By SMARTY Mobile offers low-cost SIM cards such as 15GB data for £7, 60GB data for £8, and unlimited data for £16.
In the UK, SMARTY is a low-cost mobile network, offering SIM-only deals with 4G & 5G coverage from Three.
With its focus on simple one-month rolling Pay As You Go plans, SMARTY claims to give you “all the data you need for less”. At present, you can get a SMARTY SIM card with 5GB data for £6/month or 15GB data for £7/month. For heavy users, there’s 60GB data for £8/month, 80GB data for £10/month, and unlimited data for £16/month.
See all SMARTY Mobile Offers →
In this article, we’ll review the SMARTY mobile network, including their latest SIM-only plans and offers available on SMARTY. We’ll also compare SMARTY’s price plans to those available on other mobile networks like giffgaff. Finally, we’ll look at the coverage on SMARTY and how you can keep your current phone number when moving to the network.
Contents
SMARTY SIM Only Plans
In the UK, SMARTY Mobile currently offers SIM-only deals from £6 per month. Claiming to give you ‘all the data you need for less’, the plans range from 5GB data for £6/month up to fully unlimited data for £16/month.
The following table shows the plans currently available from SMARTY Mobile:
| 5GB Data: | £6 per month |
|---|---|
| 15GB Data: | £7 per month (Black Friday offer: normally 8GB per month) |
| 60GB Data: | £8 per month (normally 40GB for £10pm) |
| 80GB Data: | £10 per month (Black Friday offer: double data for £10) |
| 100GB Data: | £12 per month |
| Unlimited Data: | £16 per month (normally £20 per month) |
| Calls & Texts: | Unlimited minutes and texts on all plans |
| Contract Length: | 1-month rolling plan (no credit check) |
| Network Coverage: |
|
You can see all of the latest plans and offers on the SMARTY website.
5GB Plan
If you’re looking for SMARTY’s cheapest mobile plan, they’re currently offering 5GB data for £6 per month.
You’ll also get unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts included on this plan. It’s available on a one-month rolling basis, so you can change it or cancel it at any time.
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5GB data | £6.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
15GB Plan
As a special offer for Black Friday 2024, SMARTY is offering 15GB data for £7 (increased for the normal allowance of 8GB per month).
You’ll also get unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts included on this £7 per month plan.
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15GB data | £7.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
16GB Plan
SMARTY offers 16GB data for £8 per month. This is one of their most popular deals as it comes with enough data for the average mobile user.
SMARTY’s 16GB plan is available on a one-month rolling basis, with no contract and no credit check required.
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16GB data | £8.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
60GB Plan
If you’re looking for a larger allowance of data, SMARTY is currently offering 60GB data for £8 per month (you’ll normally get just 40GB data for £10 per month).
On this 60GB plan, you’ll also get unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts included. It’s available on a 1-month rolling basis with no credit check required, and with 4G & 5G speeds on the Three network.
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
Offer ends 3rd Dec | 60GB data | £8.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
Offer ends 9th Dec | 80GB data | £10.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
For comparison, giffgaff only offers 20GB data on their £10 golden goodybag.
100GB Plan
SMARTY is currently offering 100GB of data for £12 per month. You’ll also get unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts included on this plan.
This plan is a good alternative to SMARTY’s unlimited data plan if you’re looking to get lots of data on your plan, but if you don’t need a fully unlimited data allowance.
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100GB data | £12.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
| 150GB data | £15.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
| 200GB data | £17.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
Unlimited Plan
As a special offer for November 2024, SMARTY is offering their unlimited data plan for just £16 per month (reduced from the normal price of £20 per month). This is only available when you sign up through this link.
SMARTY’s unlimited data plan gives you unlimited data with 5G speeds and no hidden fair usage limits. Because it’s one of the cheapest ways of getting unlimited data on a one-month rolling plan in the UK, this tends to be a popular choice for heavy smartphone users. You can also use it as an unlimited data SIM card in other devices like your tablet, mobile broadband dongle or 4G home broadband router.
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited data | £16.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
In the past, there was a fair usage limit of 1,000GB per month on SMARTY which was used to identify non-permitted commercial usage of the service. This fair usage limit is no longer in place. However, if you’re travelling abroad to one of 35 European destinations, you’ll only be able to use up to 12GB of data abroad at no extra cost each month.
Pay As You Go Rates
Except from on SMARTY’s Data Only plans, you’ll get unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts included in your monthly payment. You’ll also get an inclusive allowance of mobile data.
For anything else that’s not included in your SMARTY plan allowance, you’ll need to top-up your SMARTY account with a cash add-on. The cash add-on can then be used to pay for your out-of-plan usage:
| Calling Rates: | |
|---|---|
| Calls to UK landline & mobile | Included with base plan (Voice & Data Discount plans) 10p/minute (Data Only plans) |
| Calls to Voicemail | Included with base plan (excluding Data Only) |
| Calls to International Numbers | 19p/minute to £2/minute |
| Calls to Special Rate Numbers | 3p/minute access charge + service charge from the company you’re calling |
| Messaging Rates: | |
| Text Message (SMS) | Included with base plan (Voice & Data Discount plans) 10p/text (Data Only plans) |
| Picture Message (MMS) | Included with base plan (Voice & Data Discount plans) 40p/message (Data Only plans) |
| Data Rates: | |
| Mobile Data | £1/GB |
It isn’t possible to use SMARTY on a pure Pay As You Go basis. This is because you’ll need to maintain an active plan at all times to maintain access to their network.
Data Only & Money Back Plans
Aside from SMARTY’s regular price plans (which are sometimes referred to as “Voice plans”), there are two other types of plan available on SMARTY:
- Data Only plans: SMARTY offers Data Only plans such as 2GB data for £5, 15GB data for £9, 40GB data for £13 and 100GB data for £17. You won’t get any inclusive minutes or texts on a Data Only plan. In most cases, we’d recommend choosing one of the regular plans instead as you’ll get a lot more data for your money that way. You’ll also get unlimited UK minutes and texts included on the regular plans.
- Money Back plans: On SMARTY’s Money Back plans, you’ll get £1 back for each GB of unused data. Although this sounds like an good feature, it’s less useful in practice as you’ll pay more for your plan. For instance, you’ll pay £6 for the 1GB Money Back data plan. In contrast, you can get 5GB data for £6 when you sign up on a regular plan.
SMARTY also offers a 10% discount when you set up a Group with multiple SMARTY SIM cards.
Comparison to Alternatives
£5 per month plans
For £5 per month, SMARTY currently offers unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 5GB data. This can be upgraded to 8GB data for £7.
Around the same price point, you’ll normally get a smaller allowance of data on other networks. However, it can be worth considering a Vodafone Basics plan if you want 4G coverage from a big-name network. Alternatively, Three also has some very good SIM-only deals.
