SMARTY SIM Only Deals Explained: Plans, Pricing and What You Get

Roaming beyond SMARTY's EU list costs extra: 10p per MB for data in the US and £1 per MB in Japan. For trips like those, you can add a travel eSIM alongside your SMARTY SIM on a dual-SIM phone, and HelloRoam has plans for both the US and Japan.

Quick answer: top SMARTY SIM only deals at a glance

SMARTY's standard SIM only deals come in two ranges. Rolling Monthly plans come with unlimited UK calls and texts as standard, while Data Only plans are sold as "just great value data". The table shows the Rolling Monthly prices from SMARTY's SIM only page, plus how much data each plan can use in the EU.

You can join with a free physical SIM, which SMARTY says arrives in 2 to 5 days, or with an eSIM. An eSIM means no waiting around for a card in the post, if your phone supports it.

The 100GB plan at £12 is where the value jumps. The 40GB plan costs £10, so the extra 60GB costs just £2 a month.

A SIM only deal covers the plan, not the phone

A SIM only deal gives you mobile data, calls, and texts without bundling in a handset. You bring your existing phone; the plan covers the connectivity. That's it.

A 24-month handset contract works differently. It bundles device repayments with the airtime, so the phone's price sits inside every monthly payment. A SIM only deal strips that out, leaving a lower monthly cost with no hardware to pay off.

Terms vary a lot. SMARTY's own FAQ notes that SIM contracts typically last from 30 days to 24 months. Longer contracts tie you in, while one-month rolling plans let you leave at the end of any month. The sensible choice depends on how stable your circumstances are.

SMARTY's SIM only plans all run on 1 month rolling terms, with no minimum term and the freedom to cancel at any time. To leave, you switch off auto-renew, and the plan ends at the end of your current billing month. SMARTY's guide to leaving covers the steps, including a PAC code if you want to keep your number.

SMARTY SIM only plans: pricing and what is included

Alongside the eight Rolling Monthly plans above, the same page lists five Data Only plans, from 2GB for £5 to unlimited data for £20.

Both ranges run month to month, and SMARTY lets you stop, start or change your plan as your needs change.

Buying for the whole family? A SMARTY Group lets you manage 2 to 8 SIMs from one dashboard, SMARTY's Group plans page says. Everyone Unlimited costs £20 a month for the group owner plus £15 for each member. Mix and Match lets each person pick their own plan and saves 10% on the plans you bring into the group.

Every Rolling Monthly plan includes unlimited UK calls and texts, plus Wi-Fi calling on a compatible phone. According to SMARTY's 5G page, all its SIMs get 5G at no extra cost, as long as your phone supports 5G. SMARTY's plan pages, Unlimited included, list no speed caps. You can tether all of your data (share it with a laptop or tablet) as long as you're in the UK. Abroad, tethered data counts like any other: towards the 12GB EU limit, or at international rates outside the EU. Run out mid-month and data add-ons cost £1 per GB, and they never expire while your plan is live.

The 12GB cap is a fair use limit, set out in SMARTY's roaming help, and SMARTY sends a notification as you near it.

That 12GB limit is the first detail to know before a long trip. On the 100GB plan, you can use 12GB of it in Spain or Italy each plan month, unless you buy SMARTY's 1-day or 3-day EU Roaming pass, which lets you use your full unused UK allowance for that time. The limit doesn't apply in the Republic of Ireland. Data Only plans don't include calls and texts in the EU. The second is a time limit: after 60 consecutive days abroad, in or outside the EU, SMARTY can suspend all services on your account. It sends an alert two weeks before.

SMARTY's edge: no price rises and no credit check

SMARTY's pitch rests on three things: no annual price rises, no credit check, and a free SIM or an eSIM when you join. An earlier version of this guide also listed a data discount. That was out of date: SMARTY no longer sells data discount plans.

The data discount turned unused data on SMARTY's small 1GB, 2GB and 3GB plans into money off the next bill. SMARTY's help centre now says those plans are discontinued, and the discount isn't available on Rolling Monthly or Data Only plans. Customers already on a data discount plan can stay on it as long as they don't change plan.

No credit check sounds like a minor detail. It isn't if you're new to the UK or have a thin credit file. SMARTY's no credit check page says every SMARTY plan is available without one, because you pay for each month up front.

