The Cheapest UK 4G and 5G Unlimited Mobile Data Plans for 2024 vs 2022

ISPreview has today taken a quick look back across the UK’s market for mobile network operators in order to identify both the cheapest unlimited 4G and 5G data (broadband) plans and examine how their pricing has changed since our last survey two years ago. But some people may be surprised to find that most operators are still charging a similar amount.

In this article we’ll focus on the cheapest Pay Monthly SIM-Only plans with unlimited data, which is partly because the alternative dedicated Mobile Broadband plans that are still being offered by some operators have not kept pace with regular SIM plans and thus often get shunned (i.e. you can usually just put a normal mobile SIM into a mobile broadband router or turn your Smartphone into a WiFi Hotspot [Tethering] without much trouble).

The next thing to be mindful of is that there are four primary Mobile Network Operators (MNO) in the UK market – EE (BT), O2 (Virgin Media), Three UK and Vodafone (the latter two are merging, but that process will take a few years). Most of these also supply their services to a large base of smaller Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) that inherent some of their parent’s performance and coverage limitations.

However, MVNOs don’t always gain immediate access to the latest features from their parents (e.g. 5G Standalone, Wi-Fi Calling etc.), which will vary and depends on the agreements they’ve signed. Suffice to say, it’s wise not to assume that taking out a contract with an MVNO provider will result in an identical service or performance to that of the primary mobile operator to which it is associated.

Finally, most mobile operators tend to attach a Fair Usage Policy (FUP) to their “unlimited data” plans, which typically provides a guideline for how much maximum data usage is allowable per month. Some examples of these can be found below. In addition, all operators will heavily restrict roaming data usage (i.e. when outside the UK), but that’s another story; we’re not looking at roaming today.

Examples of UK FUPs for Unlimited Data Plans (Oct 2024)

➤ EE

“We will consider usage above 600GB/month to be non-personal use and have the right to apply traffic management controls to deprioritise your mobile traffic during busy periods or to move you to a business plan.”

➤ O2

“Where you regularly tether to 12 or more devices, have used 650GB of data twice within a 6 month period, or have connected to a device other than an eligible device as stipulated in clause 3.3 of these Terms, then we may investigate your usage further to ascertain whether your Unlimited Data usage is for the permitted use. Where following such investigation we determine or reasonably suspect that your usage is for purposes other than the permitted use then we reserve the right to transfer you to a more suitable plan.”

➤ Vodafone

“Where Vodafone notices a Customer’s data usage exceeds 600GB per month twice or more in a 6-month period, Vodafone may investigate whether your use of the Service is inconsistent with this policy. Following such an investigation, if we determine or reasonably suspect that your usage is for purposes other than the permitted use then Vodafone reserve the right to transfer you to a more suitable plan or take other action in line with this policy.”

Take note that Three UK doesn’t appear to impose a hard or soft data cap, while some MVNOs may set their guideline amounts (soft caps) lower than those listed above or take a different approach. For example, 1p Mobile say that “data consumption is subject to a personal usage cap of 500GB” and Lyca Mobile uses a figure of 450GB.

However, the FUPs around all this might talk tough, but they’re usually fairly soft (flexible) and rarely ever enforced. This is perhaps because actually enforcing them might breach the advertising watchdog’s guidelines on ‘unlimited’ terminology. But you should still make sure to read your operator’s FUP and Acceptable Usage Policies (AUP) in order to be sure of what you’re getting.

Cheapest Unlimited Mobile Data Plans 2024 vs 2022

Firstly, it’s very important to underline that inflation (CPI and RPI) surged between 2022 and early 2024, which means that any operator choosing to maintain the same price as it had in 2022 will have technically been giving customers a real-terms price reduction. But some operators approach this differently, such as by introducing options for longer contract terms / options than they had before (e.g. giffgaff’s 18-month and iD Mobile’s 24-month terms).

Overall, and excluding the new additions (e.g. Sky Mobile, Talkmobile, 1p Mobile), most of the operators appear to be holding at roughly the same price point as they were in 2022. Naturally, though, there are some exceptions to this, such as the price rises seen on UW and price fall seen via EE etc. We also have to remember that Smarty’s standard price is listed as £20, but the package is frequently available for around £15 to £16 on a discount for new customers (largely unchanged from 2022).

In addition, some other mobile operators, such as Vodafone, often impose some degree of broadband speed cap on their cheapest unlimited plans, which makes such comparisons harder to value (e.g. Vodafone’s £30 plan limits downloads to 10Mbps and if you want uncapped speeds then it’s £36). EE similarly limits their ‘Unlimited Essential’ plan to 100Mbps, but that’s still pretty good on mobile, so we won’t quibble.

Speaking of things that make comparisons difficult, there’s also the challenge of how you value some of the included extras. For example, O2’s plans often offer 3 months of free Disney+ (or another selected streaming service) and include free EU roaming with a 25GB fair usage limit for data), while others may not include these or might add a much stricter data cap for roaming.

One other point to make is that some unlimited data plans DO NOT include the cost of sending MMS (picture) messages, which are – somewhat bizarrely in this modern digital age – still ridiculously expensive (e.g. 65p on Three UK). Sadly, many operators still don’t make this clear when you sign-up, thus you might only find out once you get hit by it. But most people already know to use internet messaging services for pictures, which avoids this issue (the growing adoption of RCS messaging also avoids the MMS charge)

Finally, there remains a big question mark over how the recently agreed merger between Vodafone and Three UK will impact all of this, although we won’t be able to fully assess this for a few more years because consumer prices will initially receive some protection (here).