Which network offers the best perks?
There are few things we Brits love more than freebies, discounts and special offers. And with phone networks all vying for customers, most contracts will come with some added extras and incentives to gain and retain your business. Read on to find out. Current network Select a network O2 EE Three Mobile Vodafone Plusnet giffgaff BT Mobile Virgin Mobile iD Mobile Lebara Mobile Tesco Mobile SMARTY VOXI Lycamobile TalkMobile Sky Mobile New network Select a network O2 EE Three Mobile Vodafone Plusnet giffgaff BT Mobile Virgin Mobile iD Mobile Lebara Mobile Tesco Mobile SMARTY VOXI Lycamobile TalkMobile Sky Mobile Switch now  EE  Free BT Sports app for 3 months  EE customers on a monthly contract can get a free, three-month subscription to the BT Sport app. The BT Sport app gives you access to live Premier League and UEFA Champions League matches, as well as Aviva Rugby, Moto GP and NBA on your phone or tablet. While its likely principally intended to entice new customers, existing EE users can also take advantage of the offer by texting SPORT to 150. Free Apple Music for 6 months  Customers who are new to EE or upgrading their EE contract are eligible for a free, six-month subscription to Apple Music. The music-streaming service is Apples answer to Spotify, giving subscribers access to over 30 million songs. With regular subscriptions costing 9.99 a month, this actually gives music fans a significant saving. Its worth noting, however, that this offer isnt currently available for existing customers. EE Tickets  EE Tickets is a nice little perk that gives EE customers access to loads of great offers and discounts for shows, comedy performances and days out. Once youve signed up and have started using EE Tickets, it will notify you about discounts for events youre likely to be interested in. Free data boosts for pay as you go customers  Pay as you go customers on EE can get a free boost of minutes, texts or data every three months, with boosts getting bigger the longer you stay with EE. The best boost is undoubtedly the data, which gives you an extra 500MB after three months, then 1GB after another three months, then 1.5GB and so on. Smart number technology  EE's new smart number technology allows customers to make and receive calls on their tablet, watch or laptop using one phone number, even when they dont have their smartphone with them. So if your battery dies while you're out, or you leave your phone at home, you can still make and receive calls on your regular number using any of your other connected devices. Best of all, this service is available at no extra cost to new and existing EE customers. Our verdict on EE perks: decent discounts and freebies  EE offers a good range of incentives, particularly for new customers. Existing customers unfortunately miss out on some of the freebies but with discounts on days out and the fastest 4G speeds in the country, theres enough on offer to reward loyalty. Check out all of our EE deals. O2  O2 Priority offers and discounts  The O2 Priority app is one of the best rewards apps around, offering great promotions and discounts for a range of high-street stores, restaurants and events. There are also regular competitions for O2 customers, with big-ticket items such as cash prizes, holidays and brand-new cars often up for grabs. O2 Priority presale tickets  For true music lovers and culture vultures, there are few things more nerve-wracking than having to buy tickets to see your must-see show as soon as they go on sale, particularly if you know its likely to sell out fast. Depending on how popular the tickets are, the website might crash, or you might be entered into a never-ending queue to re-enter the site. And even if you do get through to buy tickets, youll be faced with a whole minefield of login questions, seating plans and quizzes to prove youre not a robot. All within what feels like an unreasonably short time limit. Luckily, O2 customers can lessen this ordeal by downloading the O2 Priority Tickets app, which entitles them to buy tickets for events at any O2 venue 48 hours before the tickets go on general sale. Although this doesnt guarantee O2 customers success, it does mean that they have a significantly better chance of getting a ticket than non-O2 customers. Perks at O2 venues and Twickenham Stadium  Once youre at the venue, there are a whole host of little extras that O2 customers can take advantage of, from priority queueing and access to select lounge rooms, to free cloakrooms and money off food and drinks. Simply download the app and show it to an O2 Angel or member of the venue staff to take advantage of these perks. Free Netflix and double data on select tariffs  Customers on eligible O2 Refresh, tablets, dongles and SIM-only contracts can claim a six or twelve-month Netflix subscription as a free gift from O2. Considering that a Netflix subscription normally costs 7.99 a month, you could save up to 95.88 over the course of a year. And you'll get to watch all the latest episodes of The Crown, Stranger Things or Orange Is The New Black without paying for it. Better still, customers on these select contracts can get double data, so you can make the most of your free Netflix subscription. Both offers are available until the 8th August. Our verdict on O2 perks: perfect for music lovers  If you love going to music gigs and comedy shows, you'll definitely enjoy all the advantages reserved for O2 customers. The O2 Priority app is our favourite rewards app currently available, giving you everything from a free snack or drink with your lunch to the chance to win a car or a holiday. Check out all of our O2 deals. Three  Wuntu app offers weekly deals to customers  Previously lagging behind the likes of O2 and EE when it came to rewarding customers, Three has just launched Wuntu, an app that gives users weekly offers, deals and competitions. Although its