With Vodafone Basics, you can get 6GB data for £7, 40GB data for £8, or 60GB data for £10. These budget-friendly plans give you 99% coverage on Vodafone’s 4G network.

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly SIM-only plan from a big name mobile network, Vodafone now offers a range of discounted ‘Basics’ plans.

Available exclusively through a hidden page on their website, Vodafone Basics is designed to offer “simple plans for everyday use”. You’ll get access to Vodafone’s 4G network with 99% population coverage, as well as exclusive customer offers through VeryMe Rewards. There’s also a shorter 12-month contract, which gives you more flexibility compared to the standard 24-month contract.

The main limitation that’s worth being aware of is the fact that you won’t get access to 5G. In addition, there’s no ability to make international or premium-rate phone calls on a Vodafone Basics plan.

Get Vodafone Basics SIM card →

At present, it’s possible to get a Vodafone Basics plan from £7/month. This comes with unlimited UK minutes, unlimited UK texts, and an allowance of UK data (up to 60GB per month). At present, you can get 6GB data for £7, 40GB data for £8, or 60GB data for £10.

In this article, we’ll review the Vodafone Basics SIM-only plans. We’ll start by looking at the plans available, along with the features included and the key limitations to be aware of. We’ll also look at the coverage available and how you can keep your current phone number on the plan.

Prices From: £7 per month
Increases annually on 1 April by £1.00
Contract Length: 12-month contract
Benefits:
  • SIM-only plans from just £7pm, with a shorter 12-month contract.
  • Access to 99% population coverage on Vodafone’s 4G network.
  • Unlimited UK minutes & up to 60GB data (enough for most users).
  • Access to offers, discounts & weekly freebies through VeryMe Rewards.
Drawbacks:
  • You won’t have access to 5G or international calling.
  • No unlimited data options (not suitable for very heavy data users).
Coverage: 4G coverage from Vodafone (check postcode)

Vodafone Basics Plans

In the UK, Vodafone Basics is a range of lower-cost SIM-only plans from Vodafone. They’re available from just £7 per month on a 12-month contract (compared to the starting price of £10 per month on Vodafone Red plans).

The following plans are currently available within the Vodafone Basics range:

Network Data Monthly Cost
(will rise each April by £1)
Vodafone
  • Unlimited mins
  • Unlimited texts
6GB
data
£7.00
per month
12 month contract
See deal  
Vodafone
  • Unlimited mins
  • Unlimited texts
40GB
data
£8.00
per month
12 month contract
See deal  
Vodafone
  • Unlimited mins
  • Unlimited texts
60GB
data
£10.00
per month
12 month contract
See deal  

What Do You Get?

  • Vodafone’s fastest available 4G speeds. You’ll get access to the fastest available download speeds on Vodafone’s 4G network, without any speed limits or slowdowns. According to Vodafone, that’s an average speed of 23-35Mbps. It’s enough for pretty much anything you’d like to do on your phone (including the streaming of ultra HD video).
  • 99% UK population coverage. You’ll get the exact same 4G coverage as customers on Vodafone’s other plans. You’ll also get Wi-Fi Calling and 4G Calling included on these plans.
  • Up to 60GB data per month. In our opinion, that should be more than enough for the vast majority of users. According to Ofcom (2024), the average UK mobile user consumes about 10GB data per month. Therefore, only very heavy users are likely to need more than 60GB data per month.
  • Unlimited UK minutes & texts. All of the Vodafone Basics plans come with unlimited UK minutes and unlimited UK texts. This makes it perfect for staying in touch, and for use as a landline replacement.
  • ‘VeryMe’ Rewards’ offers and freebies. With Vodafone Basics, you’ll get access to VeryMe Rewards. This is the exclusive customer loyalty programme from Vodafone, giving you exclusive offers, discounts and freebies each week. Some of the highlights include their #FeelGoodFriday giveaways (such as a free coffee or supermarket voucher), as well as the discounts from the Gourmet Society, Coffee Club and Kids Pass.

What’s Excluded?

  • You won’t get 5G coverage on Basics. With Vodafone Basics, you’re restricted to 4G coverage (with an average download speed of 23-35Mbps). In contrast, Vodafone Red plans will also give you access to 5G, with download speeds that are around five times faster. Although it’s a nice to have, we don’t think it’s a necessity at the moment as you can already do everything you’d want to do on a regular 4G connection. The only time you’ll really notice a difference is when you’re downloading large files (e.g. new apps and games), which will be a little faster on 5G.
  • Some additional paid-for services are barred. This includes international calling, MMS picture messages, premium-rate phone calls, and premium-rate SMS text messages. However, you’ll still be able to share photos and videos through instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. You’ll also be able to use iMessage and FaceTime as normal.
  • International roaming will cost extra. There’s a daily fee for using your mobile phone abroad. This fee depends on where you’re travelling to, but it’s normally £2.42 per day in Europe and £7.39 per day in most other countries.
  • It’s online-only and is just for new Vodafone customers. To get Vodafone Basics, you’ll need to sign up through a special page on their website. It isn’t possible to sign up in store or by telephone. You’ll also need to be new to Vodafone Pay Monthly. It isn’t possible to transfer from another Vodafone Pay Monthly plan to Vodafone Basics.

