The Post Office has entered the mobile market with a new pay-as-you-go 3G SIM.
The latest mobile virtual network operator (or MVNO) will piggyback off EE’s network to provide its service.
The Post Office said pay-as-you-go is only the start and promised it will offer handsets later this year and monthly contracts in early 2016.
Rates and bundles
You can order the Post Office Mobile SIM for free online or pick one up in selected branches (find your nearest one here).
Standard rates on calls to both landlines and mobiles will be 8p a minute, while each text and MB of data will cost 10p.
To make your credit last longer, Post Office Mobile will double your top-up, so £10 will get you £20 to use. Free credit will last 30 days.
Alternatively there’s also the option of 30-day bundles, which start from £5. Below is a table with what you can get.
|
Price |
Data |
Minutes |
Texts |
|
£5 |
500MB |
250 |
3,000 |
|
£7.50 |
500MB |
500 |
3,000 |
|
£10 |
2GB |
500 |
3,000 |
|
£15 |
3GB |
1,000 |
3,000 |
|
£20 |
5GB |
1,000 |
3,000 |
Right now you’ll only be able to use the Post Office Mobile SIM for 3G data. So if you have a 4G smartphone, it’s not really worth going for.
However, the Post Office says 4G will follow in September and since it uses EE’s network, it will have unrivalled 4G coverage.
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How Post Office Mobile compares
The Post Office has entered a pretty crowded market. So let’s see how it stacks up.
First here's how the standard rates compare to other pay-as-you-go SIMs from a range of providers. The table is organised by cheapest call cost.
|
Provider |
Cost of calls per minute landline/ mobile |
Cost per text |
Cost of data |
3G/4G data? |
|
3p |
2p |
1p per MB |
4G |
|
|
8p |
4p |
5p per MB |
3G |
|
|
Mobile by Sainsbury’s |
8p |
4p |
5p per MB |
3G |
|
Post Office Mobile |
8p |
10p |
10p per MB |
3G |
|
10p |
6p |
20p per day up to 20MB. 20p per MB thereafter. |
3G |
|
|
25p |
10p |
10p per MB |
4G |
|
|
30p |
14p |
£2 per day up to 50MB. 10p per MB thereafter. |
3G |
|
|
EE* |
30p |
12p |
£1 for 100 MB |
4G |
|
35p |
14p |
£3 per MB-£1/day |
4G |
|
|
40p |
15p |
£1 per day up to 100MB. £1 per MB thereafter. |
3G |
*In order to use data you must add a data pack of £1 lasting seven days, which comes with 100MB of data as well as 10 free texts and minutes or £10 lasting 30 days, which comes with 1GB of data as well as 50 free texts and minutes.
Post Office Mobile offers a good deal compared to Tesco Mobile, O2, EE, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile when looking at their call rates.
But there are more competitive deals from Three, Asda Mobile and Mobile by Sainsbury's.
Three offers the best deal overall charging just 3p per minute for calls, 2p for texts and 1p per MB for 3G or 4G data.
Now let's take a look at how Post Office Mobile compares on the cheapest 30-day pay-as-you-go deals. The table is arranged in order of lowest monthly cost.
|
Provider |
Pay-as-you-go deal |
Minutes |
Texts |
Data |
3G/4G data? |
Monthly cost |
|
Post Office Mobile |
30-day bundles |
250 |
3,000 |
500MB |
3G |
£5 |
|
30-day bundles |
100 |
2,000 |
100MB |
3G |
£5 |
|
|
3G Goodybag |
100 |
300 |
100MB |
3G |
£5 |
|
|
Mobile by Sainsbury’s** |
Rolling Bundle |
300 |
5,000 |
500MB |
3G |
£8 |
|
All in One |
100 |
3,000 |
500MB |
4G |
£10 |
|
|
Big Bundle |
250 |
1,000 |
500MB |
4G |
£10 |
|
|
Freedom Freebies |
150 |
Unlimited |
500MB |
3G |
£10 |
|
|
Everything Pack |
150 |
Unlimited |
500MB |
4G |
£10 |
|
|
Big Data & Texts |
28 |
3,000 |
1GB |
3G |
£10 |
|
|
4G Goodybag |
500 |
Unlimited |
1GB |
4G |
£12 |
|
|
Call, text and data bundle |
150 |
5000 |
500MB |
4G |
£15 |
*Must combine text, call and data bundle all £5 each.
**Exclusive online price.
As you can see Post Office Mobile really stands out when it comes to its 30-day bundles, offering the most competitive deal at the lowest monthly cost.
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