The following table shows comparable SIM-only deals:
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5GB data | £4.95 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 20GB data | £6.00 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 12GB data | £6.00 per month 12 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £1.25 | See deal |
| 5GB data | £6.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
| 6GB data | £7.00 per month 12 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £1 | See deal |
| 40GB data | £8.00 per month 12 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by RPI inflation plus 3.9% | See deal |
| 6GB data | £8.00 per month 18 month contract | See deal |
£10 per month plans
For £10 per month, you can get SMARTY’s 40GB SIM-only plan. Compared to other mobile networks like giffgaff, it’s a much larger allowance of data for the same price. You’ll also get it on a one-month rolling basis, giving you lots more flexibility compared to the plans on other networks.
The following table shows a list of comparable SIM cards at this price point:
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 110GB data | £10.00 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 100GB data | £10.00 per month £5 for 3 months 12 month contract | See deal |
Offer ends 9th Dec | 80GB data | £10.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
| 60GB data | £10.00 per month 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £1.25 | See deal |
| 60GB data | £10.00 per month 12 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £1 | See deal |
Offer ends 4th Dec | 60GB data | £10.00 per month 18 month contract | See deal |
| 45GB data | £10.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
£15 per month plans
SMARTY has a £16 unlimited data plan giving you unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data with 5G speeds.
The following table compares SMARTY’s unlimited data plan to what is available on rival mobile networks:
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited data | £16.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
| Unlimited data | £20.00 per month 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by RPI inflation plus 3.9% | See deal |
| Unlimited data | £22.00 per month 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £1.50 | See deal |
| Unlimited data | £22.50 per month 12 month contract | See deal |
| Unlimited data | £25.00 per month 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by CPI inflation plus 3.9% | See deal |
| Unlimited data | £25.00 per month 18 month contract | See deal |
| Unlimited data 10Mbps max speed | £30.00 per month 24 month contract Monthly cost will rise each April by £1.80 | See deal |
| Unlimited data | £35.00 per month 1 month rolling | See deal |
For more information, see our full guide to unlimited data plans in the UK.
Handsets
As SMARTY is a SIM-only mobile network, you’ll need to provide your own unlocked phone to use with the service. You can use any compatible 4G or 5G phone, including your existing mobile phone or one that you’ve purchased SIM-free.
If you’re planning to use your existing smartphone, it might be necessary for you to first unlock it before you can use it on SMARTY. For more information, see our step-by-step guides to unlocking an iPhone and unlocking a Samsung Galaxy phone.
If you’re looking to buy a new unlocked smartphone, there are a number of online retailers where you can buy a SIM-free smartphone.
Network & Coverage
4G & 5G Coverage from Three
SMARTY is the low-cost sub-brand of Three. As Three provides all of the underlying coverage for SMARTY, customers will receive the same coverage as customers on Three.
At the time of writing, SMARTY offers 99.8% population coverage on 4G. You’ll also get 5G coverage in more than 600 UK towns and cities if you’re using a compatible 5G device.
You can check the coverage in your area by entering your postcode on SMARTY’s online coverage map:
Check SMARTY Coverage Map (smarty.co.uk) →
For more information, see our guide to SMARTY’s mobile network coverage.
Wi-Fi Calling & 4G Calling
Both Wi-Fi Calling and 4G Calling are now available on SMARTY if you’re using a compatible mobile phone.
With Wi-Fi Calling, you’re able to make and receive phone calls on SMARTY using a Wi-Fi connection. This helps you to stay connected in places where a traditional mobile signal isn’t available (e.g. in buildings with thick walls and in rural locations with poor coverage).
With 4G Calling (also known as VoLTE), you can make and receive phone calls using a 4G connection. This allows you to benefit from HD-quality voice calls. You’ll also benefit from faster download speeds whilst you’re on a call.
Tethering & Personal Hotspot
Tethering or personal hotspot refers to the process of sharing your smartphone’s internet connection with another device (e.g. with your laptop or tablet). It’s useful for getting a mobile broadband connection on the go: for instance, sending e-mails on your laptop or watching YouTube videos on your tablet.
SMARTY allows the use of both tethering and portable hotspot. This is confirmed in the SMARTY help centre:
You’re entitled to use your data however you like, no matter which of the SMARTY plans you’re on, so you can tether and use your phone as a mobile hot spot with your full allowance if you want to.
You can also use your SMARTY SIM card inside a data-only device such as your tablet, mobile broadband dongle and 4G broadband router.
International Roaming
On SMARTY, it’s possible to use your mobile phone abroad through international roaming.
Within Europe, you can use your SMARTY plan allowances at no extra cost. However, on price plans with more than 12GB of data, European roaming is capped at a maximum of 12GB per month.
If you’re travelling outside Europe, you’ll be required to top-up your account with a cash add-on before you depart. You’ll then pay SMARTY’s international roaming rates.
Keeping Your Phone Number
If you’d like to keep your current phone number when moving to SMARTY, it’s a straightforward process to transfer it from your old mobile network.
To do so, start off by ordering a SIM card from SMARTY.
Once you’ve done that, ask your old network to provide you with a PAC Code. This can be obtained through your old mobile network’s website or app, or by texting PAC to 65075. You should normally receive your PAC Code within 60 seconds of your request.
When your new SIM card from SMARTY arrives in the post, pop it inside your mobile phone and activate the service. To start with, it will come with a temporary phone number assigned to it. This will allow you to test out SMARTY’s service before you move your phone number over.
Once you’re happy to continue, you can log in to your SMARTY account dashboard to submit your PAC Code and to have your phone number moved over.
For step-by-step instructions on how to move your phone number to SMARTY Mobile, please select your current network from the drop-down menu below:
For more information about transferring your phone number between networks, see our guide to using a PAC Code.
Frequently Asked Questions
| What SIM-only deals are currently available from SMARTY Mobile? | SMARTY currently offers a choice of the following SIM-only deals for your mobile phone:
All of these plans come with unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts included. |
|---|---|
| Is it possible to get unlimited data on SMARTY? | Yes. SMARTY offers unlimited data for £16/month. It’s available on a one-month rolling basis with no credit check required. You’ll also get unlimited minutes and unlimited texts included in the price. |
| What are data discount plans on SMARTY? | Prior to March 2021, SMARTY offered a range of data discount plans on their mobile network (e.g. 1GB data for £6/month, 2GB data for £7/month and 3GB data for £8/month). You’d get a discount on the following month’s bill at the rate of £1 per GB for any data that you don’t use.
