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1pMobile prides itself on offering some of the UK’s lowest Pay As You Go rates per minute, per text, and per megabyte of data, at – you guessed it – just 1p each.
That’s the network’s main selling point but far from its only one, especially as it’s powered by EE, which has widespread 5G coverage and impressive speeds.
For full details of 1pMobile, read on, because we’ve looked at this network in depth to highlight all the good and bad points about it.
|
Pros |
Cons |
|---|---|
|
Extremely cheap for PAYG |
No unlimited data option |
|
Short-term plans |
Doesn’t sell phones |
Our Rating
| Table of Contents |
1pMobile offers a selection of SIM Only plans, along with a Pay As You Go service. 5G comes as standard but you can’t buy phones on the network.
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|
Mobile phones |
SIM Only |
|---|---|---|
|
Plans Available |
X |
✔ |
|
Max Data Allowance |
X |
200GB |
|
Contract Length |
X |
30 days or 1 year |
The vast majority of 1pMobile’s SIM Only plans last just 30 days, so you’re not tied into a long contract. They all include unlimited minutes and texts, but they top out at 200GB of data, meaning this is one of an ever decreasing number of networks that doesn’t offer plans with unlimited data.
Still, 200GB is more than most people will need, and 1pMobile’s plans additionally come with a selection of extras, detailed in the ‘Extras and benefits’ section further down.
You can also get a 1-year plan with 1pMobile, but this only comes with 500MB of data per month, and is designed mainly as a way to affordably call and text.
Of course, 1pMobile also offers a Pay As You Go service, and that’s one of the network’s main highlights, as it charges just 1p per minute, 1p per text, and 1p per megabyte of data. That 1p rate also applies when roaming in 46 European destinations.
2 GB data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 1 Month Contract £6.00 a month 4 GB data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 1 Month Contract £7.50 a month 10 GB data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 1 Month Contract £8.00 a month 25 GB data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 1 Month Contract £10.00 a month 50 GB data UNLIMITED mins UNLIMITED texts 1 Month Contract £12.50 a month
View All 1pMobile Sim Only Deals
1pMobile is superb value on Pay As You Go, given that it charges just 1p per minute, 1p per text, and 1p per megabyte of data.
As the vast majority of its SIM Only plans are only 30 days long there’s no annual price rises to worry about with those, so in that sense they’re good value too.
Actual pricing for SIM Only plans is fine, with prices that are generally comparable to the likes of VOXI (though some specific plans may cost more or less), however they can’t match the very cheapest SIM Only networks, such as Smarty.
The chart below shows you in brief the key features that are and aren’t available on 1pMobile, but for more details of each, read on.
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✔ |
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✔ (in EU) |
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✔ |
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✔ |
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✔ |
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✖ |
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✖ |
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✖ |
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✖ |
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✖ |
1pMobile provides 5G as standard on all of its plans, so all you need is a 5G phone and to be in an area with 5G coverage.
1pMobile allows you to roam at no extra cost in 46 European destinations up to a fair usage limit of 14GB of data. You can also roam on Pay As You Go at the standard 1p rates in those 46 destinations.
However, you should be using your plan more in the UK than abroad, and 1pMobile will check this over a rolling 90-day period.
Tethering means sharing your phone’s internet connection with other Wi-Fi enabled gadgets to get them online, and it’s a standard feature of most mobile networks, including 1pMobile.
Wi-Fi Calling is a feature that lets you make and receive calls over Wi-Fi, as well as being able to send and receive texts. It’s seamless, and extremely useful when there’s not much mobile signal. This is something that many but not all networks offer, and 1pMobile is among those that do.
VoLTE stands for Voice over LTE (also known as 4G Calling) and it lets you call and text over 4G, rather than being limited to 2G or 3G for this. As with Wi-Fi Calling this is a common feature but not one that every network offers, and 1pMobile does. It also allows 5G Calling (which is the same idea but for calls over 5G).
Data rollover is a perk that lets you keep unused data for another month, so you have a second chance to use it. However, this isn’t offered by 1pMobile at the time of writing.
1pMobile doesn’t advertise any sort of spending caps, so presumably it doesn’t offer these, meaning you likely can’t customise how much you want to be able to spend outside your allowances.
1pMobile doesn’t offer any plans with unlimited data. The maximum you can get at the time of writing is 200GB. That’s a lot, but it won’t be enough for the very heaviest of data users.
1pMobile doesn’t have any family plans, so there aren’t any bonuses for adding your household to your 1pMobile account.
1pMobile doesn’t credit check its customers, so it’s a great choice if you have a poor credit rating.
1pMobile has a couple of additional perks not detailed above. For one thing, it offers fairly cheap international calling, with prices starting at 9p per minute and 6p per text.
There’s also a referral programme, which rewards both you and any person you refer with a £5 bonus that’s added as a top-up to your phones.
