If you’re thinking of buying an iPhone on contract, you’ve got a SIM-free iPhone and want to sign up to a contract, or are nearing the end of a contract and want to go with a different provider, you’ll be wanting to know which network is best for you. This article is the right place for you.
We go through the various network providers available in the UK and discuss their pros, cons and general performance – you should be able to find the right choice for you in no time. If contract prices are the key factor, however, you may be best served by visiting our guide to theBest iPhone deals.
What networks are there?
In the UK we have four big networks:
There are many further providers, but they all ‘piggyback’ on the infrastructure of one of the above. So EE is piggybacked by BT Mobile, Plusnet and Virgin Mobile; O2 is piggybacked by Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile; Three is piggybacked by iD Mobile; and Vodafone is piggybacked by Talk Mobile.
This piggybacking arrangement will be relevant when we discuss coverage, speed and reliability because the smaller providers are reliant on the physical infrastructure of their chosen big network, and will be susceptible to the same problems.
What do you need from your network?
When selecting a network there are lots of different criteria to consider. You will probably have to compromise in one area to get what you’re looking for in another.
Price
For a rough comparison of prices, in the individual entries below we’ve listed the lowest monthly fee each network offers (at time of writing) for the iPhone XR, over 24 months and with a maximum upfront cost of £100 and a minimum of 1GB data. Check the individual sites for up-to-date prices.
When looking at pricing it’s important to look attotal cost of ownership (TCO) over the course of a contract, which includes the upfront cost and however many monthly payments are required. An apparently unappealing contract may work out the best for you if it only lasts 12 months (most are 24 or more).
Carphone Warehouse’s contract comparison tool can show TCO but doesn’t by default. Put a tick next to ‘Show total cost of ownership’ in the lefthand bar. Individual network sites probably won’t list TCO, and you’ll have to work them out for yourself.
The amount you pay will vary according to your monthly data allowance, the value of the phone (assuming it’s included) and any additional features, such as Apple Music subscriptions. But beyond this, some deals are simply better value than others. You shouldn’t assume that you’re paying a fair price.
Coverage
Most of the UK now has decent 3G coverage, and quite a lot has 4G. But there still remain rural pockets with nothing at all.(There are pockets of 5G coverage too, but this isn’t relevant to iPhone buyers. We expect Apple to add 5G compatibility in 2020 at the earliest.)
If you live in central London and don’t plan to leave any time soon then you don’t need to worry about coverage. But everyone else should at least consider it. Your choice of network will dictate what infrastructure you’ll be using, and the location of your network’s towers (or the towers belonging to the network your provider is piggybacking) will dictate how good a signal you can get in a given area.
Ofcom’s mobile coverage checker is a useful tool for seeing which networks can cover your area – or an area you want to visit regularly.
According to the research firm RootMetrics, EE offers the best 4G coverage across the UK as a whole. Second place depends where you live: Vodafone was runner-up in Englandand Wales, whereas O2 was runner-up in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
(RootMetrics’ coverage map is another useful tool for analysing likely performance in your local area.)
Speed
Whereas broadband deals trumpet their estimated speed from the rooftops, mobile networks are less public about the 4G speeds you should expect. But while thenumbers can be hard to uncover – and, to be fair, lots of factors influence the speed you actually experience – it’s clearly an important factor to consider.
To see howwell your current provider is living up to their claims, you can use the free iPhone app Speedtest by Ookla. And the company uses these results to provide insights into the market as a whole: in its 2015 awards(sadly the most recent available) Speedtest reported that EE offered far and away the fastest 4G speeds across the UK.
And EE came top in a more recent report by Opensignal, winning the 2018 awards for 4G, 3G and overall speed across the UK.
Good news for EE, of course, but also good for the providers that piggyback on that company’s infrastructure: BT Mobile, Plusnet and Virgin Mobile.
Reliability
Network outages are hugely frustrating, leaving you unable to access any online services until you get back to Wi-Fi. In Dec 2018, for instance, O2 customers were disconnected for a whole day.
This is another case where piggybacking is important. The above incident affected O2 piggybackers too – so when considering a network provider, check out reports ofits parent network’s reliability.
Customer service
This is where the smaller providers can stand apart from their parent networks. How efficient is the provider at dealing with problems, and does it offer compensation when things go wrong?Does it spam you with marketing letters? Does it get your bills wrong on a regular basis?
For an analysis of these elements we turn to Which?’s 2019 mobile customer satisfaction survey, which put the big hitters Vodafone, EE and O2 bottom, second-bottom and third-bottom respectively. (EE did a little better, ranking 8th out of 13.)
Data limit
You can pay less if you’re willing to compromise on your data allowance:contractscan vary from around 250MB to60GB or more.
We’d advise against going for the real bargain-basement allowances: 2GB is probably a sensible minimum to aim for. But it all depends on what you’re going to be using your phone for: streaming is a particular drain.
To get an idea of your requirements, read How much data do I need?And to read about ways you can reduce the amount you burn through, see How to save data on iPhone.
Can you sign up with more than one network?
