By EE offers unlimited data from £22 per month (£10 per month if you’re an EE home broadband customer). Find out how their unlimited data plans compare.
In the UK, EE now offers a range of unlimited data plans, starting from £22 per month (or just £10 per month if you’re an EE home broadband customer). There are a range of download speeds available (up to 10Mbps, up to 100Mbps and their fastest available speeds), along with varying benefits such as Inclusive Extras and data gifting on an EE family account.
In this article, we’ll look at EE’s unlimited data plans, including the different plans available and the features on each one. We’ll also look at how the download speeds compare, along with the added features and the fair usage policy on each plan.
| Prices From: | £22 per month without EE broadband £10 per month for EE home broadband customers |
|---|---|
| Download Speeds: | 10Mbps (No Frills) 100Mbps (Essential) Fastest available speeds (All Rounder & Full Works) |
| Fair Usage: | 600GB per month in the UK. Up to 12 devices on tethering & personal hotspot. |
| Coverage: | 4G & 5G coverage from EE (check postcode) |
Contents
EE Unlimited Data Plans
In the UK, EE now offers a choice of four different types of unlimited data plan.
- The cheapest unlimited data plans are in their No Frills range. Here, you’ll get a maximum download speed of 10Mbps. There are no Inclusive Extras and the data gifting feature isn’t available. However, you can still use as much data as you want and it’s fast enough for most day-to-day activities (including the streaming of HD-quality video). Plans start from £10 per month if you’re an EE home broadband customer (otherwise, it’s £27 per month).
- For faster download speeds and the ability to gift some leftover data within your EE family account, you can upgrade to the Essential unlimited data plan. This will give you download speeds of up to 100Mbps, allowing you to benefit from the faster speeds available on 5G. You can also gift some of your leftover data within your EE family account. EE’s Essential unlimited data plans start from £13 per month if you’re an EE home broadband customer (otherwise, it starts from £22 per month).
- For the fastest available speeds and an Inclusive Extra such as Netflix or Apple Music, you can upgrade to an All Rounder unlimited data plan. Prices start from £19 per month if you’re an EE home broadband customer (otherwise, it starts from £42 per month). When you take some of the Inclusive Extras into account, this can sometimes work out to be the best value. For instance, the TNT Sports extra is worth £20 per month. You’ll get 3 Inclusive Extras on the Full Works plan.
The following table shows a side-by-side comparison of EE’s unlimited data plans:
| No Frills | Essentials | All Rounder | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price (without broadband): |
£27 per month | £22 per month | £42 per month |
| Monthly Price (with EE home broadband): |
£10 per month | £13 per month | £19 per month |
| Download Speed: |
Up to 10Mbps (‘basic’ speeds) |
Up to 100Mbps (‘excellent’ speeds) |
Fastest available (uncapped speeds) |
| Inclusive Extras: |
– | – | 1 Inclusive Extra (All Rounder) 3 Inclusive Extras (Full Works) |
| Data Gifting: |
No | 100GB with EE Family | 100GB with EE Family |
| Fair Use Limit: |
600GB per month | 600GB per month | 600GB per month |
| Personal Hotspot: |
Yes (up to 12 devices) |
Yes (up to 12 devices) |
Yes (up to 12 devices) |
| Calls & Texts: |
Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
EE Broadband Discount
If you’re not currently an EE home broadband customer, it might be beneficial to sign up for this first.
At present, you can get EE’s home broadband service from £29.99 per month. Once you have that, you’ll unlock their unlimited data SIM card discount, with plans available from only £10 per month.
The following table shows EE’s latest fibre broadband deals:
| Service | Download Speed | Monthly Cost (will rise each April by £3) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
 EE Fibre 36 | 36Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Fibre 67 | 67Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 74 | 74Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 150 | 150Mbps average download | £29.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Fibre 50 | 50Mbps average download | £30.99 per month plus £31.99 upfront 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 300 | 300Mbps average download | £32.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 500 | 500Mbps average download | £34.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre Gigabit | 900Mbps average download | £44.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
EE Full Fibre 1.6 Gigabit | 1600Mbps average download | £64.99 per month No upfront fee 24 month contract | See deal |
See all EE fibre broadband deals →
Download Speeds
You’ll get access to EE’s 4G & 5G network on all of their unlimited data plans. However, the maximum download speed available might be restricted, depending on the type of plan you choose:
- EE’s No Frills unlimited data plan is restricted to a maximum download speed of 10Mbps. This is roughly equivalent to the speeds you can get on a decent 3G connection or on a basic 4G connection. This is sometimes referred to as ‘basic speeds’ by EE. It’s enough for the vast majority of day-to-day usage (you only need about 5Mbps to stream HD-quality video). The main downside is that you won’t be able to stream in Ultra HD quality, and larger downloads may take a long time.