1pMobile is an EE MVNO, so its coverage is identical to that of EE, and will improve as EE’s does.
1pMobile through EE has rapidly growing 5G coverage as well as almost comprehensive 4G coverage, as you can see in the chart below.
|
Network Type |
Coverage by population |
|---|---|
|
5G |
Now available in over 1,000 locations |
|
4G |
>99% |
|
3G |
In the process of switching off |
|
2G |
99% |
|
Network |
Download/upload speeds |
4G latency (ms) |
|---|---|---|
|
1pMobile (EE) |
40.0/9.3Mbps |
36.0ms |
|
Three |
34.5/6.3Mbps |
48.3ms |
|
Vodafone |
27.9/8.0Mbps |
39.0ms |
|
O2 |
20.9/5.0Mbps |
38.1ms |
While there haven’t been any significant studies of 1pMobile, there is plenty of data on EE, which is likely to deliver similar results.
So then, an Opensignal report from September 2023 recorded an average download speed of 40.0Mbps for EE, along with an average upload speed of 9.3Mbps. These results use a combination of 5G, 4G and 3G connections.
There’s no latency data in that report, but a previous one from April 2020 found that EE’s average latency (the amount of time the network takes to respond to a request) was 36.0ms.
In every case those results are better than Three, Vodafone or O2, and likely also therefore better than any MVNOs that use those networks.
Looking at 5G and EE again impresses, albeit not quite as much relative to rivals, as it was found in the same Opensignal report from September 2023 as above to have a UK-wide average 5G download speed of 99.5Mbps.
It was also found in a RootMetrics report from the second half of 2023 to have a median 5G download speed of 174.1Mbps. In both cases that beats O2 and its median also beats Vodafone and Three, but its average 5G download speed is lower than Vodafone’s or Three’s in the Opensignal test above.
This RootMetrics test also included EE’s 95th percentile 5G download speed (meaning close to its highest), which was 638.5Mbps, and that beats all networks except Three.
Finally, there’s a 2023 report from Speedtest, which found that EE’s median 5G download speed was 94.79Mbps. and its median 5G upload speed was 12.06Mbps – both of which only manage to beat O2.
EE’s median 5G latency in this report was the lowest though at 30ms.
1pMobile doesn’t appear to currently publish a traffic management policy, but it’s likely to be similar to EE’s, which reserves the right to manage traffic in order to protect the network for the use of all customers, but shouldn’t otherwise limit your data speeds or usage beyond the limits of your allowance.
|
Frequency |
Frequency Band |
Network |
|---|---|---|
|
700Mhz |
N29 |
5G |
|
800MHz |
Band 20 |
4G |
|
1800MHz |
Band 3 |
2G & 4G |
|
2100MHz |
Band 1 |
3G & 4G |
|
2600MHz |
Band 7 |
4G |
|
3400MHz |
N78 |
5G |
|
3600MHz |
N77 |
5G |
The chart above shows the network frequencies used by EE, and presumably 1pMobile has access to all the same ones, since it shares EE’s network infrastructure.
In which case, you’ll be using the 700MHz, 3400MHz, and 3600MHz bands for 5G, and the 800MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz, and 2600MHz bands for 4G.
Generally speaking, the lower frequency bands are able to send a mobile signal over longer distances than the higher frequency bands, but aren’t as good at passing through walls and other obstacles. So a combination of different frequencies like we see here is desirable.
For further details, check out our 4G and 5G frequencies guide.
There haven’t been any significant studies into 1pMobile’s customer service, but customer satisfaction seems generally high, with the network having a Trustpilot score of 4.5 out of 5. That’s classed as ‘excellent,’ and is based on 16,660 ratings at the time of writing.
1pMobile is one of the best possible options if you want to Pay As You Go, as its rates are among the lowest around.
Beyond that, it using EE’s coverage is a big bonus, as EE has excellent coverage and speeds.
1pMobile also has other things going for it, like inclusive EU roaming, plus 4G Calling and Wi-Fi Calling.
However, the lack of any plans with unlimited data means it’s not a good fit for the heaviest users, and it also doesn’t sell any phones. Plus, while it’s generally decent value, it only excels on that front for Pay As You Go – its SIM Only plans are competitively priced but not up there with the very cheapest.
EE is one obvious alternative to 1pMobile, since it has identical coverage. EE also comes with a much larger variety of plans and some premium extras, like subscriptions to streaming services, but as a result it’s also a more expensive choice.
You might also want to consider Lyca Mobile, which likewise shares EE’s coverage but is cheaper than EE. However, it’s not as cheap for Pay As You Go as 1pMobile, with Lyca Mobile’s main focus being cheap international calls.
For the cheapest SIM Only plans, you could consider Smarty, though this shares Three’s infrastructure, and therefore has different coverage.
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