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If you’re happy to share a phone contract with family or friends there can be big savings to be had, as many networks offer discounts for having multiple plans or let you share your data allowance between a group, so you’re less likely to end up paying for data you don’t use.
The exact discounts and terms vary from network to network, so we’ve put together this guide, highlighting the best options available. As well as what else to consider when choosing a family SIM deal, so read on, get sharing, and get saving.
Networks offering family SIM deals
Currently, family SIM plans are available on Three, EE, O2, Vodafone, Smarty, 1pMobile, Honest Mobile, and Tesco Mobile. Sky meanwhile enables linked accounts to share unused data in a communal ‘Piggybank’.
| Network | Family Plans | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|
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Three Connect Together 20% off additional plans |
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EE Multi-Line discount Save up to £12 a month on additional plans |
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O2 Multisave 20% discount |
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Vodafone Additional Plans 15% discount |
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Smarty Group plan 10% discount |
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Tesco Mobile Family Perks "Family Perks" of your choice |
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Sky Piggybank Share unused data using communal 'Sky Piggybank' |
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1pMobile Unlimited Boost Additional SIMs pay half price |
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Honest Mobile family SIMs Up to a 30% discount |
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Three
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| 20% discount | Discount only applies to allowances |
| Most plan types are eligible |
For a long time Three didn’t offer any sort of family plan, but now it does. Dubbed ‘Connect Together,’ this gives you a 20% discount off each additional plan you add to your account (up to six additional plans in total).
The discount applies to SIM Only plans, Pay Monthly phone plans, tablet and laptop plans, and even home broadband and mobile broadband plans, so you’re not limited just to phones.
Note though that SIM and broadband plans need to be 12 or 24 months long to be eligible for the discount, and if you have a device plan (such as a smartphone on contract) the 20% discount will only apply to your allowances – not the cost of the device.
As well as giving you a discount, Three’s Connect Together service also lets you manage all of your plans in one place, with one single combined bill, to help keep things simple.
EE
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| A potentially large discount | High starting prices |
| Ability to share data between users |
EE offers a Multi-Line Discount, which gives up to a £12 monthly discount off every additional SIM Only, Data Only, or airtime plan, and 10% off additional tablet and laptop plans.
As well as saving you money, this service also allows you to move data around between users with data gifting. So for example, if one person is running low you can send them data from someone else on the account who has a lot left.
Data caps and other toggles – such as whether people on the account can use data abroad – are also available to ensure there are no surprise bills, which is especially handy if you plan to put your kids on the account.
O2
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| Solid 20% discount | High base prices |
| Add up to 20 additional connections | No discount on plans already on promotion |
| Discount only applies to airtime plan |
With an O2 Multisave plan you can add up to 20 connections to your plan, which is more than most networks allow.
And you might want to add lots of connections, because doing so can save you money, as every additional connection gets a 20% discount off their airtime plan.
Note that this only applies to the ‘airtime’ part of your costs, which means your allowances. It doesn’t apply to the part of your monthly cost that’s paying off your phone.
A range of different types of plan can be added to a Multisave plan too, including tablets, SIM Only, and of course Pay Monthly handset plans. The other connections can also all have different allowances.
There are also various exclusions, for example you won’t get the discount on any promotional plans (ones which are already being sold at less than their normal price).
Vodafone
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| Reasonable discount at 15% | No discount on plans already on promotion |
| Can add up to 9 additional users | Discount only applies to airtime plan |
Vodafone keeps things simple with its Additional Plans. Just take out one full price Pay Monthly, SIM Only, tablet, or mobile broadband plan that’s over 30 days long, and you’ll be able to add up to 9 additional lines to your account, each of which gets a 15% discount.
Note however that on Pay Monthly handset plans, the discount only applies to the airtime part of the plan (your allowances) not the phone itself, and all plans must be over 30 days long.
There are also some online only discounts of varying amounts on select devices and plans when adding an additional one to your account, saving you up to £432 over the life of the contract at the time of writing.
As with many other family plans, the discount won’t be available for some plans, including some which are already subject to an offer, discount, or promotion.
Smarty
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| Great value plans using Three's network | Discount is just 10% |
| Each member can choose own allowance | Plans are billed and managed individually |
| No contracts |
Smarty takes a similar approach to Vodafone, with each additional plan getting a 10% discount. That might therefore sound worse than Vodafone’s 15% discount, but bear in mind that Smarty already offers cheap plans.
