By If you’re a light mobile user, it’s best to choose a low-cost Pay As You Go plan with no monthly subscription or credit expiry.
If you only use your mobile phone from time to time (e.g. during trips away from home or as a backup for emergencies), it’s normally best to choose a fairly cheap Pay As You Go SIM card with no regular monthly charges.
When you choose a Pay As You Go SIM card, it’s important to look at a number of factors such as the minimum usage or top-up requirement, the coverage available on the SIM card and how you’re able to top it up with credit.
In this article, we’ll discuss the top things to look out for when choosing a Pay As You Go SIM card if you’re a light mobile user. We’ll also review a selection of mobile networks that we think are particularly well suited for light mobile users in the UK.
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Choosing a Mobile Network For Light Usage
As a light mobile user looking for a Pay As You Go SIM card, we think there are six important things to look out for in your mobile network:
No Regular Monthly Charges
As a light mobile user, you’ll normally want to stay away from SIM cards that have a regular monthly charge. This is because you’ll need to pay a fixed amount every month, regardless of whether you actually use your SIM card.
Because of the regular monthly charge, Pay Monthly SIM cards and Pay As You Go bundles should normally be excluded from your search unless your typical spend exceeds £5/month.
Instead, you’re better off choosing a “traditional Pay As You Go plan” where there are no regular monthly charges on your SIM. You’ll then only pay for what you actually use (so you’ll pay nothing in the months where you don’t actually use your phone).
Credit That Doesn’t Expire
When it comes to topping up your SIM card, it’s important to choose a mobile network where your credit doesn’t expire. It’s also worth having a look at the minimum top-up amount and at the methods that are available to you for topping up.
On the best Pay As You Go mobile networks, your credit will never expire and it’ll normally be possible to top-up from as little as £5 each time. Other mobile networks have a minimum top-up of £10. You should ideally also look for a range of available top-up methods, both in-store and online if possible. The ability to top-up your account automatically when the balance drops below a certain amount can also be a useful feature.
Typically, on the larger Pay As You Go networks, your credit won’t expire provided your SIM card remains active. However, on some smaller mobile networks, top-ups are sold with only as little as 90 days of validity. On these networks, if you don’t use your credit within 90 days of topping up, it will expire and be removed from your account.
Minimum Usage Requirements
The minimum usage requirement for keeping your account active is worth investigating closely before you choose a mobile network.
In the UK, all Pay As You Go networks will have a minimum usage requirement for keeping your SIM card active. On the best mobile networks, you’ll only need to use your SIM card for a chargeable activity once every 180 days. However, on some smaller mobile networks, this can sometimes be as little as 84 days.
On SIM cards with a very short inactivity period, it’s possible for your SIM card to get inadvertently disconnected (this can happen particularly easily if you only use your mobile phone from time to time). Upon disconnection from the mobile network due to inactivity, you’ll lose your phone number and any credit remaining on your account.
Where possible, we’d recommend choosing a mobile network that only requires you to use your phone every 180 days.
Reliable Coverage
The coverage that you’re able to get on your phone is another important consideration. You’ll want to make sure your mobile phone is actually available for you to use during those trips away and during those “emergency situations”. The availability of 2G, 3G and 4G coverage is therefore very important.
In the UK, there are only four network coverage providers: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. All other networks are known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and piggyback on coverage from one of the big four. For instance, customers on 1pMobile will get coverage from EE and customers on giffgaff will get coverage from O2.
Customer Support
The availability of customer support can be another important consideration when choosing a Pay As You Go network.
Most mobile networks offer telephone support, but some networks offer online-only support (e.g. through an online forum, e-mail or live chat). If you’d like the ability to pick up the phone to talk to customer support, you should avoid mobile networks like giffgaff that have online-only support.
Low Prices & Availability of Bundles
Finally, and probably slightly less important, it’s worth looking at the exact per-minute, per-text and per-megabyte rates. Generally, it’s worth choosing a fairly priced mobile network. However, this shouldn’t be the overriding factor, especially when compared to the other factors above. The reason for this is that you might only be spending a few pounds on your phone bill each month. Therefore, the savings from choosing a slightly cheaper network might be fairly small and measured in pennies.
As well as having access to low Pay As You Go rates, it’s also worth choosing a mobile network where you’ll have the option to buy a bundle when required. This can be useful in situations where you need to use your mobile phone a lot in a short amount of time (for instance, if you wanted to make a long phone call or if you were taking a long trip away from home).
