We would like to say thank you to our friends over at moneysupermarket.com for sending us this mobile phone network summary, we believe this will be very useful to all our readers and will give you an insight.

It’s fairly obvious that mobile phones have become part of our lives and now with several networks offering some great tariffs it’s hard to see which ones offer a plan that will best suit your needs.

In order to remain competitive; networks have begun to adopt 18 month plans which has seen the price of handsets and monthly price plans lower in price. The latest plan to be introduced lasts 24 months, reducing prices further.

This article aims to look at some of the major networks, finding out what types of tariffs they offer and which ones best suits your needs.

O2 –
O2 started off as a company owned BT Group Plc and in 2006 was purchased by Telefònica of Spain. They offer many different tariffs to their customer but mainly focus on those known as ‘anytime’ plans.

Tariff Summary:

There are many different plans offered by O2, although they are generally very standard. If you’re likely to use your phone in the evenings and at weekends then the Leisure 1500 tariff may be best suited to your needs, however the anytime plan enables customers to use their call allowance at anytime of day. Plans range from £20 to £75, dependent on the length of plan chosen.

Plans include;
Anytime 50, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1800
Leisure 1500

Vodafone –
Originally set up in 1985, Vodafone has built its customer base to over 100 million users across 27 countries, including an ever-growing success rate within Europe.

Tariff Summary:

Like some of the other larger networks, Vodafone has chosen to opt for generally standard price plans. It’s ‘Anytime’ tariff gives the customer the option to use their inclusive minutes and texts at anytime of the day. They also offer an Evening and Weekend Tariff, whereby customers are only able to use their allowance Off-Peak. Plans range from £18 to £40 per month, dependent on the length of plan chosen.

Plans include;
Anytime 25, 75, 125, 200, 275, 350, 500, 700, 1000
Evening & Weekend 300, 1000

Virgin Mobile –
Working as a virtual network on T-Mobile’s backbone; Virgin Mobile has become one the major players within the mobile phone industry and were recently purchased by NTL forming Virgin Media.

Tariff Summary:

Following the trend of other networks, Virgin Mobile has chosen to go with some very simple tariffs which are less likely to confuse their consumers, giving them an advantage. Plans range from £20 to £50, dependent on the length of plan chosen.

Plans include;
Virgin £25 Texter
Virgin £20, £25, £30, £40, £50

T-Mobile –
T-Mobile, once known as One2One, has enjoyed some great success over recent years. Constant innovation has meant that they have been able to stay ahead of the market, bringing out their own smartphone handsets which use their technology to its full potential.

Tariff Summary:

Working on the weaknesses of other networks plans, T-Mobile has chosen to become very flexible in its offering, giving the network a distinct advantage. Whilst their Flext tariff has proven to be very popular to those customers who don’t know what they’ll be using their phone for, it’s Free Time and Everyone Off-Peak picks up the other customers habits. Plans range from £25 to £50, dependent on the length of plan chosen.

Plans include;
Flext
Free Time
Everyone Off-peak

Orange –
Launched slightly later than many of the other networks in 1994, Orange has seen itself grow to be amongst the largest networks within the UK and Europe. Its recent acquisition of Wanadoo has meant that it’s been able offer the now re-branded Orange Broadband to its 12million+ customers.

Tariff Summary:

Orange’s plans reflect their customer’s habits, placing them in four separate groups. The recently renamed plans give the consumer a choice of either texts or voice calls, depending on their needs. Their plans range from £20 to £75, dependent on the length of plan chosen.

Plans include;
Dolphin — Unlimited weekend texts
Racoon — Unlimited weekend calls to landlines
Canary — Your choice of unlimited anytime benefits
Panther — Your choice of unlimited weekend benefits

3 –
Probably the first truly ‘3G’ network many of us had heard of; 3 built it’s success on the back of being able to set up a network capable of being able to carry both voice and video calls in record time, something which its competitors were later to introduce.

Tariff Summary:

Quite individual to their brand, 3 have designed their tariffs around their most successful products, being video and data. Depending on what their customers uses their phone for, they are able to choose a plan that meets their needs. Their plans range from £17.50 to £50, dependent on the length of plan chosen.

Plans include;
Video & Talk & Text
Direct Talker
Direct Texter
Web & Office

It’s worthwhile checking through a site like moneysupermarket.com where you are able to compare the many different mobile phone deals available, before committing to a particular network. Please visit moneysupermarket.com for some great deals.

Just like to say thank you to Gary Parsons for this information.