Sim Only Deals

SIM Only Contracts

Convenience, flexibility, freedom and affordability – these are just some of the reasons for the recent explosion in popularity of SIM Only deals for your mobile phone. A large part of the convenience, of course, comes in the fact that you can choose from SIM Only contracts that span just 30 days or a month, instead of the usual 12, 18 or 24 months of conventional phone contracts. That way, you are free to try any network provider of your choice, with the option to cancel any time you wish and switch to another provider without incurring any penalties. Pay monthly, and more of the options remain open to you. With just a phone call or two and no hassle at all, you can even keep your existing telephone number as you hop between network providers or change contracts with the same provider.

SIM Only deals also allow you to keep your own, existing telephone handset. There can be any number of reasons, of course, why you should want to keep the one you have. If that is the case, then why would you want to enter into a contract which involves not just the provision of an access to a mobile phone network, but also the purchase of a new phone? And it is to be able to pass on to you the cost of that handset only, of course, that network providers try to stretch out the contract length for such a long time. And so to the question of affordability. If you don’t need a new phone and do not have to pay for a new one, then you are going to discover that SIM Only deals are, naturally, cheaper than contracts involving the purchase of one. Monthly SIM Only contracts, for example, can cost as little as around £10 a month, whilst even SIMs offering all possible bells and whistles are unlikely to cost much more than £30 a month. With the freedom to buy your own handset only, and access to a mobile network through a pay monthly SIM Only deal, therefore, you can make the cost of staying connected even cheaper. You will even be able to avoid the hassle and inconvenience of the sort of credit check usually demanded by providers for the more traditional, long-term contracts.

SIM Only contracts offer considerable flexibility, therefore, in terms of the price you want to pay. Although the 30-day rolling contract might be the most flexible, for example, you might want to make it an even more cheap SIM Only deal by agreeing to a 12-month contract (where you’ll either get the same level of service for a lower monthly bill, or an enhanced level of service at the same price). SIM Only deals can be found for practically any make or model of mobile phone, from the most basic to the most sophisticated of the latest smart phones, iPhones and Blackberry handsets. Let’s take a brief look, therefore, at some of the deals available from the leading UK network providers.

O2 SIM Only deals

A very similar principle to T-Mobile’s “flexible boosters” is at work in O2’s concept of the “bolt on”. With O2 SIM Only deals, the basic combination of calls and texts for your mobile are delivered through a wide range of “Simplicity” plans, the core services of which are enhanced by your choice of one or more optional “bolt ons”. For BlackBerry, iPhone and smart phone users who want to make the most of their mobile internet capabilities, of course, the additional service to choose is likely to be the “data bolt on”, giving a choice of between 100 MB and 1 GB (depending on the particular bolt on you choose) of data usage a month. O2’s pay monthly plans also allow you to use the SIM in your iPhone to be “tethered” to your PC or laptop – replacing the need for a separate mobile broadband “dongle”.

Vodaphone SIM Only deals

Although any definition of the best SIM Only deal is likely to remain largely a matter of individual preference, there is no doubting that Vodaphone is the biggest of the UK’s network operators. As befits the corporate clout of the company, an especially wide choice of SIM Only contracts is available. Practically all of them feature a lesser or greater capacity for mobile internet connectivity, making these deals some of the best for smart phones, namely iPhone sim only and BlackBerry sim only. Vodaphone offers no fewer than 13 different Vodafone SIM Only deals on a pay monthly basis, with a wide combination of call minutes, texts and internet usage on offer. Roughly the same price scales are retained for a further 13 separate 12-monthly plans, which – naturally enough – offer still more enhanced levels of service and connectivity.

3 SIM Only deals

Having chosen a name that pins it colours fairly firmly to the mast of 3rd generation mobile technology, the network provider 3 boasts a wide coverage throughout the UK and one whose SIM Only deals handle multiple variations of calls, texts and mobile internet. 3 Mobile’s top of the range The One Plan, for example, you can enjoy what is effectively unlimited mobile internet access with data usage of up to 1 GB for downloads and uploads. 3 calls this an “all you can eat” capacity. The One Plan also comes in a special variant for iPhone 4’s microSim, which gives the same unlimited mobile internet access, whilst a similar service is also offered through SIM Only deals for Blackberry users (in which case you will enjoy the benefit of unrestricted access to your Blackberry Mail facility. The One Plan also delivers probably as many call minutes and texts as you are likely to need in any given month – 2,000 minutes of calls at any time of the day, to any network; 5,000 standard UK texts; plus an additional 5,000 minutes of calls across the 3 network itself.

Orange SIM Only deals

You’re unlikely to have been to the cinema recently without catching at least some of this network provider’s advertising and sponsorship. You might also have latched on to the cast of animal characters through which Orange markets the various Orange SIM Only contracts. These are designed to help you identify the best SIM Only deal for you and your mobile communication needs. Thus, the “Dolphin” range is probably the one you will choose if you own a smart phone, iPhone or Blackberry, since this package comes with 500 MB of data usage a month, an unlimited number of texts, and either 500 or 600 call minutes (depending on the particular plan you choose. The “Camel” is best if you are likely to make frequent international calls since this SIM Only deal starts you off with 100 minutes of international calls, unlimited texts and 400 standard UK call minutes. The “Canary” combines the regular text users needs with a wide range of call options, either on a pay monthly or annual contract basis, while the “Racoon” might best suit users with a regular need to call UK landline numbers (between 300 and 1,200 call minutes) depending on the particular plan you choose.

T-Mobile SIM Only deals

Since the recent decision to merge its network with another network provider, 3, T-Mobile has impressive coverage within the UK – making its SIM Only contracts an especially good option, therefore. The key to understanding T-Mobile SIM Only deals and to making the most of the benefits they offer, lies in their service facility called the “flexible booster”. This is one of a choice of different services which you add on to the basic core of calls and texts. The flexible booster you choose is likely to be the one that best reflects your normal monthly usage of your mobile, of course, but you can change the booster you’ve chosen as regularly as once a month. The boosters range from one – the internet booster – giving you unlimited mobile internet browsing and emails, plus 500 MB of data usage (especially useful if you own a smart phone, iPhone or Blackberry); through unlimited texting; unlimited landline calls to UK numbers; and a range of international calling options.

Virgin SIM Only deals

A number of UK “network providers” are in fact “virtual” network providers in that instead of installing and maintaining their own physical networks, lease them from other providers. Probably the most notable of these is Virgin, which continues to operate its virtual network by leasing the capacity from T-Mobile. The leasing arrangement allows Virgin to offer cheap SIM Only deals for practically any owner of a mobile phone. The cheapest of these, for example, you should be able to find for somewhat less than £10 a month (certainly if you commit to an annual, rather than pay monthly deal). This would give you a basic 2,500 texts, 75 minutes of standard UK calls and a further 3,000 minutes of calls across Virgin’s own network. You will need to pay more, of course, if you are a smart phone, Blackberry or iPhone user and want to access the mobile internet, although these packages, too, are competitively priced. Virgin sim only deals are fairly popular for their 30 contracts but you must ensure that your handset is unlocked or suitable for use with a Virgin Mobile SIM car before ordering.