Sky Mobile review 2024: Is it any good?
Dan Howdle • August 15th, 2024
Seem like just yesterday Sky started offering Sky Mobile, but how time flies – it's been doing it for seven years now. Initially offering just SIM-only deals but now offering a full suite of mobile contracts and tariffs of all shapes and sizes, it's time to look again to see how Sky Mobile shapes up, especially when compared to the competition. It's a crowded market. Is Sky Mobile doing enough?
If there's one word that sums up Sky Mobile then we'd say that word is 'flexibility'. Sure, most providers will try to highlight how tailored their services can be, but when it comes to Sky Mobile we think it's particularly true. No other provider offers the same depth of choice, with features such as monthly data roll-overs that can be piggy-banked for later use, and even shared among your family and the ability to constantly switch contracts and even the phone itself.
Key features
| Network | O2 | 5G | Yes |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIM only plans | Yes (five) | Handset plans | Yes |
| Unlimited data | Not available | Data rollover | Up to three years |
Tariffs and plans
Keeping things relatively simple, Sky Mobile offers eight SIM-only deals. To give that number some perspective, Vodafone, for example, offers over 50 SIM-only choices, which feels quite bewildering. Download limits range from 100MB to unlimited, all with completely unlimited texts and calls.
Any unused data is automatically put into your data 'piggybank' and this is where Sky Mobile really shines. While several other providers allow unused data to roll-over (iD, Virgin Mobile, O2 and Vodafone spring to mind), it's usually just the previous month that rolls into the current one, and not a byte more. You can't go on accumulating data. Obviously if you plump for the unlimited plan that's not much good to you, however.
If you're an existing Sky TV customer you can take advantage of Sky Mobile Watch to stream your Sky TV apps as much as you like without it eating into your data. That includes Sky News, Sky Kids and the Sky Sports, Box Office, Sky+, Sky Go and MySky apps. So that's a whole lot of free options right there.
Another flexible feature is that with Sky Mobile you can jump between any of those seven plans as you like. It's all easily managed online, so if you find you're just not using the data you're paying for, it's really simple to just dial your costs down a little. Or dial them up. That is a rare feature and another winner for Sky Mobile.
At the time of writing, Sky was promising 'No price rises mid-contract'. We had a look at the small print, and couldn't see any reason to disbelieve them. They do state that call charges can rise, but since unlimited calls and texts are included (at least with their SIM-only deals), that's a little academic.
Finally, they're even flexible on the phones themselves. You can swap your phone whenever you like (well, after the first 31 days), and, other than paying for a new phone, there are no additional charges. And you can trade in your previous phone too. A similar scheme is offered for Sky Mobile tablets, but you are limited to swapping every one, two or three years. You can even use any unused data in your piggybank as part-payment, effectively giving you the ability to sell your unused data back to Sky.
Phone and device range
Sky, perhaps because it's still relatively new as a provider, has a fairly limited range of brands to choose from. It currently offers phones from Apple, Doro, Fairphone, Google, Nokia, and Samsung.
There are also iPads from Apple and tablets from Samsung, both available with the SIM-only plan of your choice. We think it's easy to get carried away streaming when you've got a bigger screen to play with.
Customer service
Sky as a whole has a fantastic reputation for customer service. While Ofcom's latest consumer satisfaction figures don't cover Sky Mobile, most customers seem more than happy with the service they receive. And with Sky scoring high for satisfaction in the broadband, landline and pay TV categories, it's a fair bet that the company's mobile customers can expect the same great level of service too.
Value for money
With special offers only occasionally available to existing Sky TV and broadband customers, you can take Sky Mobile’s offerings at face value when it comes to assessing value for money. They are what they are.
Sky justifiably flaunts it monthly data roll-over, although some would say that's no longer particularly unique. But we think the combination of being able to accumulate data for up to three years in a virtual 'piggybank', share that data with family or household members, or even use it as credit towards a new phone or tablet is quite special.
Using Sky's Mobile Swap, Swap12, Swap24, and Swap36 schemes mean you can swap handsets (after just 31 days) or tablets (every one to three years), but other providers do offer similar schemes (see O2's Refresh and Tesco Mobile's Anytime Upgrade, for example). However, we think it's Sky's trade-in facility which tips the balance. Especially when you consider that you can make at least some of the payment with your own unused data. Again, a good value proposition.
Unfortunately, the same can't really be said of the actual package pricing, particularly when it comes to the higher-end SIM-only plans. Most other providers undercut them, some quite considerably – and while also offering that holy grail, unlimited data (within fair usage limits, of course). However, lower-end packages are a bit more competitive.
Data-sharing is a fairly unique feature which, if your whole household are Sky Mobile customers (and encouraging that was presumably the intention), means you can all dip into a mutual 'piggybank' of unused data. It's a great way to save money if you're in the situation where some family members use much more data than others. You can do this with up to seven different SIMs, so most households will be able to take advantage and make savings that way.
Also, we're now in a world where mobile providers can make additional charges for using your phone in the European Union. Despite earlier assurances that wouldn't be the case. In the case of Sky Mobile, they offer the Passport Plus for £2 day, which essentially allows you to use your phone as you did at home. We think the Passport Plus name could get a little confusing, but the idea seems reasonable. Phone use from more long-haul destinations will, of course, incur higher (and more varied) charges. Be sure that you check Sky Mobile's website for details before you travel.
Network coverage
Sky Mobile is what's know as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) – meaning it doesn't actually own or maintain its own network, but uses that of a more established provider, in this case O2. That means rock solid 4G coverage, with well over 99% of the UK population being able to access it. And of course O2's 5G network is growing all the time. All Sky's SIM-only deals will give you access to 5G services, but don't forget that's also handset-dependent.
According to Ofcom's latest customer satisfaction figures O2 scored roughly average, by most measures of customer satisfaction, with an 87% overall satisfaction score. Although only 9% of users felt they had any cause for complaint, which is very much on the low end, relative to competitors.
All that said, don't take anything for granted when it comes to network coverage. Make sure you'll be happy with the level of service you'll receive by using Sky Mobile's availability checker. And maybe ask around in your area. Nothing is more trustworthy than people who've actually experienced the service day-to-day.
Conclusion
Sky Mobile has a relatively limited spread of SIM-only deals, and doesn't offer phones from that many manufacturers. But, higher data limits are expensive compared to most of the competition – Sky just doesn't seem able to price high data limit or unlimited SIMs competitively.
However, that's not the whole story. We think that the combination of the ability to constantly roll-over any unused data, collectively build up a piggybank of data allowance which can be shared amongst family members, jump from contract to contract each month, and easily trade up to get a newer phone or tablet, makes Sky Mobile a strong contender. Perhaps no other provider offers that kind of flexibility. And if you navigate that carefully (and preferably if your whole household are Sky Mobile customers), you should be able to get pretty good value from a Sky Mobile plan, despite a higher monthly cost.