Nowadays, SMARTY’s newer price plans offer much better value. This is even without the data discount feature. For instance, you can get 5GB data for £6/month on the new plans. |
| How does SMARTY compare to giffgaff and VOXI? | On SMARTY, you’ll get a lot more data than you would on giffgaff or VOXI. For instance, you can get 40GB of data for £10/month on SMARTY. This compares to 20GB of data on giffgaff and 45GB of data on VOXI. SMARTY uses coverage from Three, whereas giffgaff uses coverage from O2 and VOXI uses coverage from Vodafone. |
| What coverage will I get on SMARTY? | On SMARTY, you’ll get 4G & 5G coverage from Three. This covers around 99.8% of the UK population, but it’s worth checking the coverage in your area on SMARTY’s website. |
| Does SMARTY offer 5G coverage? | Yes. SMARTY now offers 5G at no extra cost on all of their plans. You can check the availability of 5G in your area. |
| Can I keep my current phone number? | Yes. It’s a straightforward process to keep your current phone number. Ask your current mobile network to provide you with a PAC Code. You can get one free of charge through your mobile network’s app or website, or by texting PAC to 65075. This PAC Code should be given to SMARTY once you’ve activated your SIM card. |
More Information
For more information, please see the official SMARTY Mobile website.
Colin McLean said:
Hi Ken
I’ve just signed up to SMARTY. The SIM was received the day after my order was processed, and my number was ported the following day (I requested this on the day the SIM arrived). So far, so good.
Their welcome email, and website FAQs, state a one-time change needs to be made to the ‘3’ access point (under Mobile Networks in Settings) to enable roaming, but this AP didn’t show on my phone. Instead, an AP called ‘SMARTY Internet’ was present which had the correct settings, so I assume I’m good to go. I tried confirming this with SMARTY, but their Customer Service just replied with copies of the information on their website articles relating to a ‘3’ AP. So it looks like SIMs now come with a new AP, and the website information only applies to older SIMs or is no longer applicable.
Miles said:
I changed from GIffgaff to Smarty but unfortunatley most of the time my unlocked iphone only registers on the 3G network instead of 4G. The 4gb data allowance will be somewhat useless on the slow 3G network.
JP said:
Bought a cheap Huawei mifi router which came with smarty SIM, this was for reliable internet at a static caravan up near Carlisle where the site provided internet is like 1990s dial up (unsuitable for streaming).
After reading the smarty reviews I was dubious of the speeds, I can get a signal on three at the site (around 2/3 bars out of 5).
I set the router & SIM up at home first, got unlimited £18 per month. Once at the caravan I switched the router on with smarty SIM card inserted, connected my phone and did a speed test which gave very a impressive 12mb down ,2 up.
Over past few days the network has performed brilliantly, I’ve been doing regular speed tests and the speeds have been constant, this is a very rural area and I can only assume there’s a low amount of users, at home (Manchester) I noticed quite a dip in speeds in busy peek times.
The router has been constant streaming whilst I’ve been up here and I’ve had no buffering whatsoever.
This router and network have been the perfect solution, no contract, pay month by month, half the price of EE, the list goes on and on.
I’m a very satisfied customer.
Sean said:
Just to let you know, it looks as if Vodafone has amended some of the deals in your tables and reduced them considerably:
£5 per month plans
– the Vodafone £6 per month link takes you to an offer that’s for 500MB, not 4GB
£10 per month plans
– the Vodafone £10 per month link goes to an offer for 3GB, not 14GB
£15 per month plans
– the Vodafone £15 per month link goes to a 25GB plan, not 30GB
Ken replied:
Hi Sean,
Thanks for this! Unfortunately, Vodafone’s checkout flow is rather confusing. Take the £6 plan for instance – that used to have a base amount of 500MB data. However, they offer three inclusive data add-ons with it (2GB + 500MB + 1GB = 3.5GB) to give a total of 4GB data per month. These add-ons are only listed when you scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Ken
Sean replied:
Ah, my mistake and my apologies. I’m surprised Vodafone would make it as confusing as that, since it makes their offer appear less generous than it really is to the casual shopper who is quickly scanning for the best deals.
Ken replied:
Hi Sean,
Agreed – it’s very confusing! That’s tripped me up on quite a few times as well. I’ll feed back the confusing checkout page to them so they can hopefully make it clearer in the future.
Thanks again,
Ken
PaulD said:
I changed to Smarty’s unlimited plan when it was on offer at £15 per month. I have a message from Smarty’s customer service confirming this. Yet for the past two months, they have incorrectly renewed this package at £20 per month. I opened my first account with them within their first three weeks of operation and there has been a very noticeable decline in their interest in providing decent customer service. They’ve lost me as a customer.
Christopher Pugh said:
Hi Ken, I joined Smarty in September. I bought a SIM card and top-up at a Paypoint because I don’t like using my payment card over the internet. Setting up my account and 30GB data plan was easy and I have found the network performance satisfactory and consistent. I topped up again at a Paypoint to renew my plan when it expired. I received a reminder email telling me to go to my dashboard to renew. Doing so did not allow me to do this. A message said “Just crunching the numbers. Hang tight”. I reported this on web chat. I was told that, although I had a cash balance, I would need to register a payment card before I could use my credit balance. I stated the Smarty terms and my dissatisfaction. Later, my dashboard allowed me to use my credit balance, without registering a card. The webchat team apologised for the incorrect information given. I felt that they were genuinely keen to help. Despite this problem, I think that Smarty gives very good value for money. I do not regret choosing them.
I also bought a Huawei B311-221 router, which you have reviewed in the past. I have found this reasonably priced device very satisfactory for my needs.
Jack P said:
I use SMARTY for a few years and I’m super satisfied, mainly because I have unlimited calls and the same Data limit in all EU countries.
I ordered SIM and got it after 2 days. It works perfectly. Coverage and Internet speed is really fine. I’ve been using it in many European countries – no problem with roaming and internet.
Charlotte said:
I’m starting my Daughter on a £10 / month rolling PAYG, how do I make it so she can’t go above the allowance which is 30Gb of data? Is she able to exceed it?
Ken replied:
Hi Charlotte,
Thanks for your comment. SMARTY works on a prepaid basis so she won’t be able to go over the 30GB allowance unless you add a cash add-on to pay for extra data. For that reason, there’s no possibility of running up unexpected charges.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Steve said:
I first used smarty today. It had locked me out of adult material – would not accept my debit card (which they had already used to take money from my bank account, and refused to budge.
02 has accepted my debit card as proof of age – the three network too – giff gaff accepted it – and EE accepted it – but not smarty.
For all I care, smarty can go to hell – but they have 25 quid of my money.
They use cheap foreign labour too – which I greatly object to.
Short of me publishing a damning report on twitter, I want my money back – and I want it now.
Harry H. said:
Hi – interested in the unlimited data plan, which I understand also includes unlimited calls and texts.
A couple of quick q’s:
1) By using the ‘Hotspot’ facility on my iphone 7, will this allow the unlimited data to be shared by a number of other devices (laptops/tablets etc.) – all at the same time – in our home ?
2) I notice other posters have indicated the unlimited plan can also be used in a router. On the assumption that (1) above is possible, why would a router even be needed ?
(Sorry if these are dumb questions !).
Many thanks for your help.
Ken replied:
Hi Harry,
Thanks for your comment, and two very good questions!
1) Yes, you can use the personal hotspot feature to share your unlimited data allowance with other devices.