SMARTY also sells its plans as pay as you go, but not the traditional kind. Its pay as you go page explains that traditional plans mean stocking up on credit, while with SMARTY you buy monthly plans in advance. The pay-for-what-you-use part comes abroad: outside the EU, SMARTY's roaming help says its 'Out of plan' add-ons work "a bit like Pay As You Go".

Mid-contract price rises have become a real irritant. Since April 2024, EE has set its annual rises in pounds and pence, applied each 31 March during a plan's minimum term. SMARTY advertises no annual price rises, and SMARTY's contact page explains why: its 1 month rolling plans can be cancelled at any time, so customers are never forced to accept a price increase part way through a contract.

eSIM support doesn't mean giving up a physical SIM. SMARTY offers both: new customers can get an eSIM straight away, and existing customers can switch to one in the app by ordering a replacement SIM. SMARTY's eSIM page says activation can take up to 2 hours, though it is usually quicker. Check your handset first against our list of eSIM-supported phones.

Joining SMARTY: activation and keeping your number

You can keep your current number when you join SMARTY. Text PAC to 65075 from your old SIM. Ofcom says your old provider must reply with the code within one minute, and the code lasts 30 days.

SMARTY's number transfer guide gives two ways in. New customers say yes when sign-up asks about bringing a number, then enter the number and the PAC. Existing customers go to Account Settings, then Your phone number, in the SMARTY app or the online dashboard.

Already holding a SMARTY SIM? Activate it online at smarty.co.uk/activate: enter the last 12 digits of the SIM number, pick a plan and create your account. The option to keep your number comes up in the same steps.

Once your SMARTY SIM is active, SMARTY moves the number within one working day, or on a date you choose. That timing holds when you submit the PAC Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm. Outside those hours, allow an extra working day, or longer over a bank holiday. SMARTY also asks you to activate the SIM at least 3 working days before the PAC expires.

Keep using your old SIM until SMARTY emails and texts to say the move is done. That is when the old SIM loses service, and SMARTY warns you may lose signal for a short time on transfer day. Switching before a trip? Choose a transfer date a few days before you fly. Then the number your bank may text security codes to is settled before you leave.

SMARTY SIM only deals and international travel: what to know

Inside SMARTY's EU list, you use your allowance without the day charges some networks add. The list is not the whole of Europe: SMARTY's Europe roaming page includes Norway, Iceland and Gibraltar, but not Switzerland, Turkey or Montenegro. Outside it, including the US, Canada, Thailand and Australia, no SMARTY plan includes roaming.

Both the physical nano-SIM and the eSIM option work identically for EU travel. Whichever format you set up at home performs the same way in Madrid or Milan.

Here's the scenario that catches travellers out.

You book a summer trip starting in Croatia, then extend it to Montenegro for a few days. Croatia is on SMARTY's EU list; Montenegro is not. The moment your phone connects to a Montenegrin network, data, calls and texts only work if you've bought 'Out of plan' add-ons, and data costs 10p per MB there, SMARTY's Montenegro page shows. For those days, you could add a travel eSIM for Montenegro and use it for data instead. Turkey works the same way: partly in Europe, outside SMARTY's list, and charged at 10p per MB.

Post-Brexit, this distinction carries real weight. Before 2021, UK customers roamed across the EU under shared rules. The UK government says surcharge-free roaming in the EU and EEA is no longer guaranteed. Some networks now charge for it: EE's roaming page lists £2.72 a day to use UK allowances in the EU. SMARTY's inclusion covers its EU list, not the wider continent. For a trip that crosses into non-EU countries, our eSIM guide for Europe covers the options.

Non-EU long-haul is where the costs bite.

Outside SMARTY's EU list, data, calls and texts work only with 'Out of plan' add-ons, charged as you use them. SMARTY's own rate pages put data at 10p per MB in the US, roughly £100 for 1GB, and £1 per MB in Japan. SMARTY also sets a £45 worldwide data roaming limit on your account by default. Once you reach it, outbound calls, texts and data stop until the limit resets, unless you've asked SMARTY to change it. In Japan, £45 buys about 45MB. Our data roaming guide for UK travellers shows how these charges build up.

When a travel eSIM makes sense alongside SMARTY

Long-haul travel shifts the calculation. Instead of paying SMARTY per megabyte in the US, Japan or Thailand, you can buy a travel eSIM with a set amount of data before you fly. It connects to a local network when you land. Our data calculator for your trip helps you pick the size.

