Sky Mobile vs BT Mobile review: UK mobile providers compared

Sky Mobile launched its mobile network in late 2016, but it’s only just recently become available to customers. Its late arrival on the scene, many years after cable TV rival Virgin Media began offering mobile contracts, raised a few eyebrows but features such as month-to-month data roll-over and the ability to upgrade or downgrade at the drop of hat certainly offer something different to most networks.

It joins fellow newcomer BT Mobile in offering something new or different, so we thought we’d compare the two mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) to see which comes out best in terms of price, coverage and customer service.

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Sky Mobile vs BT Mobile review: Contract length and roll-over

As I’ve already hinted, one of the main reasons you might want to consider Sky Mobile over and above any other network is data roll-over. What this means is that Sky Mobile will automatically add any extra data you have remaining from the previous month to your current month’s allocation, effectively ensuring that you’re not paying for data you don’t use. The catch is that this is limited to 1GB increments and can “only” be stored for three years.

The concept isn’t new. Both O2 and Virgin Media also offer data roll-over, but unlike Sky Mobile, these networks don’t let you store unused data for so long. At the end of each month, your roll-over allowance from the previous month is reset.

Sky Mobile is also unusual in that, as long as you give 30-day notice, you can increase or decrease your data allowance on the fly without affecting any data you might have stored up. So, if you were to take out a 5GB plan for a few months and then downgrade to a 1GB plan after using, say, 2GB per month, you’d still have 6GB of data to draw on should you ever go over your new 1GB limit.

Better still, Sky Mobile’s data roll-over also applies to the firm’s multi-SIM family contracts. If any member of your family has unused data that’s also added to the shared pot and becomes available to other members the following month.

BT Mobile can’t offer this kind of flexibility and neither is it as flexible on contract length and early termination. However, if you’ve taken out the firm’s family SIM contract, you can add or remove family members from your primary 12-month contract package with a 30-day notice and not have to worry about any penalty charges.

As for voice and text messages, that’s a similar story, with Sky Mobile offering more flexibility than BT Mobile. Sky Mobile’s Mix facility grants you the ability to downgrade or upgrade your calls and texts plan at any time during your 12-month contract with no penalty. You’re still obliged to pay Sky for your £10, £15 or £20 data allowance plan, but if you don’t use your phone for calls and texts you can save £10 a month (if you’re not a Sky TV customer) by going to the Pay As You Use option.

As far as we’re aware, no other UK providers give you this level of freedom to customers signed up to a fixed-term contract, let alone BT Mobile. Having the ability to save that extra £10 on your bill during a tight month could prove to be a deciding factor for some people.

Winner: Sky Mobile

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Sky Mobile vs BT Mobile review: Price and package deals

Pricing is always the most important factor at this end of the market and both Sky Mobile and BT Mobile have competitive offerings. Both also offer contracts on popular smartphones, but I’m only looking at how the firms’ SIM-only deals compare here.

Sky Mobile has the simplest of the two operators’ offerings, kicking off with three separate data packages to choose from: 1GB for £10, 3GB for £15 and 5GB for £20 a month.

Once you’ve selected the amount of data you require (remember, you can roll over data and chop and change the amount from month to month as well), you’ll be asked to choose between Unlimited Calls and Texts and Pay As You Use. If you’re a Sky TV customer, the unlimited option is free, so it makes sense to choose that.

For anyone else, the £10 Unlimited Calls and Texts makes Sky Mobile overpriced, so if you’re desperate to benefit from the data roll-over choose the Pay As You Use option, where calls cost a flat rate of 10p a minute and 10p per text.

There is the option to have a family SIM, which means five contracts can be taken out under the same household. Unfortunately, there are no family discounts on Sky Mobile. However, you will have the option to share data and store any unused GBs in a family piggybank.

Sky Mobile also offers an extra feature called Sync Sky+. This allows you to watch recordings made on a Sky+ box on your phone, either by streaming them via 4G or copying them over Wi-Fi for watching later. It’s a similar system to that offered by the company’s Sky Q system but for customers who haven’t yet upgraded.

