A collection of the best deals on data from mobile providers.
There are different ways of providing internet access depending on your client’s circumstances and needs and your organisation’s resources and digital inclusion plan.
If you are providing limited or ad-hoc support - topping-up someone’s existing account through their current phone/internet provider is simplest and can be done remotely. See guidance on topping up someone’s phone remotely
Depending on their provider, this may not be the best value for money or give all clients equal amounts of data for the money spent.
Budget tablet
Can be slow
Poor audio
Attractive design
Easy to use
Decent battery life
Can be slow
Focus on Amazon services
So-so screen
Good battery life
Fast speed
Weak audio through speakers
Compact size
Low price
Good all-rounder
Not the fastest
Sub-par speakers
Reasonable price
Can be used as voice assistant
Fast performance
Battery life not as good as rivals
Chunky design
Designed for children
Monitoring features for parents
Inexpensive
Good screen size
Can be slow
Poor battery life
Battery charges slowly
Good battery life
Strong security features
Can be slow
Struggles in noisy environments
Large display
Fingerprint scanner
Good battery life
NFC capable
Can be slow
Slow charging
Poor quick-charge battery life
Heavy and wide
No supplied headphones
Fantastic value
Great battery life
Good display
No headphones
Not powerful enough for serious users
If you want better value for money and equal amounts of data for the money spent - you can purchase data-only sim card deals.
Solidaritech in West Yorkshire have negotiated a bulk-buy deal of pay-as-you-go, data-only sim cards with 5GB a month for £7 on O2.
A data-only sim card from Smarty provides unlimited data for £20 a month. The sim card comes with an app where you manage your data and top up. Their cheapest £6 per month deal lets you buy small amounts of data online or in shops that offer PayPoint services - £1 for 1GB – not be the cheapest rate, but you only pay for what you use, rather than losing unused data at the end of the month. There is also the option to transfer your phone number across to the new Smarty sim card. However, it isn't straightforward for someone to top up someone else's account remotely.
If you want to provide data for a whole household, without having to top-up multiple devices, you could provide a new data-only sim card that can be inserted into a Mobile Broadband WiFi Router, which acts as a hub for other devices (phone’s, tablets, laptops) to tether to.
