The best mobile network operator in the UK?
EE is the leading mobile network operator. They have also merged with BT mobile this year. However they have some of the most disastrous call centre staff that can’t get anything right.
Three comes in second and may have slightly better pricing in some sectors however they do suffer from network saturation in some areas.
O2 / Giffgaff / Virgin had once been leaders in the field are now falling far behind.
Vodafone is hanging in with good speeds in the 4G spectrum but 5G is not good and their tariffs are really expensive with a dwindling client base.
Make sure any provider you go with has the following features in order of importance:
* WiFi Calling [CRITICAL FEATURE] – for when you have no phone signal (Not having this causes so many people to have poor call quality indoors)
* VoLTE (Voice over LTE aka 4G Calling) calling.
* Phone Data Tethering/Data Sharing.
* 5G Coverage.
* eSim support for all devices including Android, Apple and Watches like Apple Watch.
* Data/Call Roaming in countries you may like to visit without additional cost or minimal cost.
* Call Service Transitioning – Moving from WiFi to 4G won’t cause you to drop you call
* SMS/Text over WiFi and 4G (Not as critical as WiFi calling but a good feature)
What about eSims? The main leader is EE which has all the eSim functionality! Your Phone and Watch can share the same number plus you can use all your watch features with EE.
Other provides with poorly implemented eSim support are: O2, Truphone/1Global and Vodafone. Some resold services include BNESIM, Ubigi, OneSim and Holafly. Many don’t support a lot of devices or configurations.
After trying out Truphone/1Global I can assure anyone that they are a terrible phone provider who have poor customer support, billing issues, eSim issues, many hidden limitations and overall not worth the effort.
The main issue with Truphone and others is that you can’t link your secondary device like your Apple Watch to your main number and you are forced to use things like ‘Family Mode/Standalone’ which has the following limitations:
While an Apple Watch is set up in Standalone Mode (via mobile providers without good eSim support), the following features / apps are unavailable:
Irregular heart rhythm notifications
ECG
Cycle Tracking
Sleep
Blood Oxygen
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So lets look at UK network performance overall..
The following was published on ISPreview:
