Most UK mobile networks now offer an unlimited data plan, allowing you to download as much as you like. We compare unlimited data plans in the UK.
Whether you’re a heavy smartphone user or whether you just want the reassurance of never running out of data, most UK mobile networks now offer an unlimited data plan.
At present, it’s possible to get an unlimited data plan from ten UK mobile networks: BT Mobile, EE, giffgaff, iD Mobile, O2, SMARTY, Three, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone and VOXI. On all of these plans, you can stop worrying about how many gigabytes you’re using as you’ll never run out of data again in the middle of the month.
As a cheaper alternative to unlimited data plans, you can also consider a zero-rated data plan that gives you unlimited data for use on certain services. These are available in the form of EE’s Swappable Benefits, Three’s Go Binge, Virgin Mobile’s Data-Free Messaging and VOXI’s Monthly Passes.
In this article, we’ll review and compare your options for an unlimited mobile data plan in the UK.
Contents
Overview of Unlimited Data Plans
Unlimited Data Plans
In the UK, there are currently ten mobile networks offering an unlimited data plan:
| Mobile Network | Monthly Price | Unlimited Data Plan | Limitations & Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| BT Mobile | £30/month | No Limits | Only available as part of Halo (BT’s fibre broadband service with a BT Mobile SIM card). |
| EE | £34/month | Unlimited Data | A fair usage policy of 1000GB per month applies. Maximum of 12 devices using tethering & personal hotspot. |
| giffgaff | £25/month | Always-On Data | 4G speeds are only available on the first 40GB per month. After this, speeds are restricted to 384kbit/s between 8am-midnight. |
| iD Mobile | £23/month | Unlimited Data | No fair usage policy, but for personal use only. |
| O2 | £33/month | Limitless Data | A fair usage policy of 650GB per month applies. Maximum of 12 devices using tethering & personal hotspot. |
| SMARTY | £22/month | Unlimited Data | A fair usage policy of 1000GB per month applies. |
| Three | £18/month | All-You-Can-Eat Data | No fair usage policy, but commercial usage isn’t permitted. |
| Virgin Mobile | £32/month | Unlimited Data | Only available to Virgin Media TV and Broadband customers. |
| Vodafone | £23/month | Unlimited Data | Speed restrictions apply to the Unlimited Lite (2Mbit/s) and Unlimited (10Mbit/s) plans. Unlimited Max has uncapped speeds. |
| VOXI | £30/month | Endless Data | “Excessive usage” or commercial usage of endless data is not permitted. |
It’s possible to get unlimited data with 5G coverage on BT Mobile, EE, O2, Vodafone and VOXI. Meanwhile, the other five mobile networks offer 3G and 4G coverage (giffgaff using coverage from O2, iD Mobile and SMARTY using coverage from Three, and Virgin Mobile using coverage from EE).
Normally, Three has the cheapest available SIM cards with unlimited data in the UK. They currently charge £18/month for a SIM card with unlimited data and offer 99.8% population coverage on 4G. When it launches in your area, 5G coverage will also be available at no extra cost on Three.
In the following table, we’ve compared the cheapest unlimited data plan available on each UK mobile network. Tap the link at the bottom of the table to see a complete list of all unlimited data plans.
| Network | Minutes | Texts | Data | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £18.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £20.00 24 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £22.00 1 month |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £22.00 12 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £23.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 2Mbps max | £23.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 2Mbps max | £23.00 18 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £24.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Always-On | £25.00 1 month |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 2Mbps max | £25.00 1 month |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £26.00 1 month |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 10Mbps max | £26.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 10Mbps max | £26.00 18 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited 10Mbps max | £28.00 1 month |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £30.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £30.00 18 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £30.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £32.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £32.00 1 month |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £33.00 18 months |
 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £34.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £35.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £39.00 12 months |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | £44.00 12 months |
| To show you the most relevant plans, 15 similar but more expensive plans have been hidden. Tap here to show them. | ||||
Zero-Rated Data Plans
As an alternative to unlimited data plans, you can also choose a zero-rated data plan. This gives you unlimited data, but only for use on certain selected services:
| Mobile Network | Zero-Rated Data Plan | Services Included |
|---|---|---|
| EE | Swappable Benefits | Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, MTV Play, TV Player and BT Sport (Video Data Pass). Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal (Music Data Pass). Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, FIFA and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes (Gamer’s Data Pass). |
| Three | Go Binge | Netflix, Snapchat, Apple Music, TV Player, Deezer and Soundcloud. |
| Virgin Mobile | Data-Free Messaging | WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Twitter. |
| VOXI | VOXI Endless Passes | Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Viber and Facebook Messenger. Video and music providers available at extra cost. |
In the rest of this article, we’ll review each of the unlimited data plans and zero-rated data plans in more detail.
