Carphone Warehouse has launched its own UK mobile network. Named 'iD', it will be available in May and will operate on Three's network, a canny move considering the company hasn't been offering Three contracts for quite some time.
According to Carphone Warehouse, the iD network will be "built around what the customer wants and addresses consumer frustrations with current mobile phone plans". It also aims to provide greater flexibility in the form of 12 month contracts, greater access to free data roaming with plans that cover more European countries than anyone else, and the best value 4G in the UK.
iD's free roaming plans are particularly promising, as Carphone Warehouse has said it will cover 22 countries in total (beating Three's current total of 18 countries where you can use its Feel at Home service), with all but two of them (the US and Australia) located in Europe. These include Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
This puts iD miles ahead of current leader Three, who currently only have 10 European countries which support its Feel at Home service (namely Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). Three has more non-European countries (adding Indonesia, Israel, Macau, New Zealand and Sri Lanka to the mix), but iD will no doubt prove more useful to the majority of UK phone owners in the long run.
As for its best value 4G, Carphone Warehouse told Expert Reviews it will be offering both contracts and SIM-only deals with controlled and capped plans which come with a standardised monthly bill. While it's yet to reveal the full extent of its contract and SIM-only deals, the first "mega offer" will be available on the Samsung Galaxy A3. This will include a 12-month 4G plan with 300 minutes, 5,000 texts and 1GB of data for £19.50 a month.
iD will be available to customers from May 2015 in all Carphone Warehouse stores and online, and, of course, through all Currys and PC World stores now that it's part of the Dixon Carphone family. You can register your interest now at www.idmobile.co.uk
"We’ve been listening to our millions of customers’ network requirements and desires for years," says Carphone Warehouse CEO Graham Stapleton. "In doing so we have identified some common challenges. People want greater flexibility from their plans and are fed up with the ‘one size fits all’ approach. In fact, a recent study by Which? found that overspend on mobile phone charges in the UK amounts to £5.42 billion each year – showing just how many people aren’t on the right plan for them.
"We are also a generation obsessed with the mobile internet and accessing data and services on the move – things people are either paying too much for or just aren’t getting. Addressing these challenges forms the basis of the first wave of plans from iD. This is just the beginning. We know that there are lots more customer issues and frustrations with existing mobile plans that we’re eager to tackle. We want this network to be focused on the individual and we will continue to listen to customers over the coming months, asking them to help develop and evolve iD."