2) If your phone is able to handle it all, there’s no strict requirement to use a 4G router. There are however a couple of things to bear in mind if you use your mobile phone:
(i) If the SIM card is inside your mobile phone, the wi-fi network will follow wherever your mobile phone goes. So, for instance, if you have a smart home device connected to the Wi-Fi network, it will stop working when you take your phone somewhere else. This might be fine for something like your smart TV, but probably isn’t ideal for a smart doorbell, thermostat, Alexa device, etc.
(ii) A mains-powered 4G router will normally give you better performance than a battery-operated smartphone. For instance, it doesn’t need to worry about power consumption so much whereas smartphones normally prioritise battery life over performance. A router can have a larger antenna, a more powerful wi-fi signal, Ethernet ports, etc. As a rule of thumb, the Wi-Fi hotspot from your smartphone might have a range of around 10m and might be limited to around 10 devices at the same time. On a 4G router, the Wi-Fi hotspot can easily reach 30m away and can connect up to 64 devices.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Harry Haydon replied:
Many thanks Ken, that’s really helpful & much appreciated !
Steve replied:
Don’t even consider operating a hotspot connection on the network that smarty uses – the three network – it’s a very fragile network and collapses often.
Victoria said:
Can Smarty users context other Smarty users for free like Giff Gaff where Giff Gaff users can use each other for free for up to 3 months before topping?
Ken replied:
Hi Victoria,
Unfortunately, it’s only possible to use SMARTY if you have an active plan on your account (i.e. you’ll need to top-up your SIM card every month). Once you’ve topped up, your SMARTY monthly plan comes with unlimited minutes which can be used for calling people on any network. This works differently to giffgaff, where there’s no obligation to top-up every month if you don’t want to.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Bill replied:
Does that mean that the SIM will deactivate if there is no active plan on it? If not, when will it deactivate off of inactivity?
Ken replied:
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, you won’t be able to make or receive phone calls if you don’t have an active plan on your SMARTY SIM card. They do, however, keep your account open for a certain amount of time (I think it’s 6 months but I’m not 100% sure about this) in case you’d like to reactivate it with a new plan in the future.
Ken
Mike said:
Hi Ken.
Smarty have increased the 50GB plan to 100GB for a whole year. Looking at there T’s & C’s the offer lasts until 6th April and SIM’s have to be activated by the 6th May. Great tariff for heavy users!!
Mike
Steve replied:
It is NOT great for heavy users. The network completely collapses – often. It operates on the three network.
URSULA BRADLEY said:
Hi, Ken, I purchased the data sim 30 GB to use in the Huawaui modem but it didn’t recognise the sim I know the modem works as I had been using the o2 sim with no issues apart from the high costings.
Ken replied:
Hi Ursula,
Thanks for your comment. It’s possible you might need to update the APN settings on your router before you’re able to access data on it. Have you tried this, and if so, did it help to resolve the issue you’re having?
Thanks,
Ken
Paul Stewart said:
Hi, I seem to have an issue with tethering. My laptop can see and connect but there’s no internet is this restricted by Smarty. Do I need to inform them as we are in Spain and not in the uk where it was registered.
TIA.
Ken replied:
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment. There’s no need to inform Smarty that you’re travelling to Spain or using tethering whilst you’re there. It should just work automatically out of the box – if it doesn’t, I’d recommend getting in touch with Smarty’s customer services team.
Ken
Mike said:
Today, Smarty has launched new data plans. 30gb of data for £10 a month, 50gb of data for £15 a month and the unlimited plan is now £20 a month. All plans include unlimited calls and texts and no contract.
Ken replied:
Hi Mike,
Thanks a lot for the heads up and for bringing this to my attention! The new plans are certainly rather impressive! I’ve updated the article above to reflect the changes 🙂
Ken
Mike replied:
Hi Ken. Slight change to Smarty’s discount data plans. 1GB is now £6, 2GB is now £7 and 3GB now £8. They’ve reduced the price by 25p per GB. Their mini 500mb tarriff for £5/month still exists in the price guide.
Ken replied:
Hi Mike,
Thanks a lot for the heads up about this! I’ve updated the article above to reflect their new data discount plans.
Thanks again!
Ken
Andrew Beech replied:
These are GREAT BARGINS. To get these is there a
One OFF PAYMENT UPFRONT OF EITHER £10, £15, £20 ? DEPENDING ON WHICH ON YOU GO FOR.
Ken replied:
Hi Andrew,
Yes, you’ll need to pay for your first month’s usage in advance. There is, however, no additional charge for the SIM card.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Mike said:
Hi everyone.
The 100GB offer is back on with Smarty. It costs £17 a month but the offer ends on the 16th December. Really good for those who use there mobile loads!! 🙂
Mike
Martin said:
Hi can i top up data while abroad , how do i pay for it ?
Ken replied:
Hi Martin,
Thanks for your comment. If you’re travelling outside Europe, you’ll need to top-up your account with a cash balance. You can do this through SMARTY’s website here.
Hope this helps,
Ken
John Currie said:
I have enquired at the help desk if I could have a replacement SIM card,to use in a replacement phone as I have misplaced my phone but I am still waiting on a reply.
Ken replied:
Hi John,
I think it should be possible to mark your SIM card as lost/stolen through SMARTY’s online dashboard. Once you’ve done that, I think they’ll send out a replacement SIM card to you.
Ken
chris said:
does the unlimited plan work outside of europe, especially in the US?
Ken replied:
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comment. Sadly, you can only use the bundle allowances inside Europe (and only up to 19GB per month in Europe). Outside of Europe, SMARTY’s international roaming rates will apply.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Anthony Kistell said:
Hello…I cannot get better than 2mb/sec from my landline broadband and although fibre is available at the Cabinet, there are no plans to upgrade the copper lines. I have therefore decided to bypass this limitation by getting a 4g usb router with a sim card slot. Now I see I can get a Smarty sim with unlimited calls and data for £18.75 per month. I want to use the data in my Desktop but how can I use the calls allowance on a separate mobile without swapping the sim card over? any help most welcome. Thanks
Ken replied:
Hi Anthony,
Thanks for your comment. You can definitely use SMARTY’s £18.75 unlimited plan in a router. If you buy an unlocked 4G broadband router like the Huawei B525 (more info here), it will have support for a RJ11 phone port. You can plug a phone in to your router using the RJ11 socket to make and receive phone calls using the inclusive allowance.
Hope this helps!
Ken
Anthony Kistell replied:
Hello Ken
Thanks for the reply. I have a 4G usb wifi modem with an unlimited data and call sim. I want to use this for my data purposes and also iselly use the call minutes on a seperate mobile so that I don’t have to physically swap the sim card from desktop to mobile. So the ? is can I tether or whatever from a mobile to the data and call sim in the desktop?