Recommended Networks
At present, we’d recommend the following SIM cards for a light mobile user:
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giffgaff
On giffgaff, it’s possible to use your mobile phone with no regular monthly charges. Just order a free SIM card online, without choosing a monthly plan. On regular Pay As You Go, you’ll just need to use your mobile phone at least once every 180 days to keep the SIM card active. The minimum top-up on giffgaff is £10. Each time you top-up your account, you’ll get free calls and texts to other giffgaff members for the next 3 months. This means you’ll pay absolutely nothing to call friends and family who are also on giffgaff. If you’re calling customers on a different mobile network, it’s 25p/minute and 10p/text. Mobile data costs 10p/MB with the option of buying a goodybag bundle from £6/month. |
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ASDA Mobile
To sign up, you can order an ASDA Mobile SIM card for £5. This will give you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 3GB data for the first month. Just switch off the ‘auto-renew’ feature when you sign up and you’ll move onto their traditional Pay As You Go plan with no monthly fees after the first month. On ASDA Mobile, you’ll get 4G coverage from the Vodafone network. Your credit won’t expire provided you keep your SIM card active, which means using it for a chargeable call or text message every 180 days. |
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1pMobile
The main disadvantage of 1pMobile is the fact you’re required to spend at least £10 every 60 days. Although you’ll have complete flexibility on how you spend it (e.g. for calls, texts or data), it’s important to bear this mind if you’re a very light user. Alongside their traditional Pay As You Go tariff (1p/minute, 1p/text and 1p/MB), 1p Mobile has a one-year plan where you’ll pay £48 per year for unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB data per month. This is a good option if you’re looking for a low-cost plan with unlimited calls & texts included in the price. As a special offer for readers of this website, you’ll get a 4GB Data Boost at no extra cost when you activate a new 1pMobile SIM card. Simply order your SIM card through this link and enter VAKTT4GB as your voucher code at the checkout. |
On ASDA Mobile, you can use your mobile phone for 15p/minute, 10p/text and 10p/MB. There’s no need to top-up every month.
For information on how other mobile networks compare, please see the following in-depth guides:
- Minimum usage requirements & credit expiry: Find out how often you’ll need to use your SIM card to keep it active and to stop it from expiring.
- Topping up your phone: Information on how to top-up your SIM card and how much credit you can add to it.
- Mobile network coverage: Find out how coverage compares across different UK mobile networks. Alternatively, see our list of networks using EE coverage, networks using O2 coverage, networks using Three coverage and networks using Vodafone coverage.
- Compare Pay As You Go rates: Compare the per-minute, per-text and per-megabyte rates for every Pay As You Go mobile network in the UK.
More Information
For more information, see our guide to Pay As You Go deals in the UK. In particular, it’s also worth reading our full overview of the best Pay As You Go SIM cards.
Joan Airey said:
Thanks for this info, Ken! I have now taken advantage one of your recommendations. So far, so good.
I’m one of those irritatingly older people that don’t need their mobile that much. I was interested to see that you list 1p Mobile as I have just left them due to their minimum spend, which has just gone up again. I came to them on the rebound as I had had my phone stolen and a friend recommended them. However, It was impacting on the deal I have with my PC and landline and was using the mobile when I didn’t really want to. I notice another of your readers have made a similar comment. On the plus side, they were always very attentive when I had to e-mail them about something and you can ring them as well.
I note you don’t list Tesco Mobile. They have a similar deal to others you recommend, with a minimum of £10. They can be difficult though as you seem to hear something different every time you have to contact them. They are worth a punt though in my view.
Another one worth a punt in my view is Lebara. which I have just joined. They seem to feature the same advantages for a light user as those you list here.
Thanks again for this page, Ken. It was really helpful for someone like me.
Joan
clive said:
From a date in November 2024 Vodafone will charge me £2 per day of use instead of £1, so a very light ocasional user has to think whether that will suit. I think for me I shall now look elsewhere, Asda looks good so thank you for this very helpful run down on these available plans.
David said:
Hi Ken,
Is it possible to order a free sim (without topping up)?
I am looking to change to a network that offers 5g coverage, and just want to see if 5g is available.
Yes, there are coverage checkers, but according to EE, they say that I can get 5g indoors and outdoors.
I can’t, as my phone still shows 4g.
I want to try Vodafone (or one of their MVNO’s).
Thanks.
Ken replied:
Hi David,
Many thanks for your comment. Yes, it’s still possible to order a Vodafone Pay As You Go SIM card, without topping up. You’ll just need to follow this link, and choose the “Order a free SIM” link (this should be the sixth option on their list of plans).
Hope this helps!
Ken