-go deals makes it difficult to research, and not a very cost-effective option for students.
Monthly Contracts
Iphone 5s 16gb:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £229
Monthly cost: £29.99
Features: 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data
If you prefer to pay a larger sum of money upfront to reduce your monthly payments, EE may be a good option. However, for many students, having a spare £229 lying around is near impossible, making EE not a good choice for students who want an iPhone.
Samsung Galaxy S4:
Contract length: 24 months
Upfront fee: £29.99
Monthly cost: £29.99
Features: 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data
Sim-Only Contracts
Being part of the same company as Orange, the sim-only deals offered on EE are identical; with the basic £9.99 a month for 12 months providing 500 minutes, 500 texts and 100MB of data, whereas for £13.99 you get much better value for money, at 1,000 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data.
Pay-As-You Go Contracts
EE doesn’t really advertise pay-as-you-go plans on its website, so if you want to look into this further, it’s best to go into store.