still early days, Three has already teamed up with a number of major brands including the AA, Uber, ao.com, Deezer, FitBit and Vue, so it promises to be worth the wait for loyal customers. Go Binge  Three's new Go Binge plans give you unlimited streaming to Netflix, Deezer, TVPlayer and SoundCloud without using up any of your data. Check out our Go Binge FAQ. Feel at Home  Although this isnt technically a reward, it definitely deserves a mention, seeing as its probably the best roaming scheme out there at the moment. Three customers on pay monthly plans, except Three Essential plans, can automatically use their monthly allowance of calls, texts and data while theyre abroad for no extra charge. Pay as you go customers can also enjoy this benefit by converting credit into an add-on. Our verdict on Three's perks: best for international roaming  While Three's Wuntu app is still very new, it promises to deliver regular discounts and competitions with a number of big-name brands. Three's Feel at Home, however, is where customers can make a real saving. By allowing you to use your monthly allowance while you're abroad, frequent flyers will save themselves a lot of money and hassle while roaming. Check out all of our Three deals. Vodafone  Vodafone VeryMe rewards app  Vodafone's new rewards app, VeryMe, has lots to recommend it. For one thing, all customers who sign up to it will get a free gift of 2GB. As you might expect, you get discounts and freebies from the likes of Costa Coffee, Hotel Chocolat and Millie's Cookies, as well as regular prize draws and competitions. But the real winner is an ongoing offer that gets you two Odeon cinema tickets a week for just 7. The offer is valid any day, any time. Entertainment passes with Red Value bundles  Vodafone customers on a Red Value bundle can get a free pass for NOW TV Entertainment, Spotify Premium or the Sky Sports Mobile TV app. Pay monthly customers with a Red Value bundle can get one of these passes for up to 24 months, while select SIM-only customers can choose one for up to 12 months. Free Amazon Prime Video subscription for Red Entertainment customers  New and existing Vodafone customers on a Red Entertainment tariff can now get an Amazon Prime Video subscription for no extra cost. The deal means that Red Entertainment users can stream shows including The Grand Tour, American Gods and vintage episodes of Parks and Recreation for the duration of their 24-month contract. And, now that Amazon Prime has got the rights to 20 Premier League matches, it's great news for football fans, too. Even better, you can watch it abroad without paying any extra. Red Entertainment customers travelling within the 48 European destinations included in Vodafones roaming package wont pay a penny more to access their favourite Amazon Prime shows. Free content transfer  In recent years, transferring content from your old phone onto your new handset has become much simpler, thanks to improved smartphone features, cloud storage and a host of helpful apps that transfer content wirelessly. Even so, it can still be a bit of a hassle to transfer all your data onto your new phone. To take some of the strain out of it, Vodafone customers can pop into their local store and get all their contacts moved over. Customers on a Red or Red Value bundle can also get their photos, music and videos transferred too. Free courtesy phone  If, like the majority of the adult UK population, you suffer from nomophobia (fear of being without your smartphone), the thought of your beloved phone breaking is, quite frankly, terrifying. If the worst should happen to your device and you have to send it away for repair, Vodafone will actually lend you a courtesy phone while yours is being fixed. So, you can stay connected until your phone is working again. Our verdict: hassle-free service  If you're on a Red Value bundle, you will get some really great perks. If not, there's not much in the way of freebies. However, should your phone ever break, a free courtesy phone will make a huge difference to you while yours is being repaired. Check out all of our Vodafone deals. VOXI  Unlimited social media  VOXIs biggest draw is this social media savvy offer. Anyone who takes out one of its bargain SIM-only plans will get access to the biggest and best social media apps, including TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram without having to use their data allowance. Best all, getting onto such apps is completely unlimited, meaning you can spend as many hours as you like checking photos, posting updates and complaining about train delays, without the worry of facing fair usage fees. Amazon vouchers  Recommend a friend to VOXI and you get a 10 Amazon voucher. Youll need to wait two months, with both you and your friend using the network throughout that time period, in order to qualify. Winningly, you can recommend as many people as you like, racking up vouchers to spend on whatever you fancy on the worlds largest online emporium. No credit check, no contract  VOXI makes a big deal of the fact its 30-day SIM-only plans are not actually contracts. That means theres no credit check and that you can switch to a different network easily, as long as you abide by the 30-day term. That sets it well apart from its rivals and makes it easy to take advantage of its deals if youre young or have a bad credit rating. Endless Video  If you love watching movies and shows, VOXIs Endless Video is just the thing. You can stream as much as you like from all your favourite services and apps, like plans which let people stream as much as they like from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, My5, TVPlayer and UKTV Play. You won't use any of your data allowance. Then VOXIs deals are great. Theyre excellent value (10 for 6GB a month) and the perks mean you can access the best the internet has to offer without paying extra. And you can