BT Mobile doesn’t have anything in the same vein but, instead of gimmicks, offers a broader choice of plans to select from. There are four plans available: Great Value Starter Plan, Perfect All Rounder Plan, Brand New 6GB Plan, and The Ultimate SIM Plan. Here’s a breakdown of what they cost and include. As with Sky, if you’re a BT Broadband customer you get a £5 discount:

BT Mobile also offer a family SIM, which drives down the cost per SIM if you take more than one card, a scheme that starts from the Perfect All Rounder Plan.

For example, if you were to sign up for The Ultimate SIM Plan and take out three contracts under the same household and bill payer, you’d save £21 (35%) a month over the same BT contracts taken out separately. Instead of paying three lots of £20 a month, you’d be paying only £39 a month in total.

Sky Mobile and BT Mobile don’t offer the same package, so it’s hard to compare the two directly. However, if you aren’t a BT customer or a Sky customer, BT’s packages offer more bang per buck.

Take BT’s £15 Perfect All Rounder Plan, for example. Although it offers 1GB less data and doesn’t give you unlimited call minutes, it’s £10 cheaper than Sky’s 3GB and unlimited mins/text contract. The Brand New 6GB Plan, meanwhile, includes an extra 1GB of data and does have unlimited calls and texts, yet it works out £10 cheaper per month as well.

Our winner on price, then, is BT Mobile, since its base contracts give you more for your money. However, if you’re an existing customer of either company it makes sense to go with whoever you’re already with.

Winner: BT Mobile

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Sky Mobile vs BT Mobile review: Coverage

Both Sky and BT are mobile virtual network operators (MVNO). This means they use another mobile operator’s infrastructure to deliver your voice calls, text messages and data.

^BT Mobile coverage

BT Mobile uses EE’s network, which also owned by BT Group. By utilising EE’s network, BT Mobile customers have close to flawless 4G, 3G and 2G coverage. At 97%, 98% and 99% coverage respectively, BT boasts wide UK coverage.

^Sky Mobile coverage

Sky, on the other hand, makes use of the O2 mobile network and it’s a lot less impressive, achieving 78%, 98% and 99% UK coverage across 4G, 3G and 2G networks. If you’ll be travelling around the UK or live in a rural area, BT is clearly the better bet, but it’s always worth checking first using a friend’s phone to see what the coverage and speed are like in your house and at work before you make a commitment.

Winner: BT Mobile

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Sky Mobile vs BT Mobile review: Roaming charges

If you’re a frequent flyer, a generous roaming deal is essential but provision and cost vary hugely across networks.

For travellers, Sky Mobile offers an “International Saver” bolt-on as part of its mobile plans, which reduces the cost of roaming charges. Without the bolt-on, calls, texts and data usage outside the UK are relatively expensive; you can see a full list of countries and costs on Sky Mobile’s Tariff Guide.

^BT Mobile coverage checker

BT has a more comprehensive range of roaming add-ons to choose from, including separate deals targeted at travellers to the US and Europe, and these grant you between 20MB to 300MB of total data, which expire 30 days after purchase. Outside these add-ons, its charges are also relatively expensive: a full breakdown can be found on BT’s Phone Tariff document.

Overall, our favourite for roaming right now is BT Mobile, but do bear in mind that in June 2017 data and mobile roaming charges throughout the EU are set to change, and they’ll be fixed at the same rate as you have at home. This will render the use of add-ons, in Europe at least, redundant and so it doesn’t make much sense to base your decision on this factor alone.

Winner: BT Mobile

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Sky Mobile vs BT Mobile review: Verdict

The two network providers have good deals on mobile contracts. Both have their pros and cons, but if you forced us to choose a new contract between the two operators, we’d lean toward BT Mobile, as it offers a better price, coverage and superior international add-ons.

Sky Mobile does offer the most versatile package and gives you the ability to roll over data, a very handy feature for peak data-usage months, but for majority of folk, BT is our current pick.

However, our verdict changes if you’re a current Sky TV or BT Broadband customer – the benefits of being with either BT or Sky will impact the overall price you pay for your mobile contract.

A saving of £10 for Sky customers and £5 for BT customers makes each package a lot more appealing; so if you’re a current Sky TV customer, get Sky Mobile. If you’re a current BT Broadband customer, get BT Mobile. If you aren’t a customer of either, get BT Mobile.