HelloRoam connects to 212+ networks worldwide. For a Tokyo trip, for example, you can buy one of our Japan eSIM plans before you leave and keep SMARTY for your UK number. Our eSIM versus SIM card comparison covers the wider trade-offs for UK travellers.

Apple's Dual SIM guide says the iPhone XS, XS Max, XR and later can use a physical SIM and an eSIM together, with separate lines for calls and data, and iPhone 13 and later can also use two eSIMs; our guide to eSIMs on iPhone walks through the setup. Apple adds that your iPhone must be unlocked to use plans from two different networks. Keep your SMARTY SIM in the tray for your UK number, or use a SMARTY eSIM on an eSIM-only model like iPhone Air, and set the travel eSIM as your data line. Leave Allow Mobile Data Switching off, because Apple says that setting lets your iPhone use mobile data from both plans. Outside the EU, SMARTY says calls and texts won't work without 'Out of plan' add-ons, so add a little credit before you fly. Receiving texts is free in the US and Japan; receiving calls costs 5p a minute in the US and £1 a minute in Japan.

For a long weekend in Lisbon, SMARTY's EU roaming covers you. A fortnight in Japan or two weeks on the US East Coast is a different matter, as the per-MB rates above show.

SMARTY's strengths and weak spots

SMARTY is a good pick if you want cheap SIM only deals without a contract: 100GB costs £12 a month, every plan is 1 month rolling, and there is no credit check and no annual price rise.

Monthly plans are cancellable without penalty. Extra data is £1 per GB, so one heavy month doesn't force you onto a bigger plan.

Support is the honest downside. SMARTY calls itself a self-serve network: it is 100% online, with no high-street shops and web chat instead of a general phone line. For most users managing a standard plan, that's not a problem.

SMARTY suits budget-conscious users, anyone who values monthly flexibility, and eSIM adopters who want a low-cost UK number without a long commitment.

Less suitable for: frequent travellers outside the EU, where the per-MB rates above apply on every trip.

SMARTY's network: Three, plus shared Vodafone sites

SMARTY runs on Three's network. SMARTY's help centre puts it plainly: Three owns SMARTY, and the two share the same network. Vodafone's announcement says Three UK and Vodafone UK completed their merger on 31 May 2025, forming VodafoneThree. SMARTY's merger update says that since August 2025 its customers have started to use Vodafone's network automatically too, at a growing number of shared sites.

SMARTY isn't a standard MVNO wholesale arrangement. The footer on SMARTY's about page names it as a trading name of Hutchison 3G UK Limited, the company behind Three, so there's no third-party deal between the two brands.

Three's coverage page says its 4G network covers 99% of the UK population, measured outdoors.

Ofcom's Connected Nations 2025 report finds that 4G from at least one network now reaches 96% of the UK landmass, but coverage still differs across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 5G varies even more: individual networks report outdoor 5G coverage at between 64% and 89% of UK premises. A national figure won't tell you how your own village or stretch of coastline fares.

SMARTY and EE compared: terms, roaming and coverage

SMARTY is the simpler deal on terms. Coverage is the part you have to check for yourself.

SMARTY's signal comes from Three's masts and shared Vodafone sites. EE runs its own network. Put the postcodes where you live, work and holiday into Ofcom's Map Your Mobile checker, which shows which network performs best in each area, before you switch.

EE's price rise page gives its own example: a SIM only plan at £25 a month on a 24-month contract costs £27.50 from 31 March 2026 and £30 from 31 March 2027. After the minimum term, EE's SIM only prices rise again each 1 March, and EE runs a credit check when you join. SMARTY advertises none of that.

If you want a price that doesn't climb each spring and a plan you can drop at the end of any month, SMARTY is the easier pick. If the coverage map shows EE is the only strong signal where you spend your time, that matters more than price or terms.

SMARTY support is web chat first

You can reach a person by web chat. SMARTY doesn't run a general phone line, and its contact page lists web chat with the Customer Care team from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, plus the SMARTY Bot 24/7. SMARTY's accessibility page gives the one phone number, 0333 338 1047 (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday), for customers with additional needs or in a vulnerable situation, plus a textphone on 0800 033 8011.

Outside chat hours, you can use the help centre or ask the SMARTY Community forum.

If you regularly need hands-on account help, a network with phone support may suit you better.

Routine tasks (changing your data plan or checking your remaining data) go through the app without needing to contact anyone. The friction surfaces in complex billing disputes or number porting problems, where some people would rather talk it through on the phone. Know this before you switch.