Plus, every member of the group (which can have up to 8 people in it) can be on their own individual plan with differing allowances, and there are no contracts on Smarty, so members can leave or change their plan whenever they want.
As with many group plans, on Smarty the group owner can also manage every member’s plan in one place, including making payments and purchasing add-ons, so account management is simplified.
Tesco Mobile
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| Choose the perk that suits you | Family Perk savings work out quite small |
| Change perk each month |
Tesco Mobile lets you add up to 4 additional subscriptions to your account, and, as long as there are at least two of you, you’ll be eligible for ‘Family Perks’. These are monthly perks which include up to 1GB of extra data, up to £2 off your bill, up to 200 Tesco Clubcard points, and up to £2.25 off Tesco Mobile Protect. The exact amount of data/points/discount you’ll get with each perk depends on your monthly tariff price.
Each person on your plan can choose one of these perks each month, and you can change which one you get every month, with the only exception being the Tesco Mobile Protect discount, which you need to have chosen from the start.
Tesco Mobile Family Perks are available on Pay Monthly phone and SIM Only plans, as well as tablet plans and tablet SIMs, but in the case of those last two your perk will always be extra data, so you don’t get the choice.
Note that unlike most family plans, the group owner also benefits directly, as they can get perks too – these aren’t limited to additional plans.
Sky Mobile
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| Share unused data with Sky Piggybank | No discounts available |
| Add up to 7 accounts |
One of the standout features of Sky Mobile in general is that it lets you roll over your unused data from one month to the next for up to a year. However, if you add your family’s phones to your account then you all get to share any data that’s rolled over, and up to 7 SIM cards can be added to one account.
Note that you don’t share your normal allowances, but any data that any of you don’t use goes into a communal ‘Sky Piggybank’ which you can dip into as needed.
Sky Mobile Piggybank also allows you to cash in unused data for savings on new phones and accessories, with specific rewards changing monthly.
1pMobile
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| Half price plans | Only works with unlimited data plan |
| No contract |
1pMobile’s 30-day unlimited data SIM Only plan comes with a feature called ‘Unlimited Boost’, which means that while the initial plan costs £25 per month, you can add additional SIMs at half that – so just £12.50 each.
You also get unlimited minutes and texts, and each person on the plan pays an equal share of it. So if for example you have the £25 initial plan plus three £12.50 SIMs, the total is £62.50, and 1pMobile would divide that by four, charging each of you £15.62 – so the initial SIM isn’t stuck paying full price while everyone else gets it cheaper.
Honest Mobile
| What we like | What we don't like |
|---|---|
| Discounts of up to 30% | Just offers SIM Only |
| Rewards loyalty |
Honest Mobile is all about loyalty, and that extends to its family plans, as with these, each family SIM card will get a 20% discount if they’re on a 30-day rolling plan, but this discount will increase each month until it reaches 30%.
Alternatively, anyone who chooses to lock in to a 12-month plan will instantly get a 30% discount.
Which family SIM deal do we recommend?
Of all the current family plan options, our pick for the best one is Smarty’s, as while its 10% discount for additional members isn’t immediately eye-catching, Smarty already offers cheaper plans than most networks as standard.
Better yet, these are just 30-day plans, where a lot of the other options tie you into a contract.
Of course, this won’t be the best option for everyone, so for more guidance on which plan to choose, take a look at the considerations below.
Considerations when choosing a family plan
Data vs discounts
As noted above, family plans tend to be split between those which offer discounts and those which let you share your data, so it’s worth considering which you’d find more useful.
In general, we tend to think that discounts are better (though notably the first person on the account doesn’t usually get a direct discount). Data sharing can be handy if your data use varies from month to month, but if you and the other people on your plan tend to use a fairly consistent amount, you might find you don’t really take advantage of it.
Contract length and type
Note also that some family plans are only available on certain contract types or durations. For example, while some networks limit you to long contracts on family plans, in some cases there’s more flexibility, with short-term plans an option. This is the case with Smarty, which doesn’t tie you into a contract.
Adding people to a plan
In most cases you can add people to your plan (or remove them from it) at any point, but this is always worth checking if you think you might want to add or remove people later.
Other network features
Family plans and the perks that go with them are just one thing to consider when choosing a network. You should also look at their prices – since big family plan discounts are less impressive if the standard prices are high – as well as their coverage, speeds, allowances, their tethering and roaming terms, and any other extras they offer, such as Wi-Fi Calling or data rollover.