Thanks
Ken replied:
Hi Anthony,
Thanks for your comment. You can indeed use SMARTY’s unlimited data SIM card within your USB wifi modem. However, the SIM card can only be in one device at any given time, so you should bear this in mind when deciding which device to use. Like you said, it might be better to put the SIM card in a mobile phone. That way you can use the inclusive minutes & texts through your mobile, and you can then tether the data allowance onto your other devices.
Hope this helps,
Ken
JP said:
If you buy a smarty card but don’t top up for a bit and there’s a period of inactivity do they turn your number off?
Ken replied:
Hi JP,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, you’ll need to have an active plan with SMARTY if you’d like to receive incoming phone calls and text messages. If you don’t top-up in a given month, your service is essentially disabled (though I believe they do keep your login details and phone number active for some time, in case you’d like to top-up and re-join the service).
Ken
ToNo said:
Is your £25 ‘unlimited data’ package truly unlimited if used in a router, solely within the U.K.?
Ken replied:
Hi ToNo,
It’s indeed possible to use your SMARTY unlimited data SIM card inside a router. A usage cap of 1,000GB per month applies to the unlimited data SIM card from SMARTY.
ToNo replied:
Hi, thanks for replying. I thought the limit was related to roaming?
But Smarty say ‘unlimited’? So this is false advertising isn’t it?
Ken replied:
Hi there,
There are two separate limits applying to this plan:
1. There’s an overall 1,000GB/month threshold which is used to identify non-permitted “commercial usage” of the service. It’s likely your usage of the service will be investigated (or removed) if you reach this threshold.
2. Separately, there’s a 19GB fair usage limit on the inclusive data roaming in Europe. Beyond this, you’ll be surcharged by SMARTY (approx 0.5p/MB).
Hope this helps,
Ken
ToNo replied:
Thanks Ken, fantastic service, very knowledgeable, speedy and detailed responses. 👍
ToNo replied:
Further to my last Ken. We live in the hills and the Smarty sim and generic 4G router is an attempt to better our 12mbps BT broadband. Trouble is we can not get better than 10mbps in the house with Smarty sim. Do you know if an internal wired antenna would make much difference?
Thanks for the great service!
Ken replied:
Hi there,
No worries, and glad I can be of help! With regards to an external antenna, it’s really difficult to say without actually trying it for yourself! There’s a bit more information about 4G antennas on this page, in case it’s helpful (and consider checking the returns policy when you buy an antenna, in case you find it doesn’t help to improve your coverage or speeds).
Ken
ToNo replied:
Strange this, I can only get around 10mbps on router using Smarty sim in a 4G router, Smarty reply “3G average speed is about 7Mb or 8Mb per second, and 4G is about 20Mb per second. That is across the whole base not specific to a post code.” But I get around 28mbps on 4G using an iPhone 6 at the same location – so am I right in thinking there is more signal/speed available? Maybe an antenna?
Ken replied:
Hi there,
Yes – the fact you’re able to get 28Mbit/s on your iPhone 6 definitely implies it should be possible to get higher speeds. Which router are you using, if you don’t mind me asking? It’s possibly also worth checking the LTE category & MIMO support on your router to ensure this isn’t constraining the download speeds you can get, compared to an iPhone.
Ken
Mechel said:
the unlimited calls and texts is a scam my sim was cancelled without any prior warning and took 5 days to be reactivate via the “always available chat” for sending 3000 texts in one month…………….
and cancelle again for tlking over an hour on the phone daily
WHERE THE UNLIMITEd,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Alan said:
why can I not call some one on Vodafone with my smarty sim .
Ken replied:
Hi Alan,
Thanks for your comment. There shouldn’t be any issue calling a Vodafone phone number from SMARTY. If the problems persists, consider getting in touch with SMARTY’s support team so they can have a look into the problem for you.
Ken
Ian Haney said:
I have a Huawei E5330-3G Mobile Wi-Fi router and just seeing if the unlimited data sim will work in it
Ken replied:
Hi Ian,
Yes, it’s possible to use a SMARTY SIM card in other devices like a mobile wi-fi router. This is confirmed on the SMARTY website.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Simon said:
Hi I have unlimited data sim that doe’s not appear to want to tether when I visited Malta or Spain. Is the 19gb tether limit per month?
Ken replied:
Hi Simon,
Thanks for your comment. It’s likely this is probably due to a configuration issue on your phone – perhaps it’s worth double checking the APN settings?
Whilst you’re travelling in Europe, there’s a fair usage policy of 19GB per month. This policy doesn’t distinguish between normal usage and tethering. Once you go over this limit, a surcharge will be applied but this also shouldn’t stop you from tethering on your phone.
Ken
Ben said:
Is the unlimited data plan really Limited data no matter how much are use in the month
Ken replied:
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your comment. There’s a usage cap of 1,000GB per month (1TB) on the SMARTY unlimited data plan. More info here.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Dave Page said:
Hi Ken I have a 4g tp-link router which I have a smarty data sim in it. It works great, I am going abroad and have seen that you need to change settings to :- as below.
Access Point Name: mob.asm.net
Username: (blank)
Password: (blank)
Proxy Address: leave blank
Proxy Port: leave blank
Network Type Preset: IPv4
Authentication Type: none
Setting up the MMS APN
MMS Access Point Name: mob.asm.net
Username: (blank)
Password: (blank)
Proxy Address: mms.three.co.uk
Proxy Port: 8799
MMSC Address: http://mms.um.three.co.uk:10021/mmsc
Network Type Preset: IPv4
Authentication Type: (blank)
Maximum Message Size: 307200
The problem is my router settings only give me the apn field username and password. I have put the Access Point Name: mob.asm.net in it and left user name and password blank, the router is working fine with these settings installed while I am in the UK can you confirm that this will work with these settings in the EU, or will it require all the other settings Smarty say to change. Many thanks Dave
Ken replied:
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comment. That’s a great question, and unfortunately, I don’t know the answer. I should have thought that things should be fine if it works with those settings in the UK, but it might be worth double checking with SMARTY Customer Services before you go abroad.
Ken
Luciana said:
I have a contract with a Smarty Sim . It seems not good at all please be aware of it as I have payed this contract on the 24th of June and still doesn’t make calls or receive calls.. I have sent several emails to there customer services and after all I had one reply from them..
PLEASE PLEASE DONT FALL ON THIS CONTRACT AS IT WILL NEVER WORK AND YOU END UP LOOSING YOUR MONEY..
Jason said:
Hi Ken,
I wanted to alert you to perhaps a good deal for people who wanted a 4g home wifi solution without any long contracts currently offered by the likes of Vodafone and 3.
A way around could be to get a SMARTY unlimited data sim (currently £18.25 rolling contract) and simply to source a 4g home wifi router online. SMARTY are overt in saying that their sim can be used in dongles and wifi routers unlike some other sims.
