1p Mobile (www.1pmobile.com) has finally launched.
1p Mobile hasn't done very much marketing as of yet, possibly because of several months of delays in launching.
They are a new UK MVNO with the cheapest PAYG rates of any network.
1p Mobile's PAYG rates are a flat 1p per minute, 1p per text and 1p per MB of data.
This beats Three's 321 PAYG rates, but there is a big catch.
The 1p Mobile website is almost mis-selling their services:
They state that there's no contract, but by signing up to this service you're bound by an agreement that to cancel the service you'll give them 30 days notice. This includes obtaining your PAC code if you want to transfer your number to a different mobile network - That's a contract in my eyes, and it's blurring the lines between PAYG and contracts.
Secondly, you don't get these great PAYG rates on a PAYG service - you must top up your account by £5 every 30 days - This is completely contradictory to what 1p Mobile states on their website: They say that there are "no bundles to buy", yet every 30 stays your credit expires.
That's purchasing a bundle to me and you.
So, altogether this service is a bit of a con.
You have to spend £5 every 30 days to get the 1p per unit rates, so casual PAYG users will find that their credit has disappeared after the first month.
No credit? No service.
Admittedly, this mix and match approach could work for some people who regularly spend £5 a month buying a PAYG bundle from another mobile network, only to find that they don't have enough minutes or megabytes.
- There aren't many PAYG networks who offer 500 minutes for £5, so for some people this tariff could be great.
What irks me is the fact that 1p Mobile forces customers into buying a £5 bundle every month in order to use their mobile. There's no ability to have credit in reserve, so you are effectively tied in to a £5 a month contract.
For anyone wanting to sign up to 1p Mobile, they use the EE network and are hoping to provide 4G from mid October 2016, though with a maximum of 500MB (assuming you won't make a single call or send a text in this time), that 500MB won't get you very far.
Customer service is UK based (Alton, Hampshire), and I'll expect that they'll get a lot of calls from people who find that their credit has been taken after the first 30 days.
It's a novel idea which T-Mobile ran with a number of years ago.
Kontakt Mobile have offered a similar (but much better value) service for a few years now on the Vodafone network, and at least you don't lose all of your credit with them every month.
I test a lot of PAYG networks and I'm glad to see another UK MVNO, even if it is yet another one that uses the EE network.
However, 1p Mobile is taking the pee: It's a rolling, compulsory £5 a month bundle/contract which actually doesn't offer good value, unless your mobile use very closely matches this 1p per unit pricing structure.
I shan't be testing 1p Mobile.