Unlimited Data Plans
At present, unlimited data plans are available from 10 UK mobile networks (BT Mobile, EE, giffgaff, iD Mobile, O2, SMARTY, Three, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone and VOXI):
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BT Mobile
If you already have BT’s Halo service, you can add the following SIM card to your plan for unlimited data and up to 5G download speeds:
If you’re not a BT Halo customer, you’ll need to sign up for a BT’s Halo fibre broadband at the same time as ordering unlimited data from BT Mobile. Unfortunately, this tends to be fairly expensive so you might be looking in the region of £85/month for a No Limits package with unlimited mobile data and home broadband. Whilst a 12-month contract applies for your BT Mobile No Limits SIM card, a longer 24-month contract applies to the broadband proportion of your service. If you’re using BT’s No Limits SIM card, there are no fair usage limits for the unlimited data allowance. This is confirmed in BT’s help centre:
The only exception to this is if you’re travelling abroad to another European country that’s part of BT’s Roam Like Home offer. Here, you’ll only be able to use 15GB of data at no extra cost when travelling in other countries. Source: BT Website: No Limits on Halo |
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EE
The following table shows a list of unlimited data plans on EE. On the more expensive 4G Smart and 5G Smart plans, you’ll get inclusive Swappable Benefits (e.g. access to Amazon Prime Video, the BT Sport app or inclusive roaming in 5 countries outside Europe).
There are three key restrictions on EE’s unlimited data plans. Firstly, there’s a fair usage limit of 1,000GB per month, above which EE reserves the right to “move you to a business plan”. Secondly, tethering and personal hotspot usage is limited to a maximum of 12 devices. Thirdly, a data roaming limit of 15GB per month applies when you’re travelling abroad outside the UK. For more information, see our full review of EE’s unlimited data plans. Source: EE Website |
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giffgaff
With Always-On data, you’ll get 4G download speeds on the first 40GB of data usage each month. After this, your speeds will drop down to a maximum of 384kbps (approximately 0.4Mbit/s) between 8am and midnight each day. This may stop you from doing things like streaming music or video from the internet, but it shouldn’t prevent you from browsing the internet or using messaging services. Because of the large speed reduction after the first 40GB of data usage each month, giffgaff’s Always-On data isn’t really suitable for very heavy data users. It’s a good option if you’re mainly looking for peace of mind about never running out of data, and is available on a one-month rolling basis with no credit check required. Prior to the 3rd July 2019, only the first 20GB of data each month was at full-speed 4G. Source: giffgaff Website |
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iD MobileiD Mobile is the own-brand mobile network from the Carphone Warehouse, offering unlimited data on the following plan with 3G & 4G coverage from Three:
iD Mobile haven’t published a fair usage policy for their unlimited data plan, but their terms and conditions state the plan is for “personal use only”. You’ll need to undergo a credit check when joining iD Mobile. Source: iD Mobile Terms and Conditions |
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O2
There are several fair usage limits worth being aware before getting unlimited data from O2. The most important is the 650GB per month fair usage limit. In addition, the use of tethering and personal hotspot is limited to just 12 devices. If you exceed these limits twice in any six-month period, O2 says they might “transfer you to a more suitable plan”. When travelling outside the UK, it’s possible to use up to 20GB of data in O2 Travel Inclusive Zone countries. For more information, please see our full review of O2’s unlimited data plans. Source: O2 Website: Unlimited Plan Terms |
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SMARTY
According to SMARTY, tethering is included in the plan and there are no speed restrictions for using too much data. There is, however, a usage cap of 1,000GB per month. There’s also a fair usage limit of 19GB per month when you’re travelling in Europe:
SMARTY offers 99% population coverage, using 3G and 4G coverage from Three.
