EE joins the unlimited data club, leaving only O2 left to catch up (now updated!)

Three has offered unlimited data for years, but it wasn’t until Vodafone joined in when launching 5G that EE finally conceded and introduced unlimited data for itself.

This leaves O2 as the only main network to join the ever growing club where truly unlimited data, along with unlimited tethering (in the UK at least), is now available to customers. [Update: O2 has now offered unlimited data too]

EE’s offering, as you might expect from a network that considers itself a premium brand, is the most expensive with the 5G enabled SIM-only plan setting you back £44 per month (with a 12 month minimum term).

That compares to £30 per month for Vodafone’s unlimited max plan, and as little as £20 for Three’s AYCE plan. There are even occasions when Three can go cheaper still, with the cheapest deal I’ve ever heard of being a rather incredible £13 per month!

Vodafone also offers an entertainment add-on (such as Spotify or Now TV subscription) for £6, with a value of up to £10. That effectively brings down the Vodafone monthly fee further, plus there are speed-capped plans for even less money.

Price vs Speed

EE will of course point out its superior coverage and repeated awards for best data network from RootMetrics as justification to charge more, so the competition is definitely hotting up with plenty of choices to consider.

There are a total of three SIM only plans available from today; £34 per month for Unlimited Essentials, £39 per month for Unlimited Smart 4G, and £44 for Unlimited Smart 5G – the latter two with two and three swappable benefits respectively.

All you can eat is now available from EE, Vodafone and Three – now leaving O2 users extremely hungry

For those buying a new phone, unlimited data is now available for an extra £5 on top of the current 100 and 120GB plan pricing.

Handsets include the iPhone X, XR, XS and XS Max, the Samsung Galaxy S10e/S10/S10+/S10 5G, Samsung Note 10/10+/N10+ 5G, Huawei P30 Pro, Mate 20 X 5G, OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, LG V50 5G and the Oppo Reno 5G.

Upgrading customers can add unlimited data on any phone.

The announcement is probably not much of a surprise to many, given EE’s survey on Twitter yesterday that pretty much confirmed EE was going to, finally, offer unlimited data. Either that or seriously disappoint people!

Things you can already get on an EE Smart Plan:

🏆 #5GEE on the UK's No.1 Network according to @Rootmetrics
🔁 Swappable Benefits
📱 Lifetime guarantee for your phone

But what would be the icing on the cake…?
— EE (@EE) August 27, 2019

In terms of swappable benefits, you can now ignore the ones that offered zero-rated data, and concentrate on others like BT Sport and additional roaming destinations.

No doubt EE will make further tweaks to its tariffs as time goes on, because it seems quite obvious that Vodafone’s decision to go unlimited caught it a little off guard.

UPDATE: Having upgraded my own account, I’ve discovered that you can gift up to 100GB per month to other users on your account. In my case, I also have a 10GB data boost (for having home broadband) and I wondered what the point would be in having this with unlimited data. Now I have seen via My EE that this means I have 110GB to gift to other family members!

UPDATE 2: I’ve discovered that when you have an allowance of data to gift to others, it is depleted as you use data from your unlimited allowance. Therefore, be sure to gift data to others on the first day of your billing cycle or else you may have none left to gift nearer the end of the (billing) month.