- EE’s Essentials unlimited data plan has a maximum download speed of 100Mbps. This is the speed you’re typically able to receive on a good 5G network connection.
- EE’s All Rounder and Full Works plans come with their fastest available download speeds. According to a recent RootMetrics analysis (H1 2023), the average download speed on EE’s 5G network is 145Mbps. This is faster than the maximum download speed that you’re able to get on an Essentials plan. Having said that, it’s unlikely this will make much of a practical difference, unless you’re downloading very large files over a 5G connection.
Inclusive Extras
If you choose EE’s All Rounder unlimited data plan, you’ll get one Inclusive Extra for the length of your plan. For instance, this could be an inclusive subscription to Netflix, Apple Music or TNT Sports on discovery+.
Customers with a Full Works plan can choose three Inclusive Extras with their plan.
The following options are available for your Inclusive Extra on EE:
- Apple Music (worth £10.99 per month): With Apple Music, you’ll have access to more than 100 million songs through on-demand streaming.
- Apple TV+ (worth £6.99 per month): If you choose Apple TV+, you’ll be able to watch Apple Original shows and movies through the Apple TV service.
- Apple Arcade (worth £4.99 per month): Available to customers with an iPhone, this gives you access to more than 200 games on your mobile phone, without any adverts or in-app purchases.
- TNT Sports on discovery+ (worth £20 per month): This inclusive extra gives you access to all four TNT Sports channels, as well as the discovery+ Ultimate streaming service. You’ll be able to watch live action from the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, and more.
- Microsoft 365 Personal (worth £5.99 per month): This gives you access to all of the Microsoft Office applications on your PC and mobile, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Outlook. You’ll also get 1TB of cloud storage on OneDrive.
- Roam Abroad Pass (worth £25 per month): With the Roam Abroad pass, you’ll be able to use your plan allowances at no extra cost in the EU, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand (up to 50GB per month).
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (worth £12.99 per month): The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate gives you access to more than 100 games on your PC, Xbox console, and in the cloud. Play games like Starfield, Forza Motorsport and Halo Infinite.
- Netflix (worth £7.99 per month): This gives you an inclusive Netflix Basic subscription, allowing you to watch unlimited shows and movies from Netflix on one device at a time.
If you choose a No Frills or Essentials plan from EE, you won’t get any Inclusive Extras with it. However, you’ll still be able to get 6 months of Apple Music free with your plan.
Data Gifting
If you have multiple lines on the same EE account, you’ll unlock Family account benefits. As part of this, customers with an unlimited data plan (excluding No Frills plans) can ‘gift’ up to 100GB of unused data to another line within the same family account (you can gift up to 120GB data if you have a 5G handset plan with unlimited data).
There are several things to note when taking advantage of this feature:
- The data you use will reduce your shareable data allowance first. For instance, if you’ve already used 40GB of data on your unlimited data plan, you’ll only have 60GB of data leftover to share. For this reason, it’s normally best to gift your data as soon as your allowances refresh at the start of the month. This will allow you to get the maximum benefit from the Data Gifting feature.
- You’ll need to manually gift your data each month. There’s no way to set up automated sharing of your data.
- It isn’t possible to gift data from or to a No Frills plan. The Data Gifting feature is only available on Essentials, All Rounder and Full Works plans.
- It’s only possible to gift data within your own family account. For instance, you won’t be able to share unused data with a friend. The Data Gifting feature only works within an EE family account, where all of the lines are paid for by one person.
Fair Use Limit
All of EE’s unlimited data plans have a fair use limit of 600GB per month in the UK.
If you go above this 600GB limit, they may use ‘traffic management controls’ to deprioritise your traffic. Alternatively, they might ask you to move to a business plan instead. This is stated within the terms and conditions on the EE website:
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.
In addition, the use of tethering and personal hotspot is limited to a maximum of 12 devices at the same time.
Keeping Your Phone Number
If you’re leaving another mobile network to join EE on an unlimited data plan, it’s a straightforward process to keep your current phone number.
Start by ordering your new unlimited data plan from EE’s website. Once you’ve done that, you can request a PAC Code from your old network. This can be obtained through your mobile network’s website or app, or by texting PAC to 65075.
When your new unlimited data SIM card arrives from EE, head over to this online form. Here, you’ll be able to submit the PAC Code from your old network. Once you’ve done this, your phone number transfer will normally be scheduled for the next working day.
