Best SIM only deals 2023: Scoop up OUTSTANDING offers this October
We've rounded up the best SIM only deals this month from all of the UK's mobile networks to save you BIG money
Searching for the best SIM-only deals can be a confusing process because each mobile network promises a range of data limits and extra goodies. But fret not, we’re here to help.
To help you find the best SIM only deal for your needs, we’ve rounded up the four best into categories below: the best overall, the best with unlimited data, the best budget option and the best deal if you have a need for speed.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but rather a quartet of offers that the experienced SIM sommeliers at Expert Reviews are happy to recommend after calculating their overall costs and weighing them up against the competition. Beneath each deal, you’ll also find a table containing the key details to make your life easier.
1. The best SIM only deal overall
This Smarty SIM only deal represents insanely good value for money: you can currently pick up 100GB of 5G data for just £12/mth on a rolling monthly contract. However, just make sure that you get in there as soon as possible because this offer from our favourite mobile network overall won’t be around for long.
View deal at Smarty
2. The best SIM only deal with unlimited data
iD Mobile SIM only deals really don’t any better than this: if you’re quick off the mark, you can scoop unlimited 5G data for a jaw-dropping £16/mth on a two-year contract. It’s an offer that vastly undercuts the competition and you’re not compromising on quality, either – we awarded iD Mobile four stars out of five in our most recent in-depth review. Simply click “continue to basket” when you click through to the deal to see the bargain prices.
View deal at iD Mobile
3. The best SIM only deal on a budget
We’re big fans of four-star Voxi’s combination of low prices and unlimited social media scrolling. This triple data deal is no exception: for £12/mth on a rolling contract, you’ll get 60GB of 5G data, as well as unlimited use of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram. That makes it an excellent choice if you’re watching the pennies at the moment.
View deal at Voxi
4. The best SIM only deal for speed
If you want blisteringly quick, uncapped speeds then EE is the network for you. In our latest review, we were blown away by its excellent 5G coverage, good customer service, and fabulous performance. Of course, such speedy service comes at a cost, but this is easily the best value EE SIM. For just £16.50/mth for the first six months of a two-year plan (then £33/mth), you’ll get EE’s best speeds and unlimited data with unlimited minutes and texts.
View deal at EE
5. The best SIM only deal for customer service
If customer service is key for you, then you’ll love this SIM-only deal from Sky Mobile. The network walked away with our best customer service award in our most recent Mobile Network Awards, which means you’ll always get the best support when you need it. With this deal in particular, you can pick up 20GB of data for just £10/mth on a twelve-month plan. Normally you’d only get 10GB on this plan, so make sure you snap up this saving before it’s gone!
View deal at Sky
Which mobile network should you go for?
Now that you’ve perused our list of the best SIM-only deals, which mobile network should you sign up with? To help you find the best fit for your needs, we’ve rounded up three of our favourites below to help you decide.
1. Smarty: The best all-rounder
Smarty posted class-leading results in the latest Expert Reviews Mobile Network Awards, bagging the coveted Overall Winner award. It’s a virtual network operated by the same firm behind Three, with its SIM-only deals giving you lots of data at low prices. Even its big-data plans won’t break the bank.
In the survey we conducted for the awards, over 92% of users said they would recommend Smarty to friends or family, while more than 81% of users were satisfied with its customer service and it had some of the best scores for reliability. Three’s network delivers strong 4G performance and some of the fastest 5G speeds, with RootMetrics’ testing putting its median 5G download speed at nearly 200Mbits/sec. 5G coverage is also improving, with Three one of only two networks to reach over half the UK population.
If Smarty can maintain its quality of service as it grows, it’s going to stay the no-frills network to beat.
2. Voxi: The best for social media and streaming
Vodafone-owned Voxi is a budget-friendly network with interesting ideas: its Unlimited perks give you limitless data to use on the biggest social media services, making its cheaper SIM-only deals fantastic value. A gargantuan 98% of Voxi users told our annual survey they were satisfied with the network’s value for money, while nearly 90% said they would recommend it to others.
Vodafone may now be in third place when it comes to performance, having ceded second place to Three, but its UK-wide median download speed (23.8Mbits/sec) and 5G median download speed (130Mbits/sec) are far from bad. Most importantly, Voxi had excellent results for reliability: 21% of its users told us that the network was always fast enough for streaming video, while 55% told us it was fast enough most of the time.
3. iD Mobile: The best for unlimited plans
iD Mobile remains one of the cheapest options for SIM-only deals, especially if you want lots of data and are willing to sign up for a two-year plan. It also lets you roll unused data over to the next month, only adding to the value of its plans.
iD Mobile uses Three as its host network, which means good 4G coverage, growing 5G coverage and decent speeds across the board, particularly if you’re lucky enough to have access to 5G. That said, there’s evidence both from our survey and from Ofcom’s research that customer support needs to be improved: only 29% of iD Mobile’s customers told us they were very satisfied on this count.
So how exactly do we track down the best SIM only deals for you? At Expert Reviews, we put a lot of thought into the offers we recommend and always want to get the most for your money. We’ve outlined our full deal-hunting strategy in a dedicated article, which you can read by clicking on this link.