UK PAYG mobile data cost as at November 2010

I've not found a good "data centric" comparison of the UK mobile networks. I make very few personal mobile calls but I use a fair bit of data. I've also bought an Android phone so I'm very interested in mobile data costs.

Vodafone

Vodafone have recently introduced "Freebee" on pay as you go.

If you top up by £10 you get £10 in credit plus 300 texts and 500MB of web access "free".

The "free" standard UK texts and UK web access expire after 30 days.

I can't find a data bundle to buy from Vodafone.

Orange

Orange have a PAY deal called Dolphin which gives "free" internet and texts.

If you top up by £10 you get 300 "free" texts plus 100MB of "free" internet.

An additional 250MB can be bought for £5 which also lasts a month.

T Mobile

T Mobile don't seem to have any "free" data but their bundles seem quite reasonable

5 day Internet on your phone £2.50 Unlimited internet for 5 days
1 month Internet on you phone £5.00 Unlimited internet for 1 month
6 month Internet on you phone £20.00 Unlimited internet for 6 months

It seems that "Unlimited" has a fair use policy of 1GB each month.

O2

O2 have a similar deal to Vodafone, this is called "Text and Web" and can be activated by calling 2202 FREE or Text TEXTANDWEB to 21300.

Top-up £10 - £14 Get 300 UK texts and 500MB UK data. This seems to last a month.

3

Historically "3" have had the edge on mobile data. The now withdrawn 3Pay tariff had the attractive feature of 150MB of internet which lasted for 3 months with a £5 top up. The current tariff is "Pay As You Go on Three" which also gives you 150MB of internet with a £5 topup but it only lasts a month.

"3" now have a slightly different approach to bundles. A £10 bundle gets you calls texts and 500MB of Internet but once the month has gone, so has the £10 of credit. Alternatively there is the £5 500MB for a month deal.

Conclusion

Sadly Orange seem to have the worst deal for my Android San Francisco so it's down to the unlockers for me shortly.

I have a Vodafone SIM in an old phone so I may change that to have "Freebee" but the credit would build up if I used it regularly.

I'm very interested in the T Mobile 6 month £20 deal. Perhaps I will get that once my initial Orange £10 top up has been used up.