By Spusu UK offers SIM-only deals from £2.90 per month. You’ll get inclusive calls to the EU, along with EU roaming and 5G coverage from EE.
Spusu is a new SIM-only mobile network in the UK, promising to offer ‘simple’ and ‘fair’ mobile plans with 4G & 5G coverage from EE. The company originates from Austria where they were founded in 2015, before they launched their UK mobile network in April 2023.
In our opinion, Spusu’s UK mobile network might be a good option if you have friends and family in another European country. That’s because you’ll get 500 international minutes each month for calling EU destinations, along with inclusive European roaming. There’s also highly-efficient customer support available through WhatsApp.
On the other hand, Spusu is still a fairly new entrant to the UK mobile market. As such, they have an unproven record and you’ll be one of the first customers here in the UK. In addition, some of their plans are relatively expensive compared to other mobile networks. It’s also a contract-based product with no option to Pay As You Go.
In this article, we’ll review Spusu’s UK mobile network, including the plans and features available on their network. We’ll also look at the coverage available on Spusu and how you can keep your current phone number when you join the Spusu network.
| Prices From: | £2.90 per month |
|---|---|
| Contract Length: | 1-month rolling contract |
| Benefits: |
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| Drawbacks: |
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| Coverage: | 4G & 5G coverage from EE (check postcode) |
Contents
What is Spusu UK?
Spusu is one of the newest entrants to the UK mobile market. Operating as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the UK, customers will get access to EE’s 4G and 5G networks on their phone. This is available on a range of one-month rolling SIM-only plans, with the prices starting from £2.90 per month.
In our opinion, there are four main benefits to Spusu:
- They’ll give you access to EE’s 4G & 5G network, without speed restrictions. You’ll have 99% population coverage on your mobile phone, with access to EE’s 4G and 5G network. This includes band 20 LTE (800MHz) coverage. In addition, there are no speed restrictions on the plans from Spusu. For comparison, EE has a 10Mbps speed limit on their No Frills plans and a 100Mbps speed limit on their Essential plans.
- You’ll get 500 international minutes to EU countries. This is particularly handy if you have friends and family in the EU, as you’ll be able to call them and text them at no extra cost. On most other mobile networks (except from Lebara Mobile and Lyca Mobile), you’ll need to pay extra for international calls.
- You’ll also get inclusive EU roaming. All of Spusu’s UK plans come with inclusive roaming in 36 European destinations. In most cases, this is capped at 10GB data per month (it’s slightly higher if you choose a Spusu Travel or Unlimited plan).
- You’ll get some modern features & customer support through WhatsApp. With some other networks, it can sometimes feel like you’re stuck in the 90s. Think about the horrible time-consuming menus when you listen to your voicemail, and the long wait to get customer support from a call centre. On Spusu, it’s decidedly more modern as you can get voicemail messages sent to you as an email, and their customer support is available through WhatsApp and Signal.
There are also a number of disadvantages:
- Spusu’s plans are far from being the cheapest. At present, Spusu’s cheapest SIM-only plan costs £2.90 per month for 1GB data. Although this offers reasonable value compared to many other providers that use EE coverage, there are far cheaper alternatives out there (e.g. on Lyca Mobile which also offers EE coverage). If you’re a heavy user, you’ll pay a massive £29.90 per month for unlimited data on spusu, whereas other mobile networks charge as little as £15 per month.
- Spusu is still very new in the UK. Although they’ve been around in Austria since 2015, they’re new to the UK mobile market and have only launched in April 2023. In Austria, it’s said they have about 500,000 customers across a range of services like mobile, broadband and TV. It’s very different in the UK as they only offer SIM-only mobile deals. At the time of writing, there are only 15 reviews for Spusu UK on Trustpilot so you’re almost certainly going to be one of their first customers.
- There’s no option to Pay As You Go. You’ll need to sign up to a contract on Spusu – there’s no option to Pay As You Go. This means, for instance, it isn’t possible to pause your plan. You can, however, switch between Spusu’s Pay Monthly plans at any time.
