New Research Findings

UK & USA: Snapshot of UK vs USA SmartPhone tariffs (04-07-2014 - Service: Misc)

Published: Fri 4 July 2014

The following gives a snapshot of SmartPhone tariffs for postpaid users in the UK and USA. TCL has selected the three largest operators in each country taking the low end, medium and top end tariff for each operator. The following table shows what is offered by each operator. Prices have been converted into USD and exclude taxes. The table is sorted by most expensive plan first:

Operator	Rental (USD)	Included mins	Included SMS	Included data	Excess Voice (min)	SMS
AT&T/USA	$375.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	50 GB	$0.00	$0.00
Verizon/USA	$375.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	50 GB	$0.00	$0.00
EE/UK	$107.19	Unlimited	Unlimited	50 GB	$0.00	$0.00
Vodafone/UK	$90.76	Unlimited	Unlimited	13 GB	$0.00	$0.00
AT&T//USA	$70.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	4 GB	$0.00	$0.00
Verizon//USA	$70.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	4 GB	$0.00	$0.00
O2/UK	$68.61	Unlimited	Unlimited	8 GB	$0.00	$0.00
Vodafone/UK	$55.03	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 GB	$0.00	$0.00
Sprint/USA	$55.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 GB	$0.00	$0.00
EE/UK	$42.87	Unlimited	Unlimited	2 GB	$0.00	$0.00
O2/UK	$40.02	Unlimited	Unlimited	8 GB	$0.00	$0.00
Sprint/USA	$40.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 GB	$0.00	$0.00
Sprint/USA	$25.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 GB	$0.00	$0.00
AT&T/USA	$20.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	300 MB	$0.00	$0.00
Verizon//USA	$15.00	Unlimited	Unlimited	250 MB	$0.00	$0.00
EE/UK	$14.28	100	100	100 MB	$0.50	$0.17
Vodafone/UK	$12.86	300	500	250 MB	$0.64	$0.26
O2/UK	$11.43	100	Unlimited	100 MB	$0.57	$0.21

Source: TCL Smartphone Tariff Tracker

Tariff Consultancy Ltd comments

Tariffs range from USD 11.43 (O2 UK) to USD 375.00 (AT&T and Verizon), prices are without tax.

Out of the 18 plans surveyed, 15 come with unlimited minutes and 16 come with unlimited SMS. All of theUS operators offer unlimited minutes and SMS.

It is 68 per cent cheaper to avail the top end SmartPhone plan i.e. (unlimited minutes, unlimited SMS and 50 GB) in the UK versus theUSA.

Notes:

Unlimited SMS/MMS offered by both AT&T Verizon include those send to abroad from theUSA.

Verizon also offers 25 GB Cloud storage with its plans.

The UK operators all offer VAS with their plans. EE includes EE Film, Tethering, WiFi and Visual Voicemail, O2 includes 12 months access to Sun+, Vodafone offers free Spotify Premium and NetFlix with its top end plan.

The top end EE plan allows customers to use their allowance when roaming in the EU.