Best,
J
Ken replied:
Hi Jason,
Thanks for the heads up about this. Yes, agreed, this is a fantastic deal for anyone who is looking to use a 4G home broadband router 🙂
Ken
Liza Pinder said:
My dad is struggling to access 4G with his new SMART SIM, so whilst in france for the last fortnight he has been unable to access data roaming and had no email or WhatsApp- please can you inform me how we ensure this is available. All data roaming, mobile tethering etc is switched on.
Ken replied:
Hi Liza,
Thanks for your comment. Is he receiving any signal for calling and texting? If so, it’s likely that an update to the mobile internet settings is required to enable international roaming (see information here). The data roaming setting will also need to be enabled through the phone’s settings menu.
If there’s an absence of coverage altogether (e.g. he isn’t even able to make or receive phone calls), I’d recommend getting in touch with SMARTY to ask about this.
Ken
Dave Page said:
Hi I am thinking about getting the Smarty unlimited data sim for use 3/4 times per year when I am abroad. I have noticed that the 30 day contract can be paused for up to 6 months by using the dashboard on the app. I will be using the sim in my own mobile wifi router. Will I be able to pause the use of the sim via some web interface as the sim will be in the router or will I need to contact Smarty via telephone?
Ken replied:
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, when you sign up for SMARTY’s unlimited data plan, you’ll be asked to set a username and password for your SMARTY account. You’ll be able to use these details to log in to your online dashboard from any device (including your smartphone, tablet, laptop, etc). This means you can pause or resume your plan from any device (there’s no requirement for the SMARTY SIM card to be in that device).
Hope this helps,
Ken
dave page replied:
Many thanks Ken
Carol Jackson said:
Hi I got my SIM from Smarties.. When I put the SIM in my phone it came up saying locked SIM network then underneath for you to put a puk code in. I’ve messaged Smarties on chat.ive emailed them 3 times and had no reply. I’ve had my SIM for a week now and feeling very frustrated that I have been able to use it. I’ve paid 10 pound for SIM that is said to be good yet I can get no help from the company to get it working
Ken replied:
Hi Carol,
Thanks for your comment. It’s possible that your SMARTY SIM card isn’t working because your phone is currently locked to a different mobile network. If so, you can follow the instructions here to get your phone unlocked for use on the SMARTY network.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Lee said:
Hi Ken
I am looking at using SMARTY to replace a home internet connection. I tried a THREE sim to check speed. It was rapid.
So I have been looking at getting a 4G router, connecting this to my computer via ethernet, and simply using it as I would a normal connection. Does this count as tethering? I think it does?
I spoke to customer service. He seemed to be getting confused. He said that I could use the full unlimited package in this way. Then in a different email, to a separate address, the same guy told me tethering was limited to 19GB. Do you think he was confusing this with the tethering and roaming policy?
Did you try something similar, and was it allowed?
Thanks
Ken replied:
Hi Lee,
Thanks for your comment. You can use a SMARTY SIM card in any device, including in a 4G home broadband router. There are no restrictions on tethering when using SMARTY, so you can use the unlimited allowance as normal through a router (in fact, almost all UK mobile networks have removed restrictions on tethering since an Ofcom net neutrality ruling last year).
With regards to the 19GB limit, this is how much data you can use at no extra charge when travelling in the EU. It has nothing to do with tethering – I think it’s just the customer services team getting two things crosswired!
Hope this helps,
Ken
Ros said:
Can anyone tell me the cost of calls from UK to Jersey in the Channel Islands on a Smarty sim deal & if the same rate applies to Jersey landlines & mobiles?
Ken replied:
Hi Ros,
Thanks for your comment. The good news is that SMARTY includes Jersey-based numbers as part of your normal UK calling allowance (see their help docs here). Therefore, there are no extra fees for this 🙂
Hope this helps,
Ken
John Merrett said:
I have a Kuma 4G Pocket Wi Fi Kit, and a Smarty data only sim. I want to use it in France. Smarty say that I have to input new settings to make it work. Kuma say that a VPN will resolve all issues. I have no idea how to add a VPN to the Kuma setup, and no means of changing the settings on the Smarty card. Any suggestions, please?
Ken replied:
Hi John,
Thanks for your comment. I think SMARTY are probably referring to the Access Point Name (APN) settings. As long as you have the latest settings from that page, your SMARTY SIM card should work abroad without any issues. There is no need to set up a VPN.
Hope this helps,
Ken
shah786 said:
Hi
Do i have to pay a £5 service charge each month regardless of unused data?
Thanks
Ken replied:
Hi there,
Yes, you’ll need to pay the £5/month service charge regardless of whether you actually use the SIM card. The £5/month charge gives you unlimited calls & texts (and pays for the running of the network, according to SMARTY).
Ken
Derrick Longstaff said:
I’m looking at the unlimited plan £25 per month plan, usage will be mostly abroad (Cyprus)
Question…..
A) can the sim be used in a mi-fi modem.
B) Is there a cap on the amount of internet data useage when abroad.
Many thanks
Del
Ken replied:
Hi Derrick,
Thanks for your comment. To answer your questions:
a) Yes, it’s possible to use your SMARTY SIM card in a Mi-Fi router. This is confirmed here on the SMARTY website.
b) There’s a fair usage limit of 19GB per month when travelling abroad in Europe. If the balance of your time is spent abroad outside the UK, SMARTY may also decide to start charging for your usage.
Ken
Ariz said:
Best network I’ve ever used! Good coverage and REALLY fast download speed! I’m on the 4GB plan only paying about £10/month!
* Customer service was great online and numbers transferred with 24 hrs.
* Fast 4G speeds, good phone coverage
* Use your SMARTY plan as normal when travelling to EU Countries
* plus money back on unused data (£1.25/GB)
Rob said:
Why on earth does the Smarty website, not work on W10/Edge Browser!?
If you want my Custom, you must rectify this.
Philip said:
Can anyone confirm that the Sim with Unlimited data will work in a Mobile-Wifi router – I am hoping to use it for watching NOW TV/Amazon Prime
Ken replied:
Hi Philip,
You can indeed use the SIM card in your mobile wi-fi router. There’s some more information about this on SMARTY’s Data SIM page.
Hope this helps!
Ken
Philip replied:
Thanks, I’ve now decided just to move my number from O2 to SMARTY, as I’ve got the Unlimited Data Plan, and can tether my NOW TV Stick and Amazon Fire TV Stick to it…
Rosemary White said:
I just added my new Smarty sim to 3G tablet, and although the device has recognised Smarty as the network, my tablet keeps saying NO SIM DETECTED. Can you help
Ken replied:
Hi Rosemary,
Thanks for your comment. This is really odd – can you tell me what you mean by the tablet recognising the SIM card, but saying No SIM detected? A SMARTY SIM card should work absolutely fine in a tablet, assuming it is unlocked for use any network.
Ken
thomas burrows said:
Excellent network, transfered my mobile number pain free,VERY competitive rates and money back for unused date…also great signal…glad I dumped EE.
