Tesco Mobile sells its share of flagship handsets, but it also pushes hard on budget phones and SIM-only plans. Some of the most attractive offers rely on long contracts and miniscule data allowances, however: there are bargains to be had, both in-store and online, but shop carefully if you want the best deal.
What do you get?
One of the best things about Tesco Mobile is that you can manage the cost of a monthly contract by deciding how much you’re willing to pay up front and balancing that against your usage allowances and contract length. For example, if you want a Samsung Galaxy S9 on a 5GB contract, you can get it for as little as £32.25 per month – if you’re willing to go for a 36-month contract and pay £180 up front. If you want a 12-month contract with no up-front fee, you’re looking at a hair-raising £83.75 per month. Or, you can juggle the numbers and find a balance that works for you. In general, prices are competitive: Tesco’s 24-month, 15GB contract is cheaper than EE’s 10GB deal, though Three comes in even cheaper.
Tesco also appeals to budget-conscious shoppers with a good range of older phones and cheaper handsets, including bargain-basement Alcatels and mid-range handsets from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony. Again, you can configure all the options to find the right balance of allowances and costs for you.
As for Tesco’s SIM-only plans, our only criticism is that the sheer range of options may be confusing. At the time of writing the company offers three different 4GB plans, with varying call and text and allowances, not to mention contract lengths. On the plus side, that means you should be able to find a package that’s a good fit for your needs.
| Monthly fee | Data | Texts | Minutes | Contract length |
| £6 | 100MB | 5000 | 100 | 12 month |
| £7.50 | 250MB | 5000 | 250 | 1 month |
| £7.50 | 1GB | 5000 | 500 | 12 month |
| £10 | 1GB | 5000 | 500 | 1 month |
| £10 | 2GB | 5000 | 500 | 12 months |
| £11 | 4GB | 5000 | 1000 | 12 month |
| £13 | 2GB | 5000 | 500 | 1 month |
| £12.50 | 4GB | 5000 | 5000 | 12 month |
| £13.50 | 8GB | 5000 | 5000 | 12 month |
| £15 | 4GB | 5000 | 5000 | 1 month |
| £18 | 10GB | 5000 | 5000 | 12 month |
| £21 | 10GB | 5000 | 5000 | 1 month |
| £25 | 20GB | 5000 | 5000 | 12 month |
| £30 | 20GB | 5000 | 5000 | 1 month |
| £35 | 50GB | 5000 | 5000 | 12 month |
| £40 | 50GB | 5000 | 5000 | 1 month |
While Tesco Mobile isn’t always the cheapest option, it’s usually good value. Typically its prices undercut O2, Vodafone and EE, and give Three and Virgin Mobile a run for their money.
Family Plans
Tesco doesn’t offer cut-price family plans like BT Mobile’s, but if you take out several contracts on a single account you can choose a “Family Perk” for free every month. These include up to 1GB of extra data, extra call minutes, £2 off your total bill or up to £2.25 off Tesco’s Mobile Protect insurance. Alternatively, you can take your bonus in the form of Clubcard points. You can switch perks every month using the Tesco Mobile app.
Coverage and Connection Speeds
Like Sky Mobile and Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile runs over O2’s network. In fact, O2 owns half of the company and provides customer support, so it’s an unusually close relationship.
O2 doesn’t have the best coverage though. In the past year it’s invested significantly in growing outdoor 4G coverage to 97% of the population, but there are some coastal and rural areas where using Tesco Mobile might leave you stuck with a 2G or 3G signal instead of 4G/LTE – and some areas in the north and Scotland where you may not get anything whatsoever.
What’s more, RootMetrics’ most recent tests ranked O2 last of the big four network operators in terms of speeds and reliable connectivity. You won’t have any problems in major conurbations, but if you want good performance everywhere, EE, BT Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Three may all be stronger options. The exception is Northern Ireland: here O2’s network matches EE’s for overall performance, reliability, calls and text speeds, making Tesco Mobile a more persuasive choice.
Roaming
Tesco’s roaming options are pretty basic. Under its “Home from Home” scheme you can use your call, data and text allowances in 48 destinations, but these are the same destinations that just about everyone includes thanks to EU legislation. Charges aren’t too steep if you go over your allowances, with calls charged at 25p per minute, texts at 10p and data at 10p per megabyte. Be warned though that data is strictly capped at 12GB: even if you have a larger allowance you’ll be charged 0.76p per megabyte beyond this.
Roaming outside of the “Home from Home” area is pricey. You’ll be charged £5 per megabyte with a £40 spending cap while abroad; calls cost between 89p and £1.49 per minute, and texts cost 40p each. That’s more expensive than Giffgaff or Three in many countries, though a little less than O2 or EE.
Other services and spending caps
Tesco lets you limit your monthly spending to as little as £2.50 above your normal tariff, giving you reassurance that neither you nor your offspring will end up with a huge bill at the end of the month. You can even set the cap at the same time as purchasing the contract, and change it later if you need to.
Tesco doesn’t offer entertainment bundles or online services like some other providers, but if you buy an Android or SIM-only deal you can sign up for the Tesco Mobile Xtras app. This shaves £2 a month from your monthly contract, in exchange for showing ads, offers and other Tesco content every time you unlock your phone. It’s not for everyone, but, as the store says, every little helps.
Conclusion
Tesco Mobile is never going to have a cool image, and its speeds and coverage are limited by the host network. Still, O2 is expanding, and if you’re in an area with good coverage, Tesco has a lot to recommend it. It’s reasonably cheap, with an extensive range of handsets and SIM-only deals, and its sensible approach to spending caps will be a winner for many families. BT Mobile and Sky Mobile have more to offer their existing customers, but if you’re not one, Tesco Mobile is well worth a look.