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Who did this research?

Did they just pick the worst deal and assume everyone is dumb enough to go with EE?

I live in the UK, it has never come across to me that unlocking mobile phone is illegal. In fact the service providers here tend to provide instructions on how to unlock your phone. e.g. http://giffgaff.com/unlock

You can either top up with credit which doesn't expire and has one of the lowest (if not the lowest) phone/text tarifs, or buy various 'goody bags'.

Coverage and quality is the same as O2.

Aren't there any virtual mobile operators in Norway? They're mostly branded as low-budget here (UK), and popular with students etc.

GiffGaff will give unlimited texts for £5/month, http://giffgaff.com/goodybags/5pound-unlimited-texts They're not even a real virtual operator -- they're a trading name of O2 (a major network), but targeting "budget" customers. I think they reduce costs by having very little customer support. Support is provided in the forum, answering questions earns extra phone credit.

Another virtual operator, TalkMobile, offer unlimited texts to pay-as-you-go customers for the next month, whenever they top up: http://www.talkmobile.co.uk/pay_as_you_go.html

£10/month unlimited data on giffgaff, great value! Order here and I get payback points: http://giffgaff.com/offers/affiliate/muggy7 Sorry, couldn't resist...

The mystifying part is a contract smartphone is still like $100/month bill, right? So $200 is pocket change to a smartphone contract victim, its like 2 months service.

If you're in the USA, sure. I live in the UK and pay £10/month for unlimited data, texts, and a small number of minutes which I don't use. (GiffGaff - Affiliate link.) It's astounding how deeply Americans get ripped off for phone service, and when I was living over there, shopping for mobile phones was one of the few times I felt genuinely, truly insulted as a customer. There's a lot of industries with shoddy customer service but getting a mobile phone in the US really feels like paying somebody to spit in your face.

Giff Gaff may use the O2 network but it isn't exactly the same as being on O2. Giff Gaff have a pretty dubious history of outages.

I switched from Orange to GiffGaff. GiffGaff actually runs on the O2 network. They're much cheaper than Orange PAYG *and* you get the option to buy "Goody Bags" which in effect means you can upgrade to something like pay-monthly, but whenever you want, on a month-by-month basis without a contract.

It's not perfect though! GiffGaff have had a few reliability problems, officially you're not supposed to use it for business, and I've heard the data speed isn't as good as O2, but it suits me and might suit you. Sir! ;)

In the UK, one company is offering a tariff plan with unlimited data (including tethering) for about $40 per month. They have been cleaning up. (In my case I think I've hit 5GB download today, but I am running a number of software updates.)

Another company is offering an unlimited data plan for about $15, but you are not allowed to tether (which I find key).

Seriously you need to get some decent competition over there.

Are you sure that your endorsement is not a result of being able to slip your referral code into the order URL? Clear your cookies and click here to order without giving kickbacks to spammers. Mod spammer parent down.

Hey! That's not spamming to use an affiliate code. Sure; clear your cookies if you want - but you won't get anything extra or lose anything for it; so why are you so offended?

I was just providing a link to a company I've been impressed with. Whatever happened to paying it forward?

Are you sure that your endorsement is not a result of being able to slip your referral code into the order URL? Clear your cookies and click here to order without giving kickbacks to spammers. Mod spammer parent down.

O2 is one of the better UK providers in that respect. My iPhone was locked originally, but I went with O2 because at the time (mid-2010) they said they would unlock it properly at the end of the contract period. No jailbreaks, no risk of bricking after software updates, etc.

Now it turns out that they will unlock it even before the end of the contract (though I'm still on the hook for the monthly fee till the end, of course). Just have to ask them.

O2 are great for their signal, but their pricing does take the piss.

When you've finished your contract; maybe try Giffgaff. There's no phone support (it all online), so they're a lot cheaper (£10/mo for unlimited data and text, and 250 mins) - and they still use the O2 network. The support you get from the community is astounding, and they do pay people back quite a lot for helping out.

They've even got a wiki to help you unlock your phone. Definitely worth a look.

O2 is one of the better UK providers in that respect. My iPhone was locked originally, but I went with O2 because at the time (mid-2010) they said they would unlock it properly at the end of the contract period. No jailbreaks, no risk of bricking after software updates, etc.

Now it turns out that they will unlock it even before the end of the contract (though I'm still on the hook for the monthly fee till the end, of course). Just have to ask them.

O2 are great for their signal, but their pricing does take the piss.

When you've finished your contract; maybe try Giffgaff. There's no phone support (it all online), so they're a lot cheaper (£10/mo for unlimited data and text, and 250 mins) - and they still use the O2 network. The support you get from the community is astounding, and they do pay people back quite a lot for helping out.

They've even got a wiki to help you unlock your phone. Definitely worth a look.

In the UK Pay as you Go offer either 500Mb free a month if you top up by at least £10 a month or £1 for 25Mb (valid for a day). I'd rather put £10 on a card and have the device start streaming its position once a minute when I ask it to.

Use GiffGaff (they're on the O2 network). Up to 20MB per day, it costs 20p so that should keep costs down.

Oh, by "them", I mean http://giffgaff.com/

i did exactly that when O2 here in the UK started hounding me for exceeding their 4GB limit on their 'unlimited' tariff. so i heard about giffgaff (which funnily enough, is an MNVO that runs on the O2 network and is in fact a wholly owned subsidiary of O2) yet they offer truly uncapped data with their 'goodybags'

It's relevant to the UK as well, where O2 are discontinuing 'unlimited' data in the same way, and introducing caps of 500 MB per month on all but their most expensive tariffs.

At the same time, we have the option of companies like giffgaff (who, ironically, operate as a virtual operator on O2's network) who offer genuinely unlimited data for 'personal mobile use'.