Mobile phone contracts compared: a mobile phone contract compare on published prices, a mobile phone comparison of what each seller prints, and what cheap phone contracts leave out
A mobile phone contract in this record means airtime on a term, not a handset paid off monthly, and keeping those two apart is most of the value of comparing them at all. A SIM only contract is a price for minutes, texts and data over a period; a handset contract is that plus a loan, and the loan is usually the larger half. This page compares the first, on the figures sellers publish for themselves.
- median published unlimited data SIM, per month
- £22
- sellers with a price they will show a plain reader
- 5
- plan types in the record
- 3
Every seller figure on this page was fetched from that seller's own page and matched word for word before it was published, with the date we checked.
- 5 seller pages readevery figure matched verbatim to the seller's own page
- Quoted and dated, never estimatedlast verification pass 2026-09-10
- 3 plan types in the recordeach one a measured row of this hub's own plan
What sellers publish, and what could not be read
| Seller | Unlimited data, per month | Cheapest plan, per month | Mid-tier plan, per month | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lycamobile | £12.5/30 days, the UK Plan Unlimited row on the seller's own ladder | £7.5/30 days, the UK Plan Super Extra row at 75 GB | lycamobile.co.uk | September 2026 | |
| SMARTY | £20/month, rolling monthly, unlimited data | £6/month, 5 GB, the cheapest plan on the ladder | £12/month, 100 GB | smarty.co.uk | September 2026 |
| Ecotalk | £22/month, unlimited data, one month term | £12/month, 10 GB, one month term | £14/month, 30 GB, one month term | ecotalk.co.uk | September 2026 |
| Utility Warehouse | £23/month, Unlimited Max, a from figure | £5/month, 10 GB, a from figure | uw.co.uk | September 2026 | |
| Vodafone | £23/month, unlimited data, 24 month plan | vodafone.co.uk | September 2026 | ||
| EE | Page refused a plain read, so unknown (checked September 2026) | ||||
| giffgaff | Page refused a plain read, so unknown (checked September 2026) | ||||
| iD Mobile | Page refused a plain read, so unknown (checked September 2026) | ||||
| Lebara | Page refused a plain read, so unknown (checked September 2026) | ||||
| O2 | Page refused a plain read, so unknown (checked September 2026) | ||||
| Three | Page refused a plain read, so unknown (checked September 2026) | ||||
| VOXI | Page refused a plain read, so unknown (checked September 2026) |
How to compare a contract without comparing the wrong thing
- Find your current monthly charge and your end date. Both are on the bill and on the account page. Without them you cannot tell whether a quote is a saving or a sideways move, and you cannot tell whether leaving costs anything.
- Write down what you actually used last month. Not what you think you use. Most people pay for an allowance they never reach, and on every published ladder here the gap between tiers is real money.
- Decide term or rolling, before you look at numbers. A 24 month price and a rolling monthly price are different products at similar figures, and the cheaper headline is usually the longer tie.
- Ask what happens in April. Most UK sellers raise prices during the term. Ask for the increase in writing, as a figure, before you sign anything.
Term against rolling, at the published figures
Two sellers in this record publish a term on the page we read. Vodafone prices unlimited data at £23 a month on a 24 month plan and states Save £288 with a 24-month plan against its own shorter option. Lycamobile prints 12 and 24 month plans beside its 30 day ladder, where unlimited is 12.5 GBP over 30 days.
The other three publish rolling monthly. SMARTY's ladder runs from £6 for 5 GB to £20 for unlimited with no tie, Ecotalk prices one month terms at £12 for 10 GB and £22 for unlimited, and Utility Warehouse publishes from prices of £5 and £23. A rolling plan at a similar number is a different product: you are buying the right to leave.
The rise is part of the price
Most UK contracts allow an in-contract increase and the honest ones publish it. Vodafone publishes a £2.50 April increase for pay monthly airtime and data plans, and on the unlimited plan specifically that it increases to £25.50 on 1 April 2027 and £28 on 1 April 2028. Over a 24 month term that is a fifth added to the headline.
Compare the average over the term rather than the first month. A £23 plan that becomes £25.50 and then £28 is not a £23 plan, and a rolling £20 that can also be repriced is at least a plan you can leave the month it happens.
What cheap phone contracts leave out
The cheapest published rungs here are Utility Warehouse at £5 and SMARTY at £6, and both leave something out in the ordinary way: the Utility Warehouse figure is a from price attached to a bundle, and the SMARTY figure buys 5 GB. Neither is a trick and both are worth reading twice.
The line most often missing entirely is what running out costs. SMARTY publishes that an add-on is £1 per GB, the same rate as the data in the plan, which is the plainest statement of it in this record. Ask every seller for that number, because it is where a cheap plan stops being cheap.
Questions people ask before they switch
- What do mobile phone contracts cost in the UK?
- On a SIM only basis, the published figures in this record run from £5 a month at the cheap end to £23 for unlimited data. Handset contracts are a different product with a loan inside them and are not priced here.
- Is a term cheaper than rolling monthly?
- Usually on the headline and not always over the term. Vodafone publishes £23 for unlimited on 24 months and also publishes that it rises to £25.50 and then £28. SMARTY publishes £20 rolling, with nothing to leave.
- How do I do a mobile phone contract compare properly?
- Compare the same thing: the same allowance, the same term, and the average monthly figure once published rises are counted. Then ask what running out of data costs, which is the line most often missing.
- Why are handset deals not here?
- Because a handset contract is airtime plus a loan, and the loan is usually the larger half. This record prices airtime, and the subject charter puts handset retail with a different merchant.
Ask several sellers for a price
What this costs by plan type
Cite or embed this figure
The the seller's own published monthly price for an unlimited-data SIM in the UK SIM only market was £22 in September 2026, across 5 checked network price pages recorded in SIM Only Deals Compare Price Record.
Cite as: "SIM Only Deals Compare Price Record", updated 2026-09-10, https://simonlydealscompare.co.uk/mobile-phone-contracts/.