Smarty

SnowTiger

Smarty is a new MVNO on the block, owned by the same company that owns Three.

They appear to, effectively, offer unlimited standard UK calls and text messages for £5 a month, with data costing £1.25 per GByte. All on a one month 'contract'.

Tethering is allowed. Oddly, MMS are not included in free allowances, but are zero rated!

The way the charging works is that punters subscribe to a plan, costing £7.50 (2GBytes), £10 (4GBytes) or £15 (8GBytes) a month.

It includes a fee of £5 a month, which includes unlimited standard UK calls and text messages. What data a customer doesn't use is knocked off their next bill at £1.25 for each GByte, calculated on a pro rata basis. Extra GBytes cost £1.25.

https://smarty.co.uk/

pmduk

Thanks, I hadn't realised this had gone live yet.

ballyblack

We haven’t been able to enable roaming in time for our launch. We’re a UK-only network at the moment, but we’re working on it.

Bear this in mind!

pmduk

I haven't the budget or inclination for roaming either!

pmduk

According to their support pages MMS ARE included in the unlimited text allowances.

SnowTiger

pmduk wrote: »

According to their support pages MMS ARE included in the unlimited text allowances.

It's mentioned here.

The wording they use here puts a different spin on it:

Multimedia Messages (MMS)

Whilst multimedia messages (MMS) are not part of your inclusive text allowance, they are zero-rated – meaning you will not be charged for sending MMS messages. MMS can only be sent within the UK to other standard UK mobiles. SMARTY reserves the right to suspend, modify or withdraw this, without notice, at any time.

pmduk

Basically they're covering themselves for the inevitable misuse.

Herongull

This isn't that cheap compared with the competition.

For example IDMobile also run on the Three network and offer 1 month contracts eg.

1Gb, 500 minutes and 5,000 texts for £5

2Gb 500 minutes and 5,000 texts for £7.50

5Gb 500 minutes and 5,000 text for £10

IDMobile offer data rollover so if you don't use all your data in one month it rolls over to the next so that is similar to effectively buying it back as a discount.

If you only use 1Gb per month you are better off with ID Mobile.

If you use 2Gb, they are similar.

If you use 5Gb per month IDMobile is cheaper.

When you factor in no roaming on Smarty at present and the fact that you have to use a 084 or 087 number to buy extra Gbs (and probably wait in a long queue), IDMobile seems a better bet.

There are some good 1 month rolling contact deals on Plusnet (EE network) eg £8 per month for 3.5Gb and 1000 minutes and 1000 texts.

Both Plusnet and IDMobile offer capping which is important.

d123

SnowTiger wrote: »

Smarty is a new MVNO on the block, owned by [STRIKE]the same company that owns[/STRIKE] Three.

just corrected that bit for you

When we say:
(a) ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’, we mean Hutchison 3G UK Limited, trading as SMARTY

https://smarty.co.uk/terms-and-conditions

System

Herongull wrote: »

Both Plusnet and IDMobile offer capping which is important.

It's a PAYG service with bundles - capping is implied.

pmduk

Capping is only important to a smallish number of people. The fact that it is essentially as PAYG service will make it attractive to those who find it difficult to gat a SIMO contract. The ability to buy additional data as you go is particularly useful for new smartphone users with no idea of how much data they will be using. That on it's own is a strong USP in my eyes

Herongull wrote: »

When you factor in no roaming on Smarty at present and the fact that you have to use a 084 or 087 number to buy extra Gbs (and probably wait in a long queue), IDMobile seems a better bet.

My understanding is that you will top up and buy additional data via their online dashboard so no queues. I'm sure there are millions of customers who never roam nor make international calls. Approx 30% pf the population don't even hold a passport