Network & Coverage

4G Coverage from Vodafone

When you’re using a Vodafone Basics plan, you’ll have access to 99% population coverage on Vodafone’s 4G network. This is the same 4G coverage that you’ll get on Vodafone’s other mobile plans, complete with 4G Calling (VoLTE) and their fastest available download speeds on 4G.

Before you sign up for a Vodafone Basics plan, it’s worth double-checking the coverage in your area. You can do this by entering your postcode on Vodafone’s online coverage map:

Check Vodafone Coverage (vodafone.co.uk) →

Unfortunately, 5G coverage isn’t available on Vodafone Basics. This means you’ll miss out on the faster download speeds that would typically be available on 5G (approx 100-150Mbps). Having said that, the typical download speeds of Vodafone’s 4G network (23-35Mbps) should already be fast enough for almost anything you’d like to do on your phone, so it isn’t a major omission.

International Roaming

As long as your Vodafone Basics plan was taken on or after the 22nd July 2022, you’ll be able to use it abroad through international roaming.

The cost of international roaming depends on the country you’re travelling to:

  • In Europe: You’ll pay £2.42 per day to use your phone in most European countries. Alternatively, there are passes available that will bring the total price down (e.g. to £12 for 8 days of European roaming, or to £17 for 15 days of European roaming).
  • Outside Europe: Usage outside Europe will typically be much more expensive (£7.39 per day in most countries).

You can check the costs of international roaming on the Vodafone website.

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 often used as a convenient way to get your other devices connected to the internet through a mobile broadband connection.

On Vodafone Basics, you can tether and share your mobile data allowance with other devices. Any data that’s used will simply count towards your download limit in the normal way.

Keeping Your Phone Number

If you’re switching from another mobile network onto a Vodafone Basics plan, it’s a straightforward process to bring your phone number with you.

Start by asking your current mobile network to give you a PAC Code. You can get one through your mobile network’s website or app, or by texting PAC to 65075.

Once you’ve gotten a PAC Code from your current network, order your Basics SIM card from the Vodafone website. You’ll then be able to provide your PAC Code to Vodafone, either during the sign up process, or afterwards through this online form. After providing the PAC Code to Vodafone, your phone number transfer will normally take place on the next working day.

For a step-by-step guide on transferring your phone number to Vodafone, please select your current mobile network from the drop-down menu below:

PAC Code Finder: Transfer Your Phone Number to Vodafone

Select your current mobile network:

  More Options

More Information

For more information about Vodafone Basics, please see the official Vodafone website.

Your Comments 29 so far

We'd love to hear your thoughts and any questions you may have. So far, we've received 29 comments from readers. You can add your own comment here.

  • Mark said:

    Hi Ken

    Do you know if the basic plan supports esim? I’m new to the UK and looking to have both numbers on the one phone.

    athanks for helpful article.

    Mark

  • Simon said:

    If I pay for example 6 pounds per month for 4GB data, does that mean 4GB total data spread over the 12 months or does it mean 4GB per month ? If the latter and a part of the data allocation is unused, does it roll over to add to the following month ? Sorry for the silly sounding question but nowhere can I find what Vodafone really means by 4GB data etc.

    • Ken replied:

      Hi Simon,
      You’ll get 4GB per month. Unfortunately, there’s no data rollover available – you’ll just get another 4GB when your allowances next refresh.
      Hope this helps,
      Ken

  • Mark Jones said:

    For those that want the Vodafone network plus Wi-Fi / 4G calling, the new Asda mobile is working very well for me.

    • Ravik replied:

      Hi, can anyone please advise me to buy £10 deal 30gb data would allow me to access 4g and 5g network or not?
      This is mine first time purchase basic plan but I am not really sure about the plan, would it be worth it to go for or shall I quit?

  • Adam said:

    Hi, I’m on an old Basics sim only contract (mid 2019…)

    I am able to use Voice of WiFi through my Xiaomi Mi9, so is this a new limitation on the Basics sim-only contracts since 2019(ish) or is my phone just special?