Spusu UK Plans
In the UK, Spusu currently offers SIM-only mobile plans from £2.90 per month. All of their plans are available on a one-month rolling contract, giving you the flexibility to change your plan as required.
It’s worth noting that you’re signing up for a contract product (as opposed to it being Pay As You Go) so you’ll need to be 18 or over to sign up to Spusu. Having said that, there’s no credit check required so it’s easy to sign up.
The following table shows Spusu’s current SIM-only offers in the UK:
| Network | Data | Monthly Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1GB data | £2.90 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 16GB data | £3.00 for 3 months, then £8 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 20GB data | £6.90 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 30GB data | £9.90 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 40GB data | £10.90 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 50GB data | £12.90 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| 25GB data | £12.90 for 3 months, then £9.90 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
| Unlimited data | £29.90 per month 1 month contract | See deal |
Once you’ve signed up, the payment for your plan will be taken automatically at the start of each month. You can use a Visa bank card, a Mastercard, or a PayPal account. American Express cards are not currently supported by Spusu in the UK.
At present, Spusu customers can benefit from a price freeze until the end of 2024. This is in contrast to many other Pay Monthly providers where you can expect an annual price rise of up to 3.9% above the rate of inflation.
Spusu Features
Inclusive EU Calls
The most unique benefit of Spusu is the fact you’ll get 500 international minutes included each month for calling phone numbers in other EU countries. This applies for when you’re calling them from the UK. It’s a useful feature if you have friends and family in Europe as this will allow you to stay in touch with them through calls and texts.
On most other UK mobile networks, you’ll need to pay an additional amount for international calling. Some other mobile networks like Lebara and Lyca also offer inclusive international calls but this is normally a much smaller amount (e.g. just 100 international minutes per month).
On Spusu, you can use your 500 international minutes to call phone numbers in the following destinations:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- French territories in Indian Ocean
- French Guiana
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guadeloupe
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Martinique
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
One limitation is the fact that you aren’t able to use your international minutes for calling other countries, outside of the EU. For instance, you’ll pay 10p/minute for calls to India and 40p/minute for calls to China. In contrast, both Lebara and Lyca Mobile will include these as destinations within their international minutes. You may therefore find them to be more suitable, depending on the countries you want to call.
Another thing that’s worth mentioning is the fact you can often side-step international calling charges by using apps such as WhatsApp or FaceTime. If you’re able to do that, you might not actually need the 500 international minutes, and other networks may therefore be more preferable as a result.
European Roaming
On Spusu, you’ll be able to use your mobile phone at no extra cost in 36 European destinations. On most plans, there’s a monthly roaming limit of 500 minutes, 500 texts and 10GB data (this is 15GB on spusu Unlimited, and more when you choose a spusu Travel plan).
You’ll be able to benefit from inclusive roaming in the following European destinations:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- French territories in Indian Ocean
- French Guiana
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guadeloupe
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Martinique
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
It’s worth noting that the list of countries here is slightly different from the list of countries that you’re able to call using your international minutes. For instance, you’ll be able to use your mobile phone at no extra cost in Norway and Switzerland, even though they aren’t included within the 500 international minutes.
In our opinion, the inclusive EU roaming is a nice benefit, when compared to some of the larger mobile networks that charge up to £2.29 per day. Having said that, you can easily find other mobile networks with inclusive European roaming – and often with more generous limits on the amount of data you can use when abroad.
If you’re travelling abroad outside the EU, this will cost you extra on Spusu. For instance, you’ll pay 20p per minute, 20p per text and 2p per MB when using your phone in the USA. If you’re travelling to Turkey, you’ll pay 60p per minute (30p per minute to receive calls), 20p per text and 1p per MB when roaming on Spusu.
