Which UK Mobile Operator Do I Choose

There are certainly plenty of mobile operators to choose from on the UK market. Of course, this is a good thing, since so much competition keeps prices low and forces providers to offer great deals to get new customers. However, it can also mean that choosing a new operator can be confusing and overwhelming. Whilst there isn't one operator that's simply better than all of the others, there are some operators that make better choices for certain kinds of customers. So today we're telling you which operator offers the best deals for different clients.

Best Operator for Big Customers...

Big customers tend to get big monthly phone bills. A lot of the reason that big customers are often paying way over the odds for their services is that they have a tendency to break monthly calling plan limits. Every mobile contract comes with a calling plan, which gives you a set of limits for the amount of calling minutes, text messages and mobile data that you can use each month. And when you break those limits, you end up paying expensive premium charges for using extra services. However, big users do have another choice. With T-Mobile you can get a completely unlimited contract. This means that there are no monthly limits for texts, minutes or even mobile data, so you can use your phone just as much as you want. Called The Full Monty, the price of this contract depends on whether or not you get a mobile phone as well as service, but it's still the cheapest big contract option out there.

Best Operator for Business Phones and Plans...

If you're a business customer, you should look to O2 to provide you with the best service. O2 have specifically designed business calling plans, emphasising the unlimited mobile data that you'll undoubtedly be looking for. Plus, they offer discounts to freelance and self-employed customers, and have multiple phone contracts so that you can get phones for employees as well as yourself. And when it comes to business phones, O2 has the widest range of the top end models that you'll be looking for to give you the speed and reliability that you need.

Best Operator for Pay as You Go Plans...

These days the costs of calling minutes, text messages and even mobile data on pay as you go plans are fairly standard amongst the major operators. However, there is one provider that simply offers a great deal. Tesco Mobile has a triple credit programme, meaning that if you load your phone with ten pounds of credit, you get thirty pounds of actual credit. There are some regulations, of course. You can only triple your credit once a month and you do have to make sure that you top up your account at least once every thirty days. The maximum amount that you can triple is twenty pounds to receive sixty pounds of actual credit. But this is by far the greatest deal around for pay as you go customers.

Best Operator for Small Contracts...

If you're looking to get service to your phone as cheaply as possible, but want the reliability of a contract rather than a pay as you go plan, then Vodafone is the operator most likely to meet your needs. Vodafone does offer some of the cheapest contracts on the market. However, you will need to be careful. These contracts are cheap, but they also have low calling plan limits, which is how Vodafone keeps prices down. You'll have to make sure to keep to the limits of your calling plan, or you'll risk having to pay expensive extra charges. But Vodafone has the cheapest options for getting you a contract service.

Best Operator for Mobile Data Users...

In general, mobile data makes up the most expensive part of a contract's calling plan. If you're a big mobile internet user, then you're probably looking for an unlimited data plan, to avoid having your connection slowed after you reach a certain monthly limit. The problem with this is not only are unlimited data plans expensive, but they're often not even really unlimited. Many operators offer what they call unlimited plans, but the employ a fair usage policy. This policy will allow the company to slow down your internet speeds if they feel that you're using too much data per month. However, if you get your contract through Three, you won't need to worry about all of this. Not only do Three have the cheapest mobile data prices around, but they also offer truly unlimited data, meaning that there's no fair usage policy. With Three you'll be free to use as much data as you want.

Best Operator for Roaming and International Calling...

Both using your phone outside of the country and using a mobile to call international numbers can get expensive. Using your phone outside of the UK means having to pay roaming charges, so you pay premium rates for making calls and sending texts, but you also pay to receive calls and texts. However, if you sign up with Orange, you're going to get the best deal on mobile roaming. With a five pound a month mobile roaming package you can use your mobile anywhere inside the EU for the same prices as you pay inside the UK. You can add a roaming package on to any regular Orange contract, though you do have to request it as it's an optional extra. You can also get roaming packages for countries outside of the EU, but prices vary depending on your destination. You can also get cheap international calling from Orange. Simply request that the international calling package is added to your standard contract, and you'll get cheap rates on calling to international numbers. If you're a frequent traveller, or have family and friends living outside of the UK, then Orange s going to get you the best mobile deals.