Yes, if you’ve got a new enough iPhone. The XR,11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Maxalloffer eSIM support, which means you can have a conventional hardware SIM from one network and an eSIM from another – but note that in the UK, only EE supports eSIM.
For more details, read How to use dual SIMs on iPhone.
1. Plusnet
Plusnet doesn’t sell phones, but its prices on SIM deals are appealing if you bought an iPhone SIM-free. We like the ability to set a monthly price cap to prevent nasty surprises when your bill arrives.
Network: EE (piggyback)
Price: The cheapest you can currently go is £7 per month (which gets you just 500MB, 500 minutes and unlimited texts) but we’d advise picking something a little more comprehensive – and bear that in mind that the other deals here include the handset.
Coverage: EE’s network came out top for 4G coverage in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in RootMetrics report. Also rated top for 4G availability by Opensignal overall and for every region. Just remember to check Ofcom’s coverage tool to see how EE performs in your location.
Speed: Excellent, thanks to the performance of EE’s network. It was rated top in Speedtest’s 2015 report and wiped the floor with all of its rivals in Opensignal’s 2018 survey.
Customer service: Decent! Plusnet got a score of 4/5 for customer service in Which’s survey, and 3/5 for ease of contacting. Its overall customer score, 80%, put it in 3rd place out of 13.
2. Virgin Mobile
Going with Virgin Mobile makes sense if the firm already provides your broadband and TV. We also like its data rollover features and option to change your 4G plan every month.
Network: EE (piggyback)
Price: Virgin has the iPhone XR for £27 per month with no upfront payment, 1GB of data and 1,000 minutes.
Coverage: EE’s network came out top for 4G coverage in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in RootMetrics report. Also rated top for 4G availability by Opensignal overall and for every region.
Speed: Excellent. EE, which provides the network infrastructure that Virgin relies on, came top in Speedtest’s 2015 report and Opensignal’s 2018 survey.
Customer service: Virgin got 2/5 for customer service and ease of contacting in Which’s 2018 survey. Its overall customer score was 64%, putting it in 10th place out of 13.
3. BT Mobile
BT Mobile is a sensible option if you subscribe to BT Broadband.
Network: EE (piggyback)
Price: BT offers the iPhone XR for £45 per month. But that will be reduced if you’re a BT Broadband subscriber.
Coverage: EE’s network came out top for 4G coverage in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in RootMetrics report. Also rated top for 4G availability by Opensignal overall and for every region.
Speed: Excellent. BT uses EE’s network, and EE came top in Speedtest’s 2015 report, and cleaned up virtually all the national awards in Opensignal’s 2018 survey.
Customer service: Which gave BT Mobile a score of 2/5 for customer service. Its overall customer score of 65% put it down in 9th place, out of 13 providers.
4. EE
EE offers excellent coverage and six months of Apple Music for free. It’s a solid choice.
Network: EE
Price: EE offers the iPhone XR for £39 per month with 30GB of data and £99.99 upfront. Rather more appealingly, EE has the XR for £37.38 per month on Mobile Phones Direct (nothing upfront, 100GB data).
Coverage: EE’s network came out top for 4G coverage in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in RootMetrics report. Also rated top for 4G availability by Opensignal overall and for every region.
Speed: Excellent. EE came top in Speedtest’s 2015 report, and cleaned up in Opensignal’s 2018 survey.
Customer service: EE scored 2/5 for customer service in the Which? customer survey, 2/5 for ease of contacting and an overall customer score of just 56% – putting it second from bottom in the table.
5. Tesco Mobile
You could do a lot worse: Tesco Mobileoffersa variety ofdeals at decent prices, with SIM-only a highlight.
Network:O2 (piggyback)
Price:At time of writing Tesco does the iPhone XR for £40.99 per monthplus £60 upfront, on a 24-month contract with 1GB of data, 5,000 minutes and 5,000 texts.
Coverage: O2’s network was rated second-best for 4G coverage in Scotland and Northern Ireland; third in England and Wales. Opensignal gave creditable mentions for 4G availability in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North of England.O2 also won Uswitch’s Best Network Coverage award for 2019.
Speed: Tesco suffers here because of its dependence on O2’s infrastructure. O2 came bottom in Speedtest’s 2015 report, and picked up zero awards in OpenSignal’s 2018 report.
Customer service: Very good. Tesco got a score of 5/5 for customer service, and the same for ease of contacting, in Which’s 2018 survey. Its overall customer score of 79% put it in 4th place, out of 13.
6. Sky Mobile
As is the case with several of the firms in this article, Sky offers preferential mobile rates for those who subscribe to other Sky services.
Network: O2 (piggyback)
Price: Sky has the iPhone XR for £30 per month, with 2GB of data and no upfront cost. Thatsounds good, but check the company’s upgrades policy.
Coverage: O2’s network was rated second best for 4G coverage in Scotland and Northern Ireland; third in England and Wales. Opensignal gave creditable mentions for 4G availability in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North of England. O2 also won Uswitch’s Best Network Coverage award for 2019.
Speed: O2, whose network Sky piggybacks, came bottom in Speedtest’s 2015 report. It didn’t get any speed awards in OpenSignal’s 2018 report, either.
