A few years ago, mobile network providers started by offering unlimited texts to their clients. Soon, this was followed by unlimited minutes, before culminating in unlimited data packages.
Today, five networks are offering unlimited data to their clients in the United Kingdom. These are Virgin Mobile, Three, Smarty, Lycamobile, and GiffGaff. However, is it possible to offer unlimited mobile data to network customers?
The short answer is Yes.
How Unlimited Is Unlimited Mobile Data?
If you want to enjoy unlimited mobile data, you do not have much choice. GiffGaff and Three are the leading options. However, Virgin TV and Media broadband clients also get to enjoy unlimited data via the Virgin Mobile deal.
You should note that there are two main options to choose from are:
- Sim Only—Here, you will find Virgin Mobile, Three, and GiffGaff. GiffGaff offers a thirty-day goody bag contract while Three has two sim versions. Users get to choose between the thirty-day rolling contract and a twelve-month contract. Virgin Mobile only has a twelve-month contract. All the above do provide unlimited data coverage on their networks.
You should note that all three providers mentioned above also offer unlimited texts and minutes. Clients, therefore, get to enjoy an unlimited phone deal covering all aspects of their phone usage.
Phone—GiffGaff does not have any SIM and phone plan in place. Thus, Three is the only viable option for a client looking for a phone that also comes with an unlimited data plan. Virgin Broadband and Media TV customers also get to receive a new phone whenever they subscribe to the unlimited data plan.
Clients need to understand that the monthly price often varies depending on the handset device chosen by the client.
What Do You Need to Consider When Looking for an Unlimited Data Plan?
Customers thinking about taking unlimited data deals need to consider a few factors. For instance:
GiffGaff began to offer unlimited data deals to all customers back in 2015. But as part of the 4G unlimited standard data deal, only the first 20GB portion of the data worked at full 4G speed.
- As soon as a user has eaten through this, the browsing speed gets automatically limited. Clients are thus forced to browse at speeds of 384kb between eight in the morning and midnight each day.
- Additionally, this deal does not work well for clients who travel regularly. When a client eats through the 20GB, GiffGagg begins charging £6 per Mb for any additional data used up when traveling or roaming through Europe. When you look at Three, you will find that their data tends to be consumer-friendly regardless of whether one is at home or abroad traveling.
- Both sim cards offered by the company are truly unlimited. Clients get 4G data without any accompanying usage caps. Download speeds do not have any limits.
- Customers can use part of their unlimited data package as a Wi-Fi hotspot when within the UK. Three did away with tethering in 2016.
- Clients can use their data when traveling abroad by activating Go Roam. This means clients can text, call, and use their data in a total of 71 countries without incurring any additional costs. 4G surfing is, however, unavailable on Go Roam, forcing customers to use the much slower 3G network.
Why Choose an Unlimited Data Plan?
Large data allowances are the reason. Apart from providing the unlimited deals covered above, many suppliers also make it a point to provide incredibly big data allowances.
Even though the data supplied by the networks is technically not unlimited, the allocation is more than enough for most people. The data allocated to them by the suppliers is more than enough for one month’s use.
Do You Need Unlimited Data Deals?
The reality today is that more and more people in the UK are using their smartphones more than they did in the past.
For instance, a survey conducted by Deloitte established that 87% of the Mobile Consumer Survey owned a smartphone. Of this, 95% had made use of the phone within the last few hours.
A majority reportedly used the phones to access the web, with 76% using as much as 1.9GB in a month. It is important to point out that some respondents switched to home and office Wi-Fi usage on arrival at either of these two places.
So, do you need unlimited data? The question itself is indefinite depending on who you ask. Some will say no, while others will answer in the affirmative. If you like to stream many hours of video via your smartphone each day, then an unlimited data plan will sure come in handy.
The same applies to people who like to download music or play online video games for many hours on a single day. Heavy users can benefit from unlimited data deals. Consider your average data monthly usage before making a decision.