http://shop.ee.co.uk/iphone-5s-16gb-...onthly/extras/

Compare this to the One plan on Three which is £41 per month and £99 upfront cost for Apple Iphone 5S

EE £47.99 per month / 3 One Plan £41.00 per month

Unlimited minutes / 2000 minutes
Unlimited texts / 5000 texts
20 GB Data. / Unlimited Data 3G at present
Upto 60 Mbps / Up to 30 Mbps.
2G/3G back up voice calls. / No 2G or very limited
4G 131 towns and Cities / Limited 4G from January
Deezer premium ( excellent). / No Perks
Worldwide roaming on calls/texts. / 3 Feel at Home,7 countries
EE Swap. / No facility to upgrade early
EE 2 for 1 cinema tickets / No Perks/benefits
Cashback Quidco £93. / None
UK call centre. / Overseas but excellent
BT Openzone WIFI / None
Virgin underground WIFI / None
No VAT charged on early termination (20 percent discount) /VAT charged
So the difference in cost between the two tariffs is £167.76 over 24 months but with £93 available as cashback on quidco it brings the difference down to £74.76p. If you are a music fan then EE is the clear option as Deezer is excellent.
Also take in to account faster data speeds, inclusive wifi and 2-1 cinema tickets.
To be honest 20 GB for 95 percent of people is the equivalent of being unlimited. Remembering that the people that use these the boards here are bound to be heavier uses of data then the majority. I think EE is better value, all in all.

SP

So if you squrriel around dog like you get the £1250 down to below £1150.

Pay cash for your phone and you get that plan for £180 per annum leaving with you up to £900 in credit towards a phone or two, 3,4,5,6,7,8 or nine.

Yet if you wanted to use just a few gigabytes of data while abroad in 3's covered countries you'll be far worse off on EE

To be fair the 2G fallback matters very little to me these days, in fact I expressly dislike its presents and was extra glad when a firmware update on my phone allowed me to turn off 2G completely without convoluted hacks.

meh, not seeing it.

EE have a great 4G service and i can understand why people would pay the extra bit for the already rolled out 4G services and interntional roaming in more countries.

But the limited data allowances and lack of data roaming on EE, coupled with the cheaper prices on three (on other non iPhones) makes Three a very very good choice.

iPhones are expensive on all networks. Other phones are not, for example the S4 Mini on Three is £24pm on a 4G tariff with unlimited internet and 500 mins. The equivelent plan with 20GB data on the S4 Mini is £38pm. That's a big difference, and to some people they may see value with EE due to the above reasons. But imo and many peoples opinion, Three's current propositions are by far the best. Especially SIM Only and other 4G handsets. And like you even say above, 20GB and Unlimited are not the same thing. I use 30GB a month on average and have even used 80GB in one month. I pay £12.50pm.... EE doesn't come close.

You say "To be honest 20 GB for 95 percent of people is the equivalent of being unlimited", but then you compare 5000 text vs unlimited, same goes for that really.

Worldwide roaming on calls/texts - at a cost, vs Three who also offer this and the bonus of it being on your tariff in an increasing number of countries.

You also say it's still £74 dearer, even after doing quidco, not allowing for "like home".

I think it's debatable, especially given you've only looked at one handset. Three's £15 One Plan on Sim Only and buying a handset with cashback sim free should be another consideration. Other handsets and tariffs are nowhere near as good on price either.

Suffice to say also, customers who want 4G want it because they view data as important, not calls. You can't make calls on 4G on any UK network right now.

Hence unlimited data > unlimited calls.

You also get free Unlimited 4G data when 3 have 4G.

i get that, but they are way behind 3 and will never reach the same speeds. Also for most people 20GB data is unlimited.

For most people 15Mbps is fast enough to do anything they want and any most is only useful to show off with a testing app, but completely useless for anything else on a mobile internet connection.

Didn't Vodafone once say that 500mb was pretty much unlimited.

Jabba, you are a 3 fanboy. 20 GB data to 99 percent of customers would be unlimited

Agreed about speed. But EE overall coverage is better then 3

How am I a three fanboy?

I'm just saying that 20GB is not unlimited. Yes it's good value for money, but it's not the same product at all. Three are offering something that EE can't (Unl data/lower costs), and EE are offering stuff that Three can't (60% 4G coverage). They both have advantages and disadvantages.

