1pMobile

What to know about shopping at 1pMobile

1pMobile is a UK mobile virtual network operator running 30-day rolling SIM-only bundles and a long-standing pay-as-you-go tariff — sitting in the same MVNO bracket as Smarty, Lebara, and iD Mobile but built around a much simpler pricing ladder and a 14-day money-back guarantee. The network claims 99% UK population coverage with 5G, 4G and 2G support, EU roaming included across 46 destinations, and explicit allowance for tethering and Wi-Fi calling — features that mid-tier MVNOs frequently restrict to higher plans.

The monthly bundle ladder starts at £5 for 5GB and runs through 10GB, 20GB, 50GB, 100GB, and 200GB up to a £25 unlimited tier, with annual plans offering a similar ladder at a lower per-month equivalent. Pay-as-you-go is the headline product the brand is named after: 1p per minute, 1p per text, and 1p per MB on a £1 starter top-up — useful for second-line backup SIMs, low-usage handsets, kids' phones, or travel SIMs left dormant between trips. Every plan includes unlimited UK calls and texts on the bundle tiers, with EU roaming subject to a standard fair-use allowance.

The 14-day money-back guarantee covers buyer's remorse on the SIM and the first month's bundle, and number porting from existing networks is handled at sign-up rather than requiring an extra step. Itemised usage breakdowns sit inside the customer account, useful when arguing with HMRC over a self-employed phone bill or splitting a family plan across SIMs. The brand's main differentiator versus Smarty and Lebara is the PAYG tariff structure — no other UK MVNO matches the 1p-per-unit floor for low-usage customers.

Discount windows on MVNO subscriptions follow a different rhythm to handset retail — the most reliable savings come from the welcome offers that appear via the affiliate network when bundling a new SIM, Black Friday and Cyber Monday percentage-off codes on annual plans, and Back-to-September promotions targeting student switchers. Practical buying tip: if your monthly data use sits below 2GB, the PAYG tariff almost always undercuts the 5GB bundle even before any welcome code is applied — and the bundle is a better lock-in only once your usage consistently breaches the unit-price crossover. Run a month on PAYG before committing to a bundle to see where your real usage lands.

— MoneySaverCodes Team