Jan 21st, 2020
Pro’s
- Reliable coverage with the O2 network
- uSwitch network for best customer service
- Family plan perks such as money off, free data and Tesco Club Card points
Con’s
- No data rollover of any unused data
- No inclusive subscriptions.
Half Cooked’s overall rating for Tesco Mobile: 
(4 / 5)
Summary
Tesco Mobile gets a lot of the basics right. Tesco Mobile runs on the O2 network providing their customers with 99% population coverage and they keep their customers happy, with the fewest complaints out of the networks.
They also offer great perks such as free data & money off your bill for any families sharing an account. Half Cooked gives Tesco 4 stars as they are a great option for all types of mobile users.
Click here to go direct to Tesco Mobile’s