use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as much as you like without eating up any of your data. Check out all our VOXI deals. SMARTY  Money off for the data you dont use  SMARTYs best perk is the money you get back for the data you dont use each month. Millions of people pay for data that winds up going unused or gets rolled over to the following month. SMARTY takes a different approach, giving you 1.25 back for each GB that you dont use. So, if youre on its 6.25 a month plan and dont use any data, your next bill will only be 5. No contract, no credit checks  Like VOXI, SMARTYs plans are not technically contracts. They last 30 days and dont require a credit check, making it easy to take them out. Just let them know when you want to leave and youre good to go to another network. Monthly payments are made in advance, rather than arrears, so the deals always have consumers best interests in mind. 20 Amazon vouchers for Unlimited Plan customers  If you take out SMARTYs 25 per month unlimited plan, which includes allyoucaneat data, calls and texts, you get a 20 Amazon voucher thrown in for good measure. To take advantage you need to activate your Smarty SIM by 22nd May. Get two months free with Uswitch  Right now, if you get a SMARTY deal through Uswitch, you can enjoy the second and third month of your Smarty deal for free. Naturally, if you choose to change your plan to a pricier option in that time, youll get the cost of your original plan taken off your monthly payment. You need to do so by 22nd May to take advantage. Our verdict: Freebies make SMARTY even sweeter  SMARTYs cheap plans and excellent coverage already make it an excellent option for budget conscious smartphone owners. Its perks are excellent, too, especially the free two-month offer. Check out all our best SMARTY deals. BT Mobile  BT Sport for free  If you take out a 6GB or 15GB SIM-only plan on BT Mobile, you get access to the BT Sport app for free. That means you can watch the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League and Aviva Premiership rugby, plus IPL cricket. No problem. If you take out a 12-month SIM-only plan you can get a second, 30-day SIM for your partner or kids. Deals for second, third or fourth SIMs are cheaper than the main SIM, making it a winner for those looking for group savings. Roam Like Home  BT offers international roaming on 47 destinations, including the entire European Union, non EU European states and parts of the Caribbean. This isnt quite as extensive as Threes Feel At Home, but it does at least mean no nasty bills when you come back from major holiday destinations such as Spain, Greece and Italy. To find out more, take a look at our BT Mobile roaming FAQ. Our verdict: The more the merrier  If you want a lot of people on one plan, BT Mobile is the place to be. Its coverage, backed by EE, is second to none, while its Family SIMs plans is also first class. Check out all our BT Mobile deals. Sky Mobile  Free data rollover  Sky Mobiles main selling point is its free data rollover scheme, which is available to smartphone and tablet buyers who sign up for a device on one of Sky's Swap contracts. While some of the major networks, such as O2 and Virgin Media, let you roll over your unused data at the end of the month, you can only roll over data from the previous month. So, you cant stockpile a huge trove of unused data. With Sky Mobile, however, you can roll over unused data at the end of each month and store it in an online piggybank. That data will be there whenever you want to use it for up to three years at no extra cost, so you never lose what youve paid for. Families on a Sky Mobile plan can pool all their unused data together and share it out whenever a family member needs a bit of a top-up. Free unlimited texts and calls for Sky TV customers  Sky Mobile is offering data-only SIM cards for customers who use the internet more than minutes and messages. However, existing Sky TV customers can also get free unlimited texts and calls when they sign up for one of Sky Mobiles SIM-only deals. Sky Go Extra app free for up to four devices  Sky+ customers will get the Sky Go Extra app for free on up to four devices. The service normally costs 5 a month, and allows you to stream videos or watch recordings while you're out and about. Our verdict on Sky Mobile perks: excellent for saving data  If you're an existing Sky TV customer, or if you're only interested in a data allowance, Sky Mobile will almost certainly help you to save money and data. If you're not a Sky TV customer and you still use traditional calls and texts, Sky Mobile is probably not the network for you. Tesco Mobile  Clubcard points  Tesco Mobile customers can collect Clubcard points for every 1 they spend on their monthly contract or credit top-up. For anyone unfamiliar with Tesco Clubcard points, you can either spend them on groceries and household goods at Tesco stores or with Tescos Clubcard Partners, including big names such as Pizza Express, Longleat Zoo and RED driving school. Perks for families  If youre a Tesco Mobile pay monthly customer with more than one contract on your account, you can add a free monthly perk for each contract. Each contract-holder on the account can choose between extra data, additional minutes, Clubcard points and money off their bill. Triple credit for pay as you go customers  Tesco Mobile customers on pay as you go can actually get three times the amount they top up once a month. So, if you top up 10, Tesco Mobile will give you an extra 20 of credit for free, giving you 30 in total. The free credit will last for a month and can be used on calls, texts and data. Our verdict on Tesco Mobile perks: great incentives for families  With lots of incentives, including Clubcard points that you can spend in-store or on fun days out, and additional freebies when you add more contracts to your account, Tesco Mobile is a great network for families.