Source: SMARTY Blog Post |
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Three
There are no fair usage limits for unlimited data usage in the UK. However, it’s important to know that commercial usage of the service is not permitted:
There’s also a fair usage limit when you’re using your mobile phone abroad in a Go Roam country. This limit is currently 12GB if you’re travelling outside Europe and 19GB if you’re travelling inside of Europe (15GB if you’re on Pay As You Go). The following table shows SIM-only plans with unlimited data from Three:
It’s also possible to buy a new smartphone with unlimited data on a 24-month contract. In addition, Three offers 4G-based home broadband with unlimited data. Prior to September 2019, Three had a fair usage policy of 1,000GB per month (1TB) on unlimited data plans. Three have confirmed that this fair usage policy no longer applies. Prior to October 2018, Three’s unlimited data plans also had a restriction on tethering. Whilst this restriction was in place, it was only possible to use up to 30GB of data through tethering each month. This restriction has now been removed for all new and existing customers as a result of Ofcom’s net neutrality rules. Source: Three Help: What is unlimited data? |
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Virgin Mobile
According to Virgin, there are no restrictions on “tethering, throttling, speed restrictions or caps”. Download speeds of up to 70Mbps are available on Virgin Mobile using 4G coverage from the EE network. Source: Virgin Media Website |
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Vodafone
When choosing an unlimited data plan from Vodafone, you’ll need to decide on the download speed of your plan. The cheapest £23/month Unlimited Lite price plan gives you download speeds of up to 2Mbit/s. Meanwhile, the £26/month Unlimited plan is limited to 10Mbit/s and the £30/month Unlimited Max plan has uncapped speeds. There’s no fair usage policy on the unlimited data allowance, except that it needs to be “for your personal and non-commercial use”. You can use up to 25GB of data each month when travelling abroad as part of Vodafone Global Roaming.
Vodafone’s unlimited data plans are also available on a 30-day rolling contract for an extra £2/month. You can read our in-depth review of Vodafone’s unlimited data plans for more information. Source: Vodafone Website |
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VOXI
On VOXI’s endless data plan, you’ll get unlimited data with up to 5G download speeds. You’ll also get unlimited minutes and unlimited texts included:
According to their terms and conditions, VOXI says they “reserve the right to suspend or throttle the service if we have reason to believe that the SIM card is being used for commercial purposes, fraudulently or is having an adverse impact / damaging our network in any way”. The amount of data you can use abroad at no extra charge is also limited to a maximum of 25GB per month. There’s no need to undergo a credit check when joining VOXI with the endless data plan working on a one-month rolling basis. Source: VOXI: Terms and Conditions |
On BT Mobile, it’s possible to get a 
On EE, unlimited data 
giffgaff is a 
O2 offers unlimited data, or what they call “limitless data”, on a range of 
On Three, unlimited data with 4G download speeds is available on the flagship 
On Virgin Mobile, 
Vodafone offers a selection of 
Other UK mobile networks don’t currently offer an unlimited data plan. However, you might be able to get a very large data allowance (for instance, up to 100GB of data per month on some networks).
Zero-Rated Data Plans
Zero-rated data plans give you unlimited data, but only for use on selected apps and services. This can make them a cheaper alternative to unlimited data plans:
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EE Swappable Benefits
The following passes can be selected as a swappable benefit to give you unlimited zero-rated data on EE:
The following EE 5G Smart SIMs include swappable benefits:
If you’ve already used up your inclusive swappable benefits, you can add the Video Data Pass for an extra £8.99/month and the Music Data Pass for an extra £7.99/month. The Gamer’s Data Pass is also available for an extra £7.99/month. See our full review of the EE Smart Plan for more information. Source: EE: Swappable Benefits for EE Smart |
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Three Go Binge
For more information, please read our full review of the Go Binge service. Source: Three Website: About Go Binge |
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Virgin Mobile Data-Free Messaging
The following table shows 4G plans from Virgin Mobile with data-free messaging:
Source: Virgin Mobile: Data-Free Messaging |
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VOXI Endless Passes
You can add a VOXI Video Pass for £7/month, giving you zero-rated data for use on Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, DisneyLife, My5, TVPlayer and UKTV Play. Alternatively, the VOXI Music Pass is available for £5/month, giving you zero-rated data for use on Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, Deezer, Amazon Music Unlimited, Amazon Prime Music, SoundCloud, Primordial Radio and Napster. The following table shows 30-day rolling plans on VOXI with inclusive endless social data:
Source: VOXI Plans: VOXI Passes |
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Customers choosing an 
Three offers an inclusive service called 
On Virgin Mobile, 
Occasionally, other mobile networks may choose to zero-rate selected apps and services on a promotional basis. For instance, EE offers zero-rated data for Apple Music during the six month free trial available on all EE Pay Monthly plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
| Which mobile networks offer unlimited data in the UK? | The following mobile networks currently offer unlimited data in the UK:
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|---|---|
| What’s the best value unlimited data deal? | Normally, the best value unlimited data deals can be found on Three. They currently offer unlimited data for £18/month, though prices vary based on the contract length you sign up for. On Three, you’ll get unlimited data with no fair usage limits. There’s 99.8% 4G population coverage and you’ll get 5G coverage at no extra cost when it launches in your area. |
| Will I get 5G coverage with unlimited data? | |
| Is there a fair usage policy on unlimited data? | It depends on the mobile network. Normally, it’s stated that unlimited data is for your personal use only. In addition, there are sometimes further limitations and restrictions which are detailed within this table. If you’re travelling abroad to another European country, there is normally also a limit on how much data you can use. |
| What’s the difference between unlimited data and zero-rated data? | An unlimited data plan can be used with any app or service, whereas a zero-rated data plan is restricted to a given list of services (e.g. certain instant messaging or video streaming apps). |
More Information
For more information on specific unlimited data plans, please see the BT Mobile, EE, giffgaff, iD Mobile, O2, SMARTY, Three, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone and VOXI websites.