But like i said above, this is only one iPhone plan. On the whole, three is a lot more attractive when it comes to their propositions.

I wouldn't class Jabba as a Three fanboy, I try not to be myself but sometimes I am.

I understand what you're saying SkyPlatinum as the average One Plan user uses 1-2 gigs, but for those that do want more then Three is the only genuine unlimited offer. If you had your home internet go down for a long period I could see myself using a lot of Three data in short space of time. Also with the tethering when you're away from home the beauty is you don't even have to check your allowance or worry.

A lot of people don't really know how much streaming equals 1 gig, or want to keep checking their allowance, the nice thing with Three is you'll never get charged no matter what.

It all depends what you want, and how you perceive value. For me, wifi on the underground is important Deezer is important, having an option to change my phone every six months is important.

Of course it depends what you want, that's why there is no 1 deal for everyone. However the question for this thread was objectively who offered the best value. The problem, as you point out is that people put different weight on each aspect, so it is down to individual needs and preferences.

Three is cheaper, offers 'like home', which is unique and the only one of the two to offer unlimited data. If you value the 'extras' EE provides then that may change your mind, although to be fair other cinema offers and wifi deals are available elsewhere cheaply, and Three was still £70 cheaper even after cashback deals.

By the way Jabba, I was not intending to be rude their by saying your a 3 fan. But the majority of your posts concern 3. There is nothing wrong with that. I think that the sim only One plan is the best value mobile phone plan in the uk by far. BUT I am not so sure 3 is such good value on the monthly phone plans especially with premium phones. You get unlimited data but the rest of the offering is below par and would be found with the Tescos value range down the food aisle.

Now you're just being silly, Three's data network is widely regarded as if not the best, then joint best with EE. Their pricing, like home and unlimited data deals are amazing, as is the 3-2-1 PAYG offer - nobody even comes close. On the whole reliability if good and 4G will be offered at no extra cost. Three have one many awards and are repeatedly at the top end of Root Metrics and other tests.

Thinewonk. Seriously if you were in the middle of nowhere and you needed to make a phone call to save your life, you wouldn't want to be with Three. No way, three's coverage is still the poorest in the uk. Due to the High frequency they use, indoor coverage is awful, outside is ok, if you are in a good three coverage area,then all is good, but if not, god help you. I have been with three and EE and there is no comparison in coverage. Put is this way, if money was no object and you are a millionaire, you would be with O2, vodafone or EE. Not 3.

You can polish a turd as much as you like.

I use more than 20GB monthly and know others that do too. I don't see this as the better deal..

How, please tell?

I promise you I've never had a problem. A friend had a medical issue in the car when we were on a day out in Wales a few weeks ago, we were driving back towards Hereford and he started to get worse. As I didn't feel it was a 999 issue, but I wanted him to see a doctor ASAP I called 111 through my car's bluetooth.

It took quite a while to go through the process of talking to 111 and within minutes of putting the phone down a doctor called up back as promised and went through a phone consultation. All in all we were on the phone for 40 minutes driving through Wales and Hereford and there was no issue.

I later got him to the hospital under the doctors advice and he was seen within 10 minutes. There is no issue with Three's rural coverage, I regularly stream audio whilst driving all over the place, A roads, B roads, motorways. If I was on O2 I'd have little 3G coverage outside of main towns and to me the data is what I use more than the phone.

It is all irrelevant and you're talking rubbish anyway as 999 roams onto any network and will always be available even in the unlikely event that Three has no coverage. It is not about money for me, I wouldn't be on O2 if it was free, in fact Ovivo is free on Vodafone and I never use it, I pay for Three instead.

If you are using in excess of 20GB data a month. Then Three do not want you as a customer - trust me. Because if every customer used a 1/4 of what you were using Three wouldn't be able to offer unlimited data. Why don't you just get home broadband. Spoils it for everyone

Streaming and tethering.

Thine, I agree, threes 3G coverage is excellent and on par with EE because as you know they share MBNL. However if we are talking about total absolute coverage voice only. I would want to be with either O2 or Vodafone (legacy) networks if my life depended on it, then EE, no way 3. I had three last year, I work in Central London, couldn't get a signal inside lots of buildings.