1pMobile's 1-Year SIMs: are Talker and Flexi SIMs any good?
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We take a look at all the ins and outs of 1pMobile’s annual £30 and £36 plans to check whether they're actually decent value. Here’s the result. Last updated: 10th January 2023.
1pMobile's annual SIMs in a nutshell
1p offer two SIMs where you pay for a whole year up front
While 1pMobile started out life as just a simple pay as you go network, with rates of 1p, they now offer quite a few different products, including monthly plans and their 1-year deals.
There are currently two annual SIMs on 1pMobile. They are called Flexi SIM and Talker SIM. We explain both in detail below in a dedicated section on both.
In a nutshell, they are pre-paid SIM cards, where you either pay £30 or £36 up front, in exchange for credit to spend how you like (Flexi) or minutes, texts and data to use each month for a whole year (Talker).
But what are the pros and cons of each? How do they work? Which should you choose? Our guide below takes you through everything you need to know about 1pMobile's 1-year SIMs.
Useful link: Read our full 1pMobile review
1pMobile’s Flexi SIMs
Type 1: Flexi SIM - a top up that lasts a full year
As we point out in our full review of 1pMobile, the main snag with joining the network is that you must top up with at least £10 every 120 days to keep the SIM active.
Dig into the terms and conditions and this actually means the equivalent of £10 every 120 days. So if you topped up £20, you wouldn’t have to top up again until 240 days later.
That’s where 1pMobile’s 1-Year Flexi SIM comes in. It lets you buy £30 of credit in one go, when you first join 1pMobile. And that also buys you 360 days without being required to top up again.
If you run out of credit before then, you are of course free to top up again at any time. For us, there are some benefits and disadvantages to 1pMobile’s annual Flexi SIM, which we go into below.
Useful link: Get 1p’s Flexi-SIM here
Pros: a full year not having to manage your SIM
The main advantage with 1p’s Flexi SIMs is that you’ll get a SIM card through the post that’s already topped up with credit. If you’re buying the SIM for someone else, like an elderly relative or your children, they won’t have to deal with topping up.
It also means you don’t need to have 1pMobile’s 120-day top up requirement weighing at the back of your mind. Once that year is up, 1p do get in touch too. They’ll send an email before it’s up and a text to the phone.
Depending on how frequent a user you are, that £30 should stretch a reasonable distance. You could send 3000 texts (8 per day over a year) or spend 50 hours on the phone (8 mins a day). Data depends on what you do.
In any case, even if you use up all that credit all you need to do is top up with more so you’re not really losing anything. The Flexi SIM takes a bit of the hassle out of your plan.
Useful link: See all of 1pMobile’s tariffs
Cons: you don’t actually get a discount on anything
It does feel like the benefits of buying £30 up front are quite limited. For quite a substantial upfront outlay, we’d expect something extra back from 1pMobile, beyond the convenience of not having to top up again later.
There’s no discount. It’s not like you get £40 worth of credit for your £30 like you see elsewhere. You don’t get any bonus data or free minutes or texts either. It’s literally £30 in exchange for £30 credit.
Also, if you’re not 100% certain about joining 1pMobile in the first place, handing over a large chunk of cash up front might not be right. Although, we would say that 1p do have a 14-day returns period to change your mind.
So if you’re expecting something extra from 1pMobile for taking their 1-Year Flexi SIM, you’re probably going to be underwhelmed.
Useful link: Get a 1pMobile Flexi SIM here
Our Verdict: It’s hard to get too excited about it
Unless you're buying the SIM card for someone else or are really wedded to not having to remember to top up again for a whole year, we’re not really sure what you stand to gain from the annual PAYG SIM.
You’re committing to buying a large chunk of credit and not really getting anything back from 1p by way of a thank you - in the form of a discount or something extra for free.
Don’t get us wrong. The actual network 1pMobile, we rate pretty highly. Excellent 5G/4G coverage and speeds through EE, WiFi calling, cheap pay as you go rates and even decent pay monthly bundles.
It’s just we see the benefits of their 1-year SIM being so slight, we’re not sure we’d bother. We’d probably buy the regular SIM with £10 credit on it and remember to top it up. You get more flexibility and miss out on nothing.
Useful link: Get yours here
1pMobile’s Talker SIMs
Type 2: Talker SIMs give frequent phone users better value
1pMobile's second type of annual SIM is their Talker SIM. This costs £36 a year but gives you unlimited minutes and texts to use in that time, plus a handy 250MB data per month.
That's the equivalent of £3 a month. So compared to just paying as you go at 1p per min/text/MB, the Talker SIM pays off, if you make or send a total of 300 minutes or texts a month.
We see the data more as a bonus, as it's only a small amount. It's more for "emergencies". Things like checking Google Maps or using WhatsApp when you're out and about. 250MB isn't for streaming videos.
There's no credit involved or requirements to top-up, only if you want to do something that's not included in the plan (like make international calls or use more data).
Useful link: Extra data boost costs on 1pMobile
Our Verdict: the UK's cheapest way to get unlimited calls
Out of the two 1p Mobile annual SIMs, Talker is the one we’d go for. It costs just £6 extra than Flexi and unlocks your phone to chat away as much as you like and even throws in some handy data on top.
Because all other SIM only plans make you take data you might not actually need, 1p’s Talker SIM is the cheapest way to get unlimited minutes and texts, working out to the equivalent of £3 a month.
You do need to be willing to commit to a whole year on 1pMobile to benefit, which might put some people off. But at least you’ve got the convenience of having your mobile sorted the whole year without new bills coming out.
And if you are actually a data you might find 250MB a little on the restrictive side. But overall, we can see lots of people being very happy with bagging unlimited calls and texts for such a cheap rate.
Useful link: Get yours now