Rebecca said:
Does anyone know offhand if you’d be able to put an unlimited SIM from Smarty in a Mifi/Homefi and use it that way in replacement of home broadband, or would it be against their terms and blocked? I’ve tried looking through their T&Cs but couldn’t find anything about that specifically.
I was planning on getting Three’s unlimited Homefi, but the fact I wouldn’t be tied into a contract for 2 years is very attractive even though it would be a little more expensive, if it’s possible.
Rebecca replied:
Nevermind, found it right there on their site in black and white: “Our SIMs also work with tablets and mobile broadband devices like dongles and WiFi routers. Simply choose your plan, pop your SMARTY SIM in, and you’re good to go.”
Sold!
gavin replied:
I’m probably a bit late, and you’ve already probaly signed up but under there terms and condtions I found this:
https://help.smarty.co.uk/help-and-support-with-smarty/tethering-and-mobile-hotspots
It says “You’re entitled to use your data however you like, no matter which of the SMARTY plans you’re on, so you can tether and use your phone as a mobile hot spot with your full allowance if you want to.
The only exception to this is the Unlimited plan and if you’re roaming, where you’ll be limited to 19GB”
Kate said:
Hi, I’m looking to purchase the £10 sim for my son. I would like to know once he has used all the data included in this package would he have no mobile data and physically have to buy more data or is it just added on automatically if he tries to use extra mobile data? I’m trying to work out if it’s capped or not? I wouldn’t want him using extra data with or without knowing and then being left with a much bigger bill than £10. Many thanks
Ken replied:
Hi Kate,
Many thanks for your comment. You’ll be glad to know that SMARTY is a pre-paid product, so all of your usage is capped by default. If you need additional data, you’ll need to top-up your SIM card with a “cash add-on” which can then be used to pay for data at the rate of £1.25/GB. No risk of accidentally using too much data and then getting an unexpected bill 🙂
Ken
Kate walsh replied:
Thank you. I’ll definitely be looking at taking out one of your sim’s especially because if the cap.
Debra Albinson said:
Can you cancel at any time if you want to and what notice do you have to give them?
Ken replied:
Hi Debra,
Thanks for your comment. Technically, SMARTY works on a pre-paid basis with you just paying for 30 days usage each time. Therefore, there’s no need for you to give any notice – you can simply stop using the service when your bundle comes to an end.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Ashley H said:
What an utter rubbish network.
It either works out of the box or you are stuck with rubbish customer service – there is no way to actually talk to a person when this network fails.
Not only is there nobody to talk to but the rubbish ‘chat’ ceases at 8. Though in fairness if you are ‘chatting’ to people who know nothing during the day I think you can reasonably assume they would be equally useless in the evening so I guess it wouldn’t serve a purpose.
I ported to this rubbish network a few days ago and it worked for a day. Now does not work in iPhone and customer services are useless. Just get fobbed off with assurances the matter has been escalated. Well I need a network to use – I can’t use ‘assurances.
There’s often a reason things are cheap – and this MVNO is a prime example of that.
There’s no commitment as such but leaving won’t get me the deal I left for SMARTY and this rubbish service (or non service) has already cost me money to set up which won’t port across.
Nice little scam then really.
Avoid like the plague.
Gavin said:
Switched to Smarty from Vodaphone as they are miles cheaper. So far it’s been really good with no signal problems and pretty fast 4G data.
And as you get money off your bill each month for any data you don’t use if you switch off mobile data and don’t use it you basically get a phone with unlimited calls and texts for only £5 per month! Bargain!
Marco Pisano said:
Great deal! I went for the £10 one which gives you unlimited texts and calls to UK numbers and 4GB. For every GB you don’t use they will knock off £1.25 from your next bill.
You can use the allowances from within the EU with no problems. My sim card arrived the next day and porting my old number was very easy.
The only reason I’m not giving 5 stars is because they don’t have an app to check your balance but you can do it via their website on your dashboard.
They also offer a referral scheme giving you and your referral one month for free.
Jack said:
SMARTY mobile network works fine. they give one month free and cashback for unused data
I ordered SIM and got it after 2 days. It works perfectly. Coverage and Internet speed is really fine in Leeds area.
I used referral link and got one month free.
Richard said:
This looks pretty good to me . Soon to be leaving TalkTalk broadband with unlimited calls and free sim for Vodafone Broadband with no calls package-so the unlimited minutes with this is a big hook for me . Add in that I use very little data , sometimes none in a month (maybe because I trained myself because I only had 500mbs) -free WiFi is everywhere – I would expect to be getting the discount every month , but it’s nice to know the data is there if I need it. Let’s face it , it’s £4-5 for a basic sim with minimal minutes and texts , 250ish ,eg my ‘free’ TalkTalk sim (500mbs/300mins/unlimited texts) is valued at £5 , plus I was paying £5 for my call package , so I am already in front if I choose the small package , though as you suggest I might go for the large offer . My only small gripe is I wish they would discount on smaller amounts of data – 500mbs perhaps.
Richard replied:
Reading the comments below it looks like I have misunderstood the unused data discount- I thought it meant only whole GBs would be discounted, whereas it looks like it’s applied to mbs – wahey, even better !👍
Marilyn said:
Can I purchase Smarty from Australia and I both pay and top up using an Australian credit card while in the UK?
Ken replied:
Hi Marilyn,
I believe you’re only able to purchase it from the UK. If you’re visiting the UK and want to top up with an Australian credit card, I’d recommend reading my article here. In short, it’s likely that giffgaff will be a better option for you as they allow you to use non-UK credit cards, and also provide low-cost international calling.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Marilyn replied:
Thanks Ken. Giffgaff was my back up plan! I was concerned that using an Australian credit card could prove difficult. You have been a great help. One more decision made!
Regards
Marilyn
ant said:
How many times will Smarty refund unused data eventually I’d pay zero if I never used any data at all
Ken replied:
Hi Ant,
There is no limit to the number of times they’ll refund unused data. If you were never to use any data at all, you’d just pay £5/month for unlimited calls and unlimited texts.
Ken
Pete said:
Hi Ken – Apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere but, if the separate allocation of £5 for service,calls and texts is ignored, the £15 large plan would appear to be the best value. On the assumption that any purchase is used in full, the cost per GB equates to £3.75 for Small, £2.50 for Medium and £1.88 for Large. These figures would of course vary if any discounts are taken or extra purchases made. After all, all providers include calls and texts in plans (albeit not always unlimited), so any mention of the £5 charge can be ignored.
Ken replied:
Hi Pete,
Many thanks for your comment. I’m not sure it really makes sense to ignore the £5 allocation for unlimited calls and unlimited texts. The reason being that customers on any Smarty plan can use additional data outside of their allowance at the rate of the £1.25/GB (this is essentially the opposite of an “unused data discount”, where you pay a little bit more for data used over your base allowance). Therefore, someone on the 4GB plan costing £10/month could buy another 4GB by paying £5 (therefore taking them back up to £15 for 8GB of data). The result of this is the overall amount you pay only depends on how much data you use, and not on which of the three plans you choose.