Customer service: Sky won the Best Network for Customer Service from uSwitch in 2019, but scored a middling 3/5 for both customer service and ease of contacting in Which’s survey. It came 6th out of 13.
7. O2
One of the best-known and oldest operators in the market. O2 offersgood coverage and some decent prices but speed may be a concern.
Network: O2
Price: O2’s best offer for the iPhone XR is£39 per month(with 45GB of data and £49.99 upfront). It’s £34.50 a month on Mobile Phones Direct, withnothing upfront and a stonking 120GB data.
Coverage: O2’s network was rated second best for 4G coverage in Scotland and Northern Ireland by RootMetrics; third in England and Wales. Opensignal gave creditable mentions for 4G availability in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North of England. O2 also won Uswitch’s Best Network Coverage award for 2019.
Speed: Not good. O2 came bottom in Speedtest’s 2015 report, and collected no awards in OpenSignal’s 2018 report. Nor did it receive any creditable mentions in terms of regional speeds.
Customer service: O2 scored 3/5 for both customer service and ease of contacting in Which’s survey. Its overall customer score was a lowly 62%, putting it in 11th place out of 13.
8. iD Mobile
iD is Carphone Warehouse’s inhouse network.It offers some excellent prices but nationwide coverage is not good (although your area may be fine – check Ofcom’s tool) and speeds are middling.
Network: Three (piggyback)
Price: iD offers the iPhone XR for £34.99 per month(with 1GB of data and £29.99 upfront).
Coverage: Three’s network was rated bottom for 4G coverage in all four regions of the UK. Not mentioned in Opensignal’s report.
Speed: As a Three piggybacker, iD doesn’t get great speed numbers. Three’s network came third out of four in Speedtest’s 2015 report.
Three also failed to pick up any overall awards in Opensignal’s 2018 report, although it got some positive mentions for 4G download speeds in Wales, Northern Ireland and the North East of England.
Customer service: iD got just 2/5 for customer service in Which’s 2019 survey, but an overall customer score of 70% put it in 7th place out of 13 – mid-table performance, in other words.
9. Vodafone
Vodafone has some decent deals on offer; we also like its Global Roaming option, which effectively extends your normal data plan to 152 overseas destinations. Speed and coverage are fine (if you’re in one of the lucky 19 cities you can look forward to 5G) but there are some questions over customer service.
Network: Vodafone
Price: Vodafone’s lowest monthly charge for the iPhone XR is £41 per monthon Carphone Warehouse (with 20GB of data and£79.99 upfront). You can get it for £36.50 a month on Mobile Phones Direct, withunlimited data and no upfront charge.
Coverage: Vodafone’s network rated second best for 4G coverage in England and Wales; third in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Received no mentions for 4G availability in Opensignal report.
Speed: Not bad.Vodafone came secondout of four in Speedtest’s 2015 report, and while itdropped to third out of four in Opensignal’s 2018 4G speedtable, it was the only non-EE network to pick up any awards at all in that report (itexcels at 3G and 4G latency).
Vodafone’s speedswere found to beexcellent in Wales.
Customer service: Vodafone performed badly in Which’s 2019 survey, finished bottom of the table. It scored 1/5 for customer service and 2/5 for ease of contacting, with an overall customer score of 51%.
10. Giffgaff
A small but popular operator, Giffgaff is highly rated by its customers.It’s an O2 piggybacker, though, which puts a question mark over speeds.
Network:O2 (piggyback)
Price: Giffgaff does the iPhone XR for £39.49 a month, which includes the minimum 6GB of data (which the firm calls a ‘goodybag’) and an upfront payment of £35.
Coverage: O2’s network was rated second best for 4G coverage in Scotland and Northern Ireland by RootMetrics; third in England and Wales. Opensignal gave creditable mentions for 4G availability in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the North of England.O2 also won Uswitch’s Best Network Coverage award for 2019.
Speed: Bad news for Giffgaff users: the provider piggybacks on O2’s network, and O2 came bottom in Speedtest’s 2015 report.
InOpenSignal’s 2018 report, O2 collected no awards; nor did it receive any creditable mentions in terms of regional speeds.
Customer service: Giffgaff was awarded 4/5 for customer service in Which’s 2019 survey. Taking into account the pricing and incentives offered by the network, it got an overall customer score of 87%, putting it top.
11. Three
Three’s unlimited data bundles are an appealing prospect, although they’re likely to cost you. Coverage may be a worry, so check your local area.
Network: Three
Price: Three has the iPhone XR for just £39 per month; that’s with 5GB of data and £49 upfront.
Coverage: Three’s network was rated bottom for 4G coverage in all four regions of the UK. Not mentioned in Opensignal’s report.
Speed: Three’s network came third out of four in Speedtest’s 2015 report.
Three also failed to pick up any overall awards in Opensignal’s 2018 report, although it got some positive mentions for 4G download speeds in Wales, Northern Ireland and the North East of England.
Customer service: Middling. Three scored an appropriate 3/5 for customer service and ease of contacting in the Which 2019 survey. Its overall customer score of 69% put it in 8th place out of 13 – just below halfway.
More details can be found on Three’s website.
