The best Pay As You Go deals in the UK

Having a few devices lying around, I sometimes like to carry a secondary device with me. It also means I need to chuck a SIM card into it. However, I don’t want to get a second line as I wouldn’t use it always, most of the time it will just be used over Wi-Fi. I decided to start looking at some pay as you go deals.

Pay as you go plans are quite popular here in the U.K. and what better way than to round up the best value plans available. We won’t just be looking at the major carriers either as MVNOs (mobile virtual network operator) have great offerings too. We’ll also cover plans for legacy BlackBerry users too.

 

GiffGaff

GiffGaff is an MVNO that runs on the O2 network. It’s a community based carrier where all help is provided by other users. Their slogan is “The mobile network run by you”. We’ve looked at them before here on CrackBerry, mainly for offering the cheapest BIS to its customers. GiffGaff’s best value plan is with their £12 ($19) goodybag. You get 250 minutes, unlimited U.K. texts and unlimited data. On top of that you get free calls to other GiffGaff users. This lasts for 30 days.

GiffGaff also has the cheapest BIS offering, as already mentioned. At £2.50 ($4), that’s half of what all the other carriers charge for BIS. You can’t just purchase the BlackBerry add-on on its own however, you have to purchase one of the goodybags (plans) alongside it. Again, this lasts for 30 days.

You can order a free SIM from the GiffGaff website.

For more on GiffGaff Pay As You Go Plans

 

Three

Three have long been a good value carrier in the U.K. They don’t have many pay as you go plans but there is one you should look, especially if you use a lot of data. The All-in-One Plan. This plan gives you 300 minutes, 3000 texts and All-You-Can-Eat data. Basically unlimited data. This is one I make use of quite often and costs £15 ($24) for 30 day usage.

What is great about Three is that this is the same price you’ll pay to get 4G speeds (if available in your area). Other carriers charge a bit more for a 4G plan and you don’t get much data either.

Three’s BIS package costs £5 ($8) and also lasts for 30 days. It is deducted from your top-up every month or whenever you want after the 30 day period as elapsed.

You can order a free SIM from the Three website. You can also preload the SIM with a top-up so you're ready to go once it arrives.

Learn more about the Three Pay As You Go All-in-One Plan
Learn more about Three BIS plans

 

Orange

Orange, who come under the EE umbrella have a decent plan on pay as you go, you don’t get unlimited data but you get a decent amount. On Orange’s £15 Dolphin plan you get 600 texts and 2GB of data. Calls would be charged from your £15 top-up. At £15, while you get more data on the previously mentioned carriers, 2GB is still more than you get for paying more on a monthly contract with some other carriers and indeed on Orange. So, if Orange is a favorite network of yours this deal is not too bad. Again, this lasts for 30 days.

For BIS users, Orange offers the service for £5, you add the BlackBerry package to your plan and £5 will be deducted from your top-up.

You can order four free SIM cards from the Orange website. 

For more details on Pay As You Go deals on Orange
For more details on BlackBerry Internet Services for legacy devices

 

T-Mobile UK

T-Mobile, also part of the EE umbrella have a similar offering to Orange. For £15 on T-Mobile's (BlackBerry) Smart Packs you get 200 minutes, 600 texts and 2GB of data. With T-Mobile you get the extra 200 minutes to use before it starts to use your top-up amount. These last for 30 days.

For those on legacy BlackBerry devices, you can get the BlackBerry pay as you go Booster. On their website it's a bit hard to find as there is something called BlackBerry Smart Packs but what you need to look for is BlackBerry Booster. Like many other carriers, this costs £5 for 30 days. T-Mobile UK also offer a six month bundle for £20, working out at £4 a month.

You can order a free SIM from the T-Mobile website

Read more about T-Mobile UK pay as you go deals
Read more about T-Mobile BIS plans

All other carriers don't seem to give you much data for around the same price. So, these four are the best deals when it comes to pay as you go plans in the U.K. While you can order a free SIM card from the carrier's website, you can also pick them up in-stores, though you do have to top-up when you do. Most supermarkets also sell the most of the pay as you go SIM cards for around 99p.

 

Have you got a better pay as you go deal that we have missed? Hit us up in the comments.