SMARTY from Three is aimed at SIM-only deals with transparent pricing.
For £5 per month (base), plus £1.25 per gigabyte, you get a no-frills phone service. No Spotify. No free roaming. Just the basics. In fact, at launch, roaming isn't available at all, though it is expected at some point.
You can also buy some monthly base bundles - £7.50 for 2GB, £10 for 4GB and £15 for 8GB. Better still, any unused GB credit will be refunded back to you for the following month.
Meanwhile Vodafone has announced Voxi, a network specifically aimed at the ‘yoof' segment of the market - it's actually officially aimed at under 25s.
Again a SIM-only MVNO, it allows users to work with social and chat apps - including Facebook Messenger, Instagram. Whatsapp, Twitter and Snapchat to name a few, without it eating into their data.
The morality of doing this under net neutrality rules is questionable, but the wording has been careful, as it was when Three started its "Binge" campaign for streaming, and EE's ongoing free Apple Music subscription - it's not giving you free or prioritised data. It's paying for it for you. Subtle, but enough to satisfy the lawyers.
The 30-day 4G plans are 2GB/£10, 5GB/£15 and 15GB/£20 with unlimited calls and texts. If you run out of data, you can still use the bundled apps or buy more for 1GB/£3. It's a significantly more expensive deal than SMARTY but it does offer more chance of freebies.
