mobile phone plans



Vodafone Pay As You Go Plans

Vodafone offers two different PAYG plans and a few "packs" that give you lower rates for buying a bundle of texts or minutes.

The two plans are Smartplus and Smartstep.  Smartplus is the default plan and gives you great rates on off-peak airtime (nights and weekends).  If you talk a lot during the weekdays you will want to switch to Smartplus which gives you good rates all day long.  These plans will get expensive if you call other mobile networks frequently.  Currently, for every TopUp of at least £15, you will get an additional 10% free credit.  Here is a comparison of the two plans:

Call type

Smartplus
Peak / Offpeak

Smartstep
All day
Calls to landlines, Vodafone mobiles, and voicemail (per minute)

30p / 5p

30p for first 3 mins each day,
5p/min thereafter

To other mobiles/ min

35p / 35p

35p

Text message

12p

12p for first 3/day
9p each thereafter

Picture message

36p

36p
Video message

60p

60p
Data usage per MB

£7.50

£7.50

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Free

Free

If you use more than 100 minutes per month and want good rates regardless of which network you call, you should get one of the "Voice Packs".  For £15 you get 100 anytime minutes and for £25 you get 200 minutes.

There are also Text Packs. Choose 70 texts for £5, 200 texts for £10, or 500 texts for £15.  That's only 3p per text.

To use "packs" you have to be subscribed to the Smartplus plan.  You topup credit as usual and then send a special text message to buy a pack.  Pack credit is valid for 30 days after purchase.

Another great option with the Smartplus plan is that you can add "Vodafone Stop the Clock" for free.  With this feature, you can talk for up to 60 minutes for the price of just 3 minutes.  This applies to any night or weekend call to any standard landline or mobile UK number.  Nights are 7:30 PM to 7:30 AM.