Revamped EE SIM-Only tariffs add EU roaming and a top 16GB limit

EE will next week (February 10th) launch updated SIM only plans, ahead of further changes to handset contracts that will be made around April.

The highest SIM only plan now tops out at 16GB, instead of 10GB previously, and most plans gain EU roaming for calls and texts – but not data. The top plan will cost £34.99 per month, albeit with an introductory promotion that brings the price down to £17.50 for the first three months of connection.

It’s a weird amount of data, given it’s competing with the likes of Vodafone (offering a 20GB plan) and even BT Mobile, which also offers 20GB and has recently allowed users access to full-speed data for an extra £4 per month.

It’s worth noting that Vodafone offers tethering, while BT Mobile does not. Nor does BT Mobile include European roaming for calls and texts, whereas Vodafone does for calls back to the UK only. Confusing, huh?

I had been hoping for 20GB at the very least, and would have loved to see more high-end offerings of 25GB or even 50GB to bring SIM Only in line with handset tariffs, but sadly not. EE would still prefer heavy users to buy a phone and sign up for 24 months.

From April we will apparently start to see some consolidation of tariffs between BT and EE, so I may still get my wish – but if the tariffs do start to merge, could we possibly see the introduction of restrictions on tethering for the more budget plans?

Any talk of how things might change now BT has bought EE is pure speculation on my part, and I’ll post more details when I hear anything more concrete, but for now let’s take things one step at a time.

So here are the new plans you’ll be able to connect to from February 10th:

The EE SIM Only Plans

DS = Dual-speed (in reality, it means unrestricted so users of Cat 6 devices in a LTE-A area can enjoy speeds of up to 150Mbps).

EU = European roaming for calls and texts. Does NOT include data, which requires the purchase of an additional pack of roaming data, or a Euro Pass (£4) for 500MB of data.

My notes

The top plan competes against the Vodafone Red 20GB plan. It’s £40 per month, but frequently reduced to £30 and with 12 months of services including Spotify, Now TV Entertainment or Sky Sports (which you can effectively consider a further saving of £10 a month, if you would subscribe to any one of these services anyway).

The Vodafone plans also include EuroTraveller Plus, giving free calls to the UK at no extra cost. EE will allow calls and texts, including calls back to the UK and within Europe.

For calling within Europe, texting or using data usage abroad, Vodafone will let you do so for £3 per day in the EU. You can use all of your data allowance, and tethering is allowed (as it is on EE too).

EE will let you buy a data pass for £5 that gives 100MB of full-speed internet, before slowing things down for the remaining 400MB. Users can however buy more data which will be full-speed, although pricing is not cheap for roaming data on EE.

Both EE and Vodafone offers 4G roaming in a huge number of countries.

If you’re wondering about Three, well Feel at Home is available in much of Europe but by no means all. This lets you make calls and send texts to the UK for free, as if you were at home. Data is also usable, but with restrictions. Tethering is not allowed. Should you need to use data in a country not included within Feel at Home, it costs £5 per day (midnight to midnight) and this doesn’t give you calls or texts for free.

It’s great to see a bit more competition, although it’s clear EE isn’t desperate to attract new customers by lowering prices. With a 4G network clearly far ahead of the competition (looking at things nationally, rather than individual areas), and the switch on of 800MHz and VoLTE later this year set to hugely improve things further, it seems EE is happy to be seen as the premium network and charge accordingly.

Please let me know what you think of these new plans in the comments below.