Best Mobile Phone Company?

[Bramleyboy]

Please can anyone advise me about changing my mobile phone provider? I have been with Orange even before they were Orange. Now they are EE and BT owned they are absolutely awful. Can you recommend a good supplier. I would prefer to go somewhere and be advised, rather than do it over the phone. I live in Devizes, Wiltshire and need to change before the 11 of this month. Many thanks. Bramley.

[muddlebrain]

I changed to Tesco mobile 2 Years ago and have had no trouble,their staff in the supermarket shops are very helpful,I am very happy with them,and their prices are very reasonable

[mushroom25]

yodafone. mmmmmm. good signal you want. go ten miles down the road you must.

[ladybirder]

Have a look at Giffgaff.

[bednobs]

i second tesco - i particularly like them for their cap (which is useful for my daughter) they are cheap and here at least have good coverage. The staff in store are fabulous here too.

[barry1010]

Do you intend buying a new phone or just changing your network provider with a new SIM card?
I'm with EE and have no problem with them at all.
I have tried GiffGaff but couldn't get on with it, the connection kept dropping. GiffGaff uses 02, the same as Tesco.

[-SharonA-]

I use giff gaff & I've had no problems at all. Recommended.

[bednobs]

my only (unhelpful to you) experience with virgin mobile is that they KEEEEEEEP ringing me about phone deals because im with virgin media

[barry1010]

Virgin uses Vodafone so use a signal checker to be sure it's suitable for you https://www.signalchecker.co.uk/

[ladybirder]

Ive had no problems at all with Giffgaff for over 3 years.

[barry1010]

You still haven't clarified whether you want a new phone on contract ora SIM only

[Buenchico]

Your link at 1310 goes to an American web design company, Bramley!

Questions about mobile phone service providers come up often here. There are only four actual networks in the UK. (Vodafone, O2, EE and Three). All other networks are simply 'piggyback' services, that make use of the transmitters and infrastructure of those four. So, for example, if your problem with EE is poor coverage in your area, there's no point in considering in using Virgin Mobile because they use EE's masts and the coverage you'll get will be exactly the same.

My own preference is to use Asda Mobile, that I'm perfectly happy with. They use the Vodafone network and, unlike some other cheap services, they've got UK call centres who usually pick up their phones within seconds. (Some other services only have web-based support, where you end up going round in circles when trying to get a valid response from a 'chatbot'). People who only use the internet to check their emails, read the news headlines and post on AnswerBank (rather than watching countless YouTube videos or constantly playing online video games) only need to pay £5 a month for 3GB of data, with unlimited calls and texts to UK numbers thrown in. Moderately heavy users of the internet can get that data allowance upped to 10GB by paying just £7 per month. (Those prices are for 4G services. 5G deals start from £10 per month). As with all PAYG 'bundle' deals, from any provider, there's no contract, meaning that you can change the deal (or leave altogether) at any time. See here:
https://mobile.asda.com/bundles
(Click 'View all bundles').

Asda Mobile has got plenty of fans among ABers, with GiffGaff (which uses the O2 network) also being very popular here.
https://mobile.asda.com/bundles
[NB: GiffGaff doesn't have any 'proper' customer support though. You have to post any queries on the community forum].

[bednobs]

if going into a shop is essential though BB, i think tesc0 mobile are the best bet (i dont have an asda here, so they might also have actual phone people in their shops too for all i know)

[Buenchico]

ERRRATUM!

Barry's right above and I'm wrong! Virgin now uses Vodafone to provide its services, and not EE. (It seems that, like Asda Mobile, they switched networks some time ago). That's a possible problem with any 'MVNO' (mobile virtual network operator). You can join them thinking that they use the masts of one particular 'big four' operator, only to find that they switch to using a different service later on.

[Bramleyboy]

Thank you all. I know more now! My wife and I have our phones with EE. I have an EE SIM in my car. We have been with Orange, even before it was Orange! Before COVID I could look at my EE on my phone and see exactly how much I had on my accounts and even donate between the accounts. I could ring EE and speak to someone right away. Through 2020, 2021 and most of 2022 I hardly used my car and signal. I use the car SIM for booking hotels and ‘searches’ on my travels. This year in France I had no means of checking my EE accounts and when I tried to phone them I was told there would be at least a 30 minute wait. I pay in total about £35/month for very poor service and actually we really really seldom make calls, especially on the Continent. That is why I want to change to another provider. I have no idea how to go about it!! Bramley

[bednobs]

im not sure what tesco charges for overseas use becuase ive never needed to know

[Maydup]

I switched to Tescos too and am very happy with the coverage. I have no need to contact them or check my account much and your overseas use probably makes a difference so best pop into the various stores and talk to someone.

[Hopkirk]

I'm with Plusnet. I have found them excellent. They have one month contracts so you can leave easily.

However you haven't said what is wrong with BT/EE.
Plusnet are owned by BT and use the EE network.