  • Jenny Stokes said:

    This is a query about a Vodafone 4GB Basics deal to use with a HUAWEI B535 router.
    The Huawei B353 router is to be connected to a Venus GX that manages my PV and battery energy storage system. I can link with the Venus GX using my mobile phone or lap top when I am close to the equipment, but occasionally I want to link to it over the internet. My query is: accessing the Venus GX over the internet will transfer data over the mobile network. A Vodafone data only deal such as Red 1GB is all that is required to transfer data over the mobile network, but it costs more (£11/month rather than £6/month) than the 4GB basics, which allows calls and texts that I don’t need. Is it okay to use the 4GB Basics SIM deal?

    • Ken replied:

      Hi Jenny,
      Thanks for your comment. Yes, I can’t see any reason why you wouldn’t be able to use a Basics deal. Most of the things you lose out on (e.g. the ability to use your SIM card abroad, making premium rate calls and the ability to use 5G) aren’t really relevant for this use case, so you’re almost certainly better off getting a Basics plan.
      Hope this helps,
      Ken

  • John said:

    Hi,

    I have 2 Basics Contracts, which are both expiring soon. Vodafone are saying I can’t get off those deals and move to the newer, cheaper £6 / 3GB package. Have you any experience of changing to a new 12 month contract at the end of a 12 month Basics contract?

    • Ken replied:

      Hi John,
      Thanks for your comment. Technically speaking, I believe all of the Basics contracts are new customer deals which is possibly why they’re not offering it to you as an upgrade. You potentially have three options:
      1) Consider switching to another mobile network that also uses coverage from Vodafone – for instance, something like Talkmobile which is owned by Vodafone.
      2) Ask them to switch you to a Pay As You Go plan. Once you’ve done that, it might then be possible to sign up as a new Basics customer, as I believe the plan is still open to current Pay As You Go customers. Note that I haven’t actually tried this, so no guarantee that it’ll work.
      3) The only sure-fire way would be to leave Vodafone for another network e.g. to a Pay As You Go network such as giffgaff. Once you’ve done that, and once you’ve ported your phone number out, you’ll be able to re-join Vodafone as a “new customer”.
      Obviously, this all involves a little bit of hassle, which is a shame as Vodafone could easily arrange it all for you if they wanted!
      Ken

      • John replied:

        Hi Ken,

        Many thanks for getting back to me so quickly and for taking the time to answer my questions. Excellent reply. Everything I need to know!

    • Ken replied:

      Hi Dani,
      Thanks for your comment. Yes, the Vodafone Basics plans should allow you to do this, subject to coverage being available in your area 🙂 You can access average download speeds of 23-35Mbps on Vodafone Basics. This compares to a minimum speed requirement of around 0.1Mbps for a voice call and about 0.8Mbps for a video call.
      Hope this helps,
      Ken

  • Ken said:

    Hi all,
    Some great news! As of today (the 2nd October 2020), you’ll now get the fastest available 4G speeds on all Vodafone Basics plans. Previously, these plans were limited to a maximum download speed of 10Mbps. I’ve updated the article above to reflect these changes.
    Ken

  • AndyT said:

    Thanks for such a useful site. I have voda basics sim and recently noticed on the voda app on my old iPhone se (not the recently released one) it offered wifi calling. I selected it, waited a bit, rebooted phone, into settings and its there and working. Maybe another gift during lockdown? Very useful for me as I switched to voda a couple of years back just to get good in home coverage by buying their sure signal 3g box. However wifi calling works elsewhere as well.

  • Jiver said:

    You have to pay for the first minute of every call according to their website but nobody seems to mention this!

    • Ken replied:

      Hi Jiver,
      Thanks for your comment. The Vodafone Basics plans all come with unlimited UK minutes so it shouldn’t be necessary to pay anything when calling landlines and mobiles. Do you have a link or reference to the information you’ve found?
      Thanks,
      Ken

  • Richarc said:

    WiFi and 4G calling is available, they work for me, also I have multiple “basics” sims and was already a customer so this is incorrect in saying only available to “new” customers

  • A. Aldhafir said:

    I have just bought Vodafone basic sim only , but the problem is that I can’t use the data,it does not work, I can’t even open a web page. I don’t know why, I did try it with different handsets but it’s the same result. The voice calling and receiving calls is very good. I live in central London and I have 3 mobile and it works very well but I wanted to change to Vodafone but their data doesn’t work.
    So I need to cancel Vodafone and stay with 3 mobile.

    • iain woods replied:

      I also have one of these SIMS and the data is shocking.Wont connect to 4G 98% of the time,so it’s basically 2G all the time.Vodaphone cannot resolve the issue either. Strangely enough,the 4G works perfectly in the vodaphone store.Been with them years but when this SIM expires,will be no longer!

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