Saying that, it’s certainly the case that as you use more data on your plan, the overall impact of the £5/month allocation becomes a lot smaller relative to the cost of your data. For instance, if you were to use 100GB per month, you’d pay £130 for this (£1.30 per GB under your calculation above). If you were to use 1000GB per month, you’d pay £1255 (£1.255 per GB under your calculation above) and so on 🙂
Ken
Pete replied:
Hi Ken thank you for your reply and point taken. However, I think that someone intending to purchase, for example, just one Small plan a month for £7.50 could mislead him/herself into thinking they are paying just £1.25 per GB for the 2 GB they receive whereas they are in fact paying £3.75 per GB with calls,texts and admin included (as with any other provider). That said, £3.75 per GB for a small plan is still good value compared with,say, GiffGaff where £7.50 will purchase just 1 GB. I do of course agree that any top ups would improve the value for money.
Ken replied:
Hi Pete,
That absolutely makes sense 🙂 I’m probably one of those people who rarely use minutes & texts these days, so your calculation is probably also more applicable to me.
One interesting aspect of the mobile market is that people’s data usage doesn’t always increase with the size of their allowance (especially so when it gets beyond a certain point). That’s partly one reason we now see lots of deals on the market offering 20GB of data, 50GB of data or even 100GB of data (often at the £20 to £30 price point). Many people pick these tariffs are they have really good “per gigabyte” rates, though of course, they never actually use them and then end up paying more overall!
Ken
Nikki Malia said:
Does anyone know if the data can be capped? Worried my son will use over his allowance. Thanks
Ken replied:
Hi Nikki,
I believe the plans at Smarty are essentially “capped” (technically, it’s a Pay As You Go service and as such, you’ll need to buy a “cash add-on” for out-of-bundle usage). For this reason, it shouldn’t be possible to get an unexpected large bill – all that could happen is you’d use up the cash add-on balance.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Gavin said:
I wonder if they just pretend they can not do roaming, as it cheaper than offering roaming in Europe, due to the cost of using other mobile networks.
As well the big networks have a bit of leverage as they own a network in the UK, so can give a discount to the company’s that let them use there networks abroad.
Graeme H replied:
I asked the question to their customer support and they said they are working on it now, but because of the technical deploy it’s not quick (hence why they launched without). Apparently, they don’t use Three’s systems, only their network infrastructure.
All in all very quick response and so far can’t complain at all. Discount at the end of the month is always welcome 😉
aayush said:
I would strongly recommend avoiding this network. They have zero customer service in the weekends, and take ages to rectify anything. I recently ordered, received and attempted to reactivate a replacement sim. The website didn’t work and I requested aid with this. They activated my original simcard, and started my billing. To top it off, they didn’t tell me this had occured, and I ALSO DO NOT HAVE THE ORIGINAL SIMCARD. I am in the opinion that Smarty is a scam. Strongly avoid.
Paul D replied:
I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience with them. I joined Smarty as a customer a few days after they started trading and can assure you that they are not a scam. Their customer service is online 8 am to 8 pm seven days a week, I’ve only had to use it once, but can tell you the service was fast prompt and efficient.
Graeme H replied:
Yeah would concur with Paul. Started a chat with on Sunday morning and got an answer back in 3 minutes.
Brook said:
Need a sim for my first phone, ive done loads of comparison and research, this is great for normal use and young people
David Parr said:
Why did three feel the need to start a whole new brand instead of starting this under their own network? Not that I’m bothered. I’m just curious. I signed up this week. So far, I cannot fault it.
Ken replied:
Hi David,
Thanks a lot for the feedback on the Smarty! I think Three have decided to set this up as a separate brand so they don’t cannibalise the revenues on their core brand. It also targets a slightly different demographic and has a different level of service (e.g. you won’t have access to in-store or telephone support with Smarty and also features like international roaming and Wuntu are missing on this tariff). It’s a similar strategy to what O2 has done with giffgaff, though obviously much earlier days for Smarty!
Ken
Troy Cooper replied:
Yes, this is pretty much correct. From my contact with them, I have understood that they are owned by Three, but still act as a standalone company with their own budget, strategies and so on (Quoted from support – “We are owned by Three but we operate separately from them with different brand strategies etc” and “We had to make our company from the ground up with Three’s UK network as our backbone”). This is a great network, especially for youth, but it does have its flaws. The biggest one for me is Roaming. I believe their main issue is that they cannot use Three’s roaming infrastructure, and are still working out their own deals with International Partners. There is no time-scale, but I was given an educated guess of 6 months, bringing us to April 2018. However, this is a guess and no guarantee. I was told you can email team@smarty.co.uk for updates.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this operator, especially for the youth down to their buy-back-data scheme and good value plans.
Hope this helped someone 🙂
Ken replied:
Hi Troy,
Thanks for the feedback and update, especially around international roaming on Smarty. It’s interesting that they aren’t able to leverage Three’s roaming infrastructure – now you mention it, there are also a number of other Three MVNOs that lack roaming (e.g. FreedomPop, ROK Mobile, Tello, etc) so this makes a lot of sense. I had never previously put this down to Three’s network limitations (I guess iD Mobile & TPO Mobile, two other MVNOs on Three, have negotiated their own roaming partner agreements).
Thanks again!
Ken
Neil Hutton said:
How do I get hold of a sim
Ken replied:
Hi Neil,
You can get hold of a SIM card via the Smarty website.
Hope this helps!
Ken
Craig said:
What a shame it runs on the 3 mobile network because otherwise I would have been tempted. Hoping they would add international roaming too soon.
Aayush said:
Just so you know. The plans have been released for Smarty. There is a plan for 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. The nice thing is, if you use 8GB on a 2GB plan, it will cost the same as an 8GB plan, so almost no worries about excessive overage charges. Which is fine by me 😂.
The discount rate is £1.25 per gigabyte, so I’d pay £5.60 if I used only 480mb. And for that much, unlimited calls and unlimited text for that much, it’s a cracker for lower users as well, as long as you use the discount. Absolutely changing to it. Will need to keep the O2 sim for roaming though 😬
Ken replied:
Hi Aayush,
Thanks for the heads up about this! I’ll get this article updated in the next few days to reflect Smarty’s actual price plans at launch.
Thanks again,
Ken
David said:
Hi , just seen it has been launched, with 2gb,4gb and 8gb options.
Andrew said:
Q. What happens if you try to transfer a number (via a pac code) between providers that use the same network, e.g. Three to Smarty, Three to idmobile, plusnet (ee) to bt (ee) etc, etc?
Is it possible or do source and destination networks have to be different?
Andrew replied:
I’ve just read your article on transferring numbers.
I think that answers my question! Thanks!
Ken replied:
Hi Andrew,
No worries! As the article says, it’s the same process for transferring your phone number even if your old & new mobile networks use the same coverage provider.
Thanks again,
Ken