Customisable Voicemail
On Spusu, you’ll have access to a customisable voicemail service. This is accessible through their website and app. For instance, you’ll be able to record and upload your own voicemail greeting. You can also choose to have your voicemail messages sent to you as an email attachment.
In our opinion, this is definitely a more modern voicemail service compared to what you’ll get on many other networks. It also has the advantage of working on any device, unlike Visual Voicemail which is only available if you’re using an iPhone.
eSIM
If you have an eSIM compatible phone, you can choose to get your Spusu plan on an eSIM. This is essentially a digital SIM card that you can scan and download directly to your mobile phone. It allows you to get connected more quickly, without the need to wait for a SIM card to arrive in the post.
As well as letting you get connected more quickly, having an eSIM from Spusu will allow you to activate dual-SIM functionality on many phones. For more information, see our guide to eSIMs in the UK.
WhatsApp Support
In addition to offering regular telephone support, Spusu offers customer support through WhatsApp and Signal. You can contact them by messaging 07356 010100. This service is available Monday-Friday 8am-8pm and Saturday-Sunday 9am-5pm.
As of yet, we haven’t received much feedback on the quality of Spusu’s customer support in the UK. However, we think it’s a great sign that they’ve made themselves easily accessible through the top messaging apps, so you can contact them whilst getting on with the rest of your day.
We’ll update this review in the future once we’ve had a bit more feedback on their support.
Network & Coverage
On Spusu, you’ll have access to 99% population coverage. This is provided by EE’s 4G and 5G network. You’ll have access to all of EE’s bands and frequencies, including band 20 LTE (800MHz) for better indoor coverage on 4G.
If you’d like to check Spusu’s coverage in your area, you can do this by entering your postcode on the Spusu UK website:
Check Spusu UK Coverage Map (spusu.co.uk) →
Both Wi-Fi Calling and 4G Calling (VoLTE) are available to customers on Spusu UK.
According to Spusu, there are no speed caps on their service so you should get the same speeds as customers on EE.
Keeping Your Phone Number
When you’re joining Spusu, there’ll be the option to keep your current UK phone number. Alternatively, you can get a brand new phone number, with the ability to choose your preferred phone number from a list.
If you’d like to keep your current phone number, you should ask your current mobile network to provide you with a PAC Code. You can get one through your mobile network’s website or app, or by texting PAC to 65075. You can then provide this PAC Code to Spusu when you order your plan online.
More Information
For more information about the plans and features available, please see the official Spusu UK website.
Sarah said:
Hi Ken
Just for info, SPUSU offer a cooling off period of 14 days and 6 months to activate the sim
If you activate the sim after the 14 days and then try to cancel due to bad performance for example, you do not get any refund
Just found that that out at my loss, but didn’t see anything in the T&C’s
Ian said:
Hi Ken
Data on Spusu is slower due to the fact they link data abroad then back rather using the UK (did a Speedtest check)
Didn’t have have the issue with calls or texts but download speeds were slower than shown
Kevin Jones said:
hi I’ve been on spusu a month calls are crystal clear all the time all calls come thru 2 me with no problem. there customer services are excellent there plans are pocket money friendly. looks like i will b a spusu customer for a long time .
Steve Belshaw said:
It’s my first day on spusu and possibly my last. The voicemail is atrocious with only one option – delete the message you have just listened to! That’s it! There’s no way of finding out when it was sent.
To listen to another message you have to go to the relevant text message – I have no text message alerts so cannot do this!
Absolutely ridiculous.
Steve Belshaw replied:
Just to add to my previous comments.
Most people who phoned me when I was using spusu either got a dead-line tone or nothing. I’d estimate that perhaps 10% of incoming calls actually got connected.
As for outgoing calls, after dialling the number there’d be 10-15 seconds of silence, and then either the ringing tone, or just as often, a single beep and the call would be dropped.
Support was poor – 2 days for a reply to my first email and no reply to my reply to them.
Worst mobile and customer service I’ve had in decades.
Dr R J Driscoll said:
Not all EE virtual networks are created equal! We decided to stop using our landline for calls out and instead to each have a monthly mobile contract for about £5 with unlimited calls. I decided to try a SPUSU eSIM on my Samsung S23. To get EE to work here you need 800 MHz band 20 and I could hardly ever get on the network. My wife got a 1p mobile sim and it works fine on band 20 both for data and VoIP. It looks as if SPUSU are being deprioritised. I eventually wound up with Lebara since it makes sense for us to use different networks. Interestingly I have an RWG sim which is better than SPUSU for coverage on band 20 but is now useless since they still don’t have VoLTE and 2g coverage is poor indoors.
Dave L said:
Visiting the spusu UK website [spusu.co.uk] directly, not via the links above, does not show all the plans they offer. The lowest-priced one is spusu 30 for £9.90, marked as ‘Special Deal until 07.03.24’. There are several others that are hidden.
The full list of plans, insofar as I have been able to ascertain is:
• spusu 1 special – 1GB (1GB roaming) – £2.90
• spusu 5 exclusive – 5GB (3GB roaming) – £1.00 for first 3 months, £4.50 thereafter (3GB)
• spusu 5 special – 5GB (3GB roaming) – £1.00 for first 4 months, £5.00 thereafter
• spusu 20 – 20GB (10GB roaming) – £9.90
• spusu 30 – 30GB (10GB roaming) – £9.90 discounted until 07.03.24, standard price £14.90
• spusu 40 – 40GB (10GB roaming) – £10.90
• spusu 50 – 50GB (10GB roaming) – Discounted at £12.90 until 07.03.24, standard price £20.90
• spusu Travel Lite – 20GB (20GB roaming) – £15.90
• spusu Travel – 25GB (25GB roaming) – £16.90
• spusu Unlimited – Unlimited Data (15GB roaming) – Discounted to £29.90, standard price £34.90
Roaming allowances listed in brackets apply to the EU and Switzerland. All include 500 minutes and 500 SMS texts. Travel and Travel Lite plans allow the full data allowance to be used for roaming; all other plans offer partial data allowance for roaming.
Ken, in the above table you have ‘spusu 5 exclusive’ listed as 5GB for £1.00 for 4 months then £5.00 thereafter. This deal is now being offered under the heading ‘spusu 5 special’. spusu 5 exclusive is now as above.
Giles said:
Spusu are now offering WiFi Calling and VoLTE, I think this is the first virtual network on EE to offer this, as its not offered by Lyca or Talk Home.
So you are now getting all the benefits EE customers get.
I have also found a deal on Money Supermarket offering the first 4 months of their 50GB plan for £5 a month.
While there are cheper deals out there on other networks, I need EE due to the poor signal of the other networks where I live. and I think this is the cheapest MVNO using EE.
JP FoneMan replied:
1p Mobile also offer WiFi calling and VOLTE and they’re also a EE MVNO provider, remember they also have HD calling (not offered by spusu) and their voicemail system is a little less clunky to use.
Mark Peters said:
I was with Spusu and their approach to customer service was amazing, having EE coverage was also excellent but using Spusu does come with some conditions.
The call quality is not up to standard as they don’t support HD or HD+ calling, it’s so bad I had to resort to using FaceTime Audio or WhatsApp to have a conversation with anyone, for some reason they also don’t support short codes so I couldn’t text NHS or spam reporting at all, plus you’re greeted with a European ringtone if calling anyone or anyone is calling you, personalised voicemail never worked and the voicemail itself was clunky when trying to access it abroad, there was a feeling that they leant heavily on the Austrian part of their Spusu network to do the lifting for the UK part.
After I ported to another network I was actually contacted by Spusu to see why I left and they asked for a very honest approach and the person taking the call seemed genuinely interested so I believe with this approach they may succeed but I think they need more awareness and the bugs sorted out before they a ready for the mainstream.