For more information about zero-rated data offers, see the EE, Three, Virgin Mobile and VOXI websites.
Michael said:
Is there a website which predicts 4G data speeds you’re likely to get at a postcode? Vodafone comes close and reckons “up to 60MB” at my location. All of them, including Ofcom, only show coverage – not predicted speeds like a broadband checker would.
I know this type of measurement should be taken with a pinch of salt (probably won’t include mast contention for example), but this type of info would be incredibly useful as 4G home broadband becomes more common.
The only way I can think of is get a SIM for each network and test it, which is a pain as you can imagine.
Ken replied:
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your comment. Sadly, there aren’t any websites that I’m currently aware of allowing you to do this in a semi-useful way. Like you say, Vodafone does offer an estimated data speed range on their own coverage checker. However, EE, O2 and Three don’t have the same functionality so it isn’t really comparable across different networks.
Some third-party companies like OpenSignal have tried to build something themselves by crowdsourcing data from people who have their app installed. However, I don’t think this data is very useful as the sample size is far too small.
I think the biggest issue here is that data speeds can vary massively even inside of a postcode. For instance, you might see a big differences in download speed even within your own home (e.g. placing the router in a different room or having an external antenna). For this reason, trial-and-error is probably still the best way of comparing speeds across mobile networks (and definitely testing out different placements of the router in your home).
Ken
Thomas O'neill said:
Hi Ken I have been reading your comments and replies for about a month since I have been using AI Cube on three network. And it’s probably one of the best for comments and replies and most enjoyable with sensible comments and answers
The one on Dave moving to rural Scotland usb dongle from Huawei – you’re right I live outside Glasgow and used a dongle about a year ago and had problem after problem. Recently I got AI Cube on 3 network and it works fine the Huawei b525 will work perfectly well as know someone who uses it near me so good advice ken.
Was also reading about content blockage. I thought 3 was doing the same with me and went straight to web based management page and now it works perfect so a big thank you I also downloaded the Netgear Analytics free app play store it works on any device and is really good and use on my android box it’s a big help as you know WiFi is unpredictable and walk around the house with my phone for best spots living room etc.
Dave said:
Hi there,
This seems to be the go to place for this kind of info, very informative & helpful with sorting out the sim options so far…
I’m moving to rural Scotland, i think the max data vodafone is the best bet for coverage & usage & i think i know how to set this up but wanted to check with an expert !
Need to keep it cheap, so can i use my existing router (TP link VR400), buy an unlocked dongle (Huawei E3372 on amazon £35 ?) and just insert the data sim into the dongle, the dongle in to the router & away we go ? Its going to get some heavy use but pretty static so i dont think a mifi type is an option and dont really want to pay out for a pricey new router.
Thanks in advance.
Ken replied:
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comment, and for the kind words about the website! You ask a great question. Assuming the Huawei E3372 dongle works with the TP-Link VR400, this should probably be fine (though you’ll need to check their documentation to see whether this is the case).
However, if at all possible, I would strongly recommend you to buy a new 4G router – something like the Huawei B525. You’ll find it gives far better performance & speeds than a cheap USB dongle. There’s also the ability to connect an external antenna which can make a really big difference in rural areas with weaker coverage.
Hope this helps,
Ken
Dave replied:
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the reply.
Well the setup works fine, sadly Vodafone does not.
The coverage map and mast positions suggest it should but somehow their max sim is capping at 5-7mbs on 4g (it is the max available speed one).That’s the same via dongle or putting it in my phone. It does increase if I limit it to 3g, get 15mbs then.
Which seems odd as EE whose mast seems to be same line of sight and just 20 nearer gives 60-70mbs.
Thanks again.
Ken replied:
Hi Dave,
That’s pretty bizarre it caps out at 5-7Mbit/s. Is there an issue with capacity on your nearest Vodafone mast? One alternative you could explore is EE’s £34/month unlimited data SIM card. It’s £4/month more expensive than Vodafone, but this might be worth it if you’re able to get far better speeds. You’ll have to keep an eye out for their fair usage limit however, which prevents you from regularly tethering more than 12 devices.
Ken