Call forwarding: UK mobile networks that support it and costs

The four main UK networks let you forward incoming calls

The main UK networks are often the first to bring out certain features, so it’s no surprise they all let you forward calls to a different number. But some restrict it to their pay monthly plans (rather than pay as you go). Let’s go through them all:

EE allow call forwarding on any pay monthly phone or SIM only contract. But you won’t be able to use this feature on their pay as you go monthly bundles. Forwarding to other UK numbers will come out of your allowance (unlimited).

Vodafone are another network that only let you divert calls to other numbers if you’re on pay monthly (phone or SIM). You can only divert to voicemail on pay as you go. We confirmed with a chat agent that call forwarding works on their Basics plans.

Three are the only main network that support call forwarding on both pay monthly and pay as you go (we checked with a chat agent). Diverted calls come out of your allowance or at your normal minutely rate.

And O2 are the same as Vodafone and EE: you can do call forwarding on pay monthly (comes out of your allowance) but it doesn't work on pay as you go at all (we rang them to find out).

Their best current SIM only deals

A fair few cheaper providers also let you forward calls

Call forwarding isn’t just restricted to the main UK networks. There are a good amount of cheaper virtual providers that piggyback off the main networks that also offer it.

The two budget networks on the Three network, SMARTY and iD Mobile both say they support it. See SMARTY's page here. And iD confirmed via online chat they support it on pay monthly and pay as you go.

On the O2 network, there's two lower cost options. giffgaff support call forwarding. And so do Sky Mobile. On both networks, the forwarded calls come out of your monthly allowances or are charged at normal payg rates.

The only provider on Vodafone that we managed to get call forwarding to work on was Talkmobile. It worked on our test Android phone, but not our iPhone. Info on their website is scarce, and their chat agents didn’t give us a conclusive answer.

BT Mobile are the only provider on the EE network (besides EE themselves) that let you divert calls. They don’t have anything on their customer website (only their business one) about it, but we confirmed with their customer service that it works.

Their best current SIM only offers

A fair few virtual network providers don’t let you do it

Virgin Mobile are the largest provider not to offer call forwarding as a service. We've tried it ourselves with a Virgin SIM in two phones (iPhone and Android) and it did not work. They don't claim it does either.

Tesco Mobile also don’t support call forwarding, which is something that they directly say in their terms and conditions. As such we didn't try to see if we could get it to work anyway.

We have tested Plusnet Mobile, who don't mention the ability or inability to divert calls anywhere on their website. And it didn't work. So there's no call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile (see their forum here).

It was surprising to us that VOXI don’t offer call forwarding since they’re owned by Vodafone. But a chat agent confirmed they don’t support it (likely because VOXI are based on Vodafone’s pay as you go system which also doesn’t allow it).

And the rest of the small pay as you go providers like 1pMobile, Lycamobile, Lebara and ASDA Mobile don’t allow call forwarding either.