For a step-by-step guide on how to move your phone number to EE, please select your current mobile network from the dropdown menu below:
Frequently Asked Questions
| How much do unlimited data plans cost on EE? | On EE, unlimited data plans are currently available from £22 per month (or £10 per month if you’re an EE home broadband customer).
This basic ‘No Frills’ unlimited data plan offers download speeds of up to 10Mbps. For faster download speeds, Inclusive Extras, or the ability to gift data to your family, you’ll need to upgrade to a more expensive plan. |
|---|---|
| Can I use tethering or personal hotspot with unlimited data on EE? | Yes. You can use tethering and personal hotspot on EE’s unlimited data plan. However, as per EE’s terms and conditions, this is limited to a maximum of 12 devices on a regular basis. The use of tethering or personal hotspot on more than 12 devices would be considered by EE to be “non-personal use”. |
| Is there a fair usage limit for unlimited data on EE? | Yes. There’s a fair usage limit of 600GB per month on all of EE’s unlimited data plans. Customers exceeding this 600GB fair use limit may see their download speeds being reduced, or may be moved onto a business plan instead. |
| What download speeds will I get? | This depends on the type of plan you choose:
|
More Information
For more information about unlimited data on EE, please see the official EE website. You may also find it useful to read our in-depth guide to unlimited data plans in the UK.
Stephen Sawyer said:
Hi Ken
I want to use EE for home broadband, phone tethering, and expect to use c1TB. My plan is to use 2 EE sims, eg to keep within the 600GB fair usage policy. Do you know if the fair usage policy will apply to an account, or to each sim?
Regards
Steve S
Ken replied:
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your comment. The FUP would apply to each individual SIM. Saying that, I don’t know how tightly they actually enforce this limit – I believe a few other people have been able to use more than 600GB per month.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Stephen Sawyer replied:
Hi Ken
I thought it would apply to the individual sim. We did a bit of testing, and the quality of video (eg Youtube) was not as good over 4g+ compared to cable/wire (we currently have VM 350megs), so we abandoned the 4g+ broadband idea. We get a great EE signal, 4g+, but compared to wire it just isn’t as good for video. So I started looking round for a full fibre deal…and clicked a link for EE full fibre on your website, and saved my self £240 over 24 months (it would have been more had I not been an existing EE customer). Openreach coming to do the honours next week…Thank you!
Ashley Slade said:
I’ve had two of these unlimited SIMs for a few months.
As suggested above, i use the mikrotik units, one LTE6 and the other 4.
The slower LTE4 one cost me £35 and i get upto 90mbps.
The LTE6, with a little reconfig to use both ports, i can get 150mbps.
Both are bonded into pfsense and i can achieve over 200mbps some days
I’m about 2 miles clear line of sight to a set of EE antennas so thats pretty good.
I’ve a total of 45 network devices (20 network lights for example) on this system and i’ve never had complaints from them about the amount of units.
You need to have a router or some scripts to check your usage as you cannot find out from EE how much of your 600GB of unlimited data you’ve used.
We’ve two boys who are heavily into gaming and we both woerk from home.
Two SIMS with 600GB each is only just enough!
Paul Martin replied:
Hi Ashley
This is really good to know. I suppose from EE’s point of view they have to make some difference in their plans to justify the difference in price between unlimited phone sims & broadband sims. The 12 device limit is a means to do this & to cover themselves as such with the regulator. I’m lucky enough when I signed up to have got the 1TB fair usage policy & will never reach it lol so no need to keep tabs on it. Thanks for the input 👍
Paul
Alex replied:
Hi Ashley.
Could you tell me the specific Micrtotic models, and a whether they are mounted outside with antennas?
Thank you
Alex replied:
Hi Ashley.
Could you tell me the specific Mikrotic models, and a whether they are mounted outside with antennas?
Thank you
Ashley replied:
They are called Mikrotik SXT LTE and also a CAT6 version.
On the CAT4 model i can get 120mbps, on the CAT6 i can get upto 180mbps.
They are self contained routers so you attahc them to your wall or pole outside and run a cable into the househttps://mikrotik.com/product/sxt_lte_kit
One thing to bear in mind is that they only have 100mbps NICS, so to achieve upto 200mbps speed (if you are really close to the EE mast) you need to bond the connection
Mark said:
Update – I signed up with EE mobile broadband a few months ago after I got to speak to someone at EE who actually knew what they were talking about. I’ve got an unlimited download year contract for under £30/month. I’ve kissed goodbye to an appalling fixed line with BT with under 2mb/s download and equally poor BT/Openreach customer service. Using a booster and external antenna, (weak signal inside, good outside – just less than1/2 mile from mast!). A small investment for a decent service. I get average EE speeds 15mb/s up and down (peaking at 23) and only a few brief issues with slow speed from the local mast that EE sorted quite quickly after I reported it to them. In big contrast to sloppy BT. All in all, pleased with EE mobile BB.
Mark
Paul Martin replied:
Hi Mark, if you’re getting a good outdoor signal you might want to take a look at a Mikrotik LTE6 outdoor router. I can highly recommend & you may be able to avail of the carrier aggregation & seriously increase your speed further. It’s POE & subsequently no signal loss like other antennas. Worth taking a look at 🙂
Paul…
Mark replied:
Hi Paul
I had a look at the Mikrotik device. I believe the maximum I would get out of the local EE mast would be around 25mb/s up and down. There’s a reported 35mb/s when I just checked on the web for EE but it sounds a little optimistic. I say this because at work they use EE mobile with a MIMO panel antenna. The mast is a similar, unobstructed distance away to where I live. When I took my tablet in and did speed tests they were in this region (25mb/s).
I did think about putting two log periodic antennas up and feeding the EE router to make use of more bands (if the local mast transmits other than the 1800Mhz band the amp is currently running on) to see if it improves it, but feel the advantage will be minimal.
Mark
Paul Martin said:
Hi Ken,
Can I ask an opinion on tethering please with EE? I know it’s 12 devices. I’ve an unlimited phone sim in a router & also 3 access points throughout the house. So “technically” I’ve 4 devices connected without going any further. However, the access points aren’t actually “tethering” all the time although being connected to my network. What about smart switches, door bells, bulbs etc?? Are these to be counted along with the 12 device limit? How can EE tell how many devices I have connected? Is it something that is or can be enforced?
Many Thanks
Paul
Ken replied:
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure how this 12 device limit works on EE. There’s still a little bit of debate about whether the T&C is even permitted in law (due to net neutrality regulations) and also some open questions about whether & how they enforce the policy at present.
For lack of feedback so far from other people who use this plan, my reading is they mainly want to discourage usage of the SIM card inside a router. If they decide to investigate your account in the future (e.g. for higher than average data usage), it possibly gives them a mechanism to stop you from using the plan or to move you to another plan instead. If that happens, it’s probably between you and EE to discuss with each other & to figure out whether and how the T&C should be applied.
Ken
Paul Martin replied:
Many Thanks Ken for the reply 🙂. Ive decided to give it a go & I am normally now over the 12 device limit most of the time. So we’ll see how it goes & I’ll post an update either way in a couple of months or sooner if EE decide to get in touch. 🙈.
Paul….
Paul Martin replied:
HI Guys,
Update as promised. I’ve been using well in excess of the 12 device limit now for a full 6 months. In saying that I’m including all smart devices, routers, access points etc. As yet I’ve had no issues from EE and I’m very much hoping that’s how it will stay.
Paul…
Ken replied:
Hi Paul,
That’s fantastic – thanks a lot for providing us with the update on how it’s going!
Much appreciated,
Ken
Steve said:
Hi Ken
Not sure if I understand correctly, but is this sentence the same as saying ‘Gift your data immediately your monthly amount is reset, as you will not have used any data, thus can gift the full 4g 100gb’ : You’ll get a 100GB giftable data allowance on most EE unlimited data plans (or 120GB if you choose a 5G Smart handset plan). Any data usage will reduce from your giftable data allowance (e.g. if you’ve used 40GB of data, your giftable data allowance will drop from 100GB to 60GB that month). Cheers Steve
Ken replied:
Hi Steve,
Thanks. Yes, that’s exactly what is meant by that. The optimum thing to do is to gift 100GB to another SIM card as soon as your allowances refresh, as you’ll still get unlimited data on your SIM. If you wait until some of your data has been used up, you’ll have a smaller giftable data allowance.
Ken
Steve replied:
Hi Ken
Thank you for clarifying…EE confuse a lot of people with the unlimited/data gifting thing. To compound the confusion, a user’s data usage is displayed as 100gb even though they have unlimited! The 100 is that 100 that can be used for gifting…a few disorientated EE website users in the forums 🙂 It’s a good deal though, especially as you can buy a cheap second sim, and gift a 100. Plus phones now coming with an extended EE warranty
A said:
Hi, just to let you know as of Aug 21st EE fair usage policy on unlimited consumer plans became 600GB. (Source: im an employee)
Ken replied:
Hi A,
Thanks a lot for the information! At present, I believe the EE website still says it’s a 1000GB per month limit – I’m unable to find any reference to the new 600GB limit. Do you know whether this has been updated in the price guide or terms and conditions?
Thanks!
Ken
Paul Wansell said:
Prior to upgrading to unlimited i was experiencing speed of 25 to 40 mb/second, after upgrade it appears to have dropped to around 10 mb/s
Are you sure no throttling?
Donald MacKinnon said:
Ken, I am a bit late to this party but could you please advise if I was to buy an EE unlimited data SIM and put it into an unlocked 4G Router, would I be restricted on content type I could access for example Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime etc.
Or am I best purchasing an EE mobile broadband plan with their supplied home router with the the increased charges for data usage ie £40 per month for 300GB?
In anticipation thank you for your help.
Ken replied:
Hi Donald,
Thanks for your comment. No, there wouldn’t be any limit on the type of content you can access – you can use Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime and all of those usual streaming services. Just keep an eye out on the fair usage policy, limiting you to connecting only 12 devices at the same time.
Ken
Nick said:
It’s my understanding that the EU ruled there could be no differentiation between types of data, so data used on your mobile is treated the same as tethered data. Interesting then that they have a cap on number of tethered devices.
I’d be interested to know if the device cap still stands if you use the unlimited SIM in a 4G router connected to a mesh wifi system or access points in a home?
Ken replied:
Hi Nick,
Thanks for your comment. I’m totally with you regards to your thoughts on the device cap. Saying that, I don’t know how strictly they actually enforce this limit (or whether they’re actually able to do so in practice, given the factors you mentioned). It’s probably more of a deterrent against using it in a 4G router, and it’ll probably require Ofcom to make a further ruling for more clarity on whether this limitation is actually allowed…
Ken
Brad Clark replied:
Hi there.
So I have had an eye unlimited sim in an htc 5G hub and it was working brilliantly. Then I was offered a lower monthly price if I renewed the contract. Little did I know that this new contract has worse fair usage terms. Since “upgrading” – the internet cuts out every 10 minutes because a) I have about 12 devices – which the EE rep said was it excessive (I have 2x HomePods in living room 2x HomePod in bedroom Philips hue lights, printer, Mac, iPad, iPhone, PS4, smart tv and a smart plug.) I don’t think this is an unusual amount of devices for personal use in a smart home or today. Most of this devices use little to no data at all.
The re also said there is a 100gb tethering allowance and I was arguing that there wasn’t and they insisted that me using it in a router was tethering and that the cap had Been exceeded and that is why. MY connection is now unusable. I’m so stuck with this and not sure what to do – as the connection is non useable at all right now and I’m actually having to tether off of my main iPhone account instead. I can’t find any reference to this 100gb tethering cap that they were talking about.
I feel quite annoyed as I made it clear what I was using the sim card for when I bought and at the upgrade. I do think this policy contravenes the net neutrality law. I went with ee because the speeds were good and I didn’t mind paying a bit extra because I thought I was getting a higher quality service but in reflection I’m paying almost double for half the product.
I will probably have to switch to three who doesn’t have any sort of fair usage policy or device limits – but I don’t think I’ll achieve anywhere near the speeds I get with EE on 5G. So annoyed because I want to stay with them but have no choice because this constant dropout situation is driving me insane and they couldn’t provide any solution.
Mark said:
EE’s SIM only “Unlimited Plans” give you unlimited minutes and texts, but are limited to 100GB data (One hundred), I assume, for internet use. This is extremely misleading to say the least. It is probably why Alexander is getting messages telling him he is near to his usage limit.
“Our mighty EE SIMs give you data allowance with unlimited mins and texts, which you can use anywhere in the EU at no extra cost”.
https://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-phone-deals/sim-only-deals#ee-sim-12m-unlimited-4g-34
Ken replied:
Hi Mark,
Thanks for your comment. There shouldn’t be a 100GB download limit on these plans (the 100GB limit is only for your giftable data allowance). There is a fair usage limit of 1,000GB per month (1TB) but my understanding is that it’s a fair usage limit as opposed to an actual cap?
Ken
Alexander Hine said:
I don’t understand why when on an EE unlimited plan I got a text saying I was coming to the end of my tethering usage allowance.
Ken replied:
Hi Alexander,
Thanks for your comment. It might be worth reaching out to EE about this. There shouldn’t be any limit on how much tethering or personal hotspot you can use on the SIM.
Ken