Why choose Tesco Mobile?
Tesco Mobile offers a huge range of handsets and SIM-only deals at extremely competitive prices. It’s also the least complained-about mobile provider in the UK thanks to its excellent customer service. It operates on the O2 network, giving good coverage across the UK on 4G and 5G. Need more reasons to choose Tesco Mobile? Well, here they are.
- Huge range of handsets
- 5G ready SIM-only plans
- One-month contracts with Rocket Packs
- Competitive pricing
- Excellent customer service
- Family Perks for households that take out more than one contract
- Capped contracts protect against bill shock
- Upgrade when you want
- No roaming charges in 48 European destinations
Huge range of handsets
Tesco Mobile offers one of the widest ranges of handsets available from any provider out there. Your typical headliners are all present and correct – phones from market leaders Apple, Samsung, LG and Sony. At the budget end there are handsets from IMO, Alcatel and Doro amongst others. That’s a lot of phone choice.
5G ready SIM-only plans
Tesco Mobile also offers a solid range of SIM-only deals if you’re quite attached to your existing phone and/or the sort of frugal consumer who doesn’t need a new handset every five minutes. All Tesco Mobile SIM-only deals are 5G ready and offer free minutes and texts in varying amounts, with data allowances ranging from a basic 2GB through to Unlimited.
Tesco Mobile doesn’t offer an excessive amount of data plans, keeping things simple when it comes to making a choice.
One-month contracts with Rocket Packs
Tesco Mobile offers good value, pay-as-you-go SIM deals with its Rocket Packs. There is a choice of four data packs, each with 5000 inclusive texts and minutes, ranging from 10GB to 100GB. There is no unlimited data option with a Rocket Pack, but 100GB will still get you a long way. Each Rocket Pack is valid for a month, but you can choose to set up a recurring monthly payment if you wish.
Competitive pricing
While we wouldn’t label Tesco Mobile a ‘budget’ network, its prices are extremely competitive, frequently undercutting mainstay network providers EE, O2, Vodafone and Three. What we particularly like about the way Tesco does things, however, is the amount of flexibility it builds into its various contract offerings.
If you want to get a new mobile with a SIM deal, you can choose both the contract length – there is a choice of 12, 18, 24, 30 or 36 months – but also how much you want to pay upfront. Both these factors will determine how much your monthly premiums will be, and as you click through these options on Tesco Mobile’s excellent website, you can see those monthly payments change.
You can even select £0 as your upfront payment amount. Naturally this won’t make your monthly payments as low as they might otherwise be, but not having to pay anything on the day is going to be a hugely attractive – and not to mention rare – feature for many.
Excellent customer service
Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, releases complaint figures quarterly, and Tesco Mobile regularly has the fewest complaints of any UK provider. The way Ofcom measures this is proportionally to 100,000 customers. Tesco Mobile accumulated only 1 complaint per 100,000 customers at Ofcom’s last measure revealed in September 2021.
Of course, customer service is something we often don’t consider when entering a contract, but when it’s not up to snuff it can suddenly become incredibly important. You’ll have no such worries with Tesco Mobile.
Family Perks for households that take out more than one contract
Tesco Mobile’s ‘Family Perks’ are little extras it offers those who have more than one account with the provider – typically this would be a family situation where the spouse and/or children all have a SIM and/or a handset. The way it works is that each family member gets to choose a monthly reward that most suits their lifestyle and the way they typically use their phone.
There are varying perks on offer, including a couple of pounds off your bill, extra data, additional Tesco Clubcard points, extra minutes and so on. None of them are Earth-shattering if we’re completely honest, but as Tesco says, every little helps.
Capped contracts protect against bill shock
Most of us have had a ‘learning moment’ with our provider when we sent too many photos over text or flew unwittingly past our pre-arranged data limit. The end of the month arrives and we’re lumbered with a bill sometimes far in excess of what we expected. Well, with Tesco Mobile you can ensure that never happens. This is, no doubt, one of the reasons Tesco Mobile manages to keep its complaints count so low.
All you need to do is choose a safety buffer at the outset of your contract. A number of pounds that you do not wish to be exceeded in any given month. Once you hit that limit, Tesco Mobile will simply block you from doing anything that costs extra on top of your monthly premium until the following month rolls around. This includes things like roaming charges, premium rate numbers and exceeding your free data and/or calling limits.
Upgrade when you want
Anytime Upgrade Flex lets you upgrade your mobile handset whenever you please. However, it’s not quite as straightforward as it may sound. When you take out a pay monthly contract with Tesco Mobile that includes a handset, you’re essentially taking on two credit agreements: one for your monthly services (the SIM) and one that’s essentially a monthly-paid hire-purchase agreement on your handset.
What Tesco Mobile is saying here, then, is that you can upgrade your handset at any time, provided you pay off the latter of these two agreements first. If you bought an iPhone 7 and the handset was worth around £600, you will have to pay whatever remains of that £600 before you can upgrade. Sounds expensive… but wait.
Remember that good handsets hold their value extremely well across the first couple of years of ownership, especially if you keep them in A1 condition. What you can do, then, is pay off your handset, upgrade, then sell your old handset, covering much of, if not all of, the incurred cost. You can even sell your old handset to Tesco Mobile if you want the most hassle-free option.
No roaming charges in 48 European destinations
Roaming refers to going abroad and using your phone as normal, essentially piggybacking a network in your destination country, and doing so at no additional cost to your normal monthly bill. Tesco Mobile doesn’t offer the outright best count of countries it’s free to roam in – that honour goes to Vodafone – but it does put in a decent showing.
Under its ‘Home From Home’ scheme there are 48 European destinations where roaming is free. They are: Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guyana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Mayotte, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Reunion, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, St. Martin, St. Barts, Sweden, Switzerland and Vatican City.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get Clubcard points with Tesco Mobile?
Yes, if you have a Clubcard, you can collect Clubcard points for every pound that you spend on Tesco Mobile. If you are a Clubcard Plus customer, you can enjoy double Clubcard points and double data.
How can I contact Tesco Mobile?
Tesco Mobile has a good live chat service available via its website. Alternatively you can call its customer service number on 0345 301 4455, or get in touch via social media on Twitter or Facebook.
Can I keep my number if I switch to Tesco Mobile?
Yes, you can keep your existing mobile phone number. Ask for a PAC (porting authorisation code) from your existing provider before you move and then text PORT to 23424 from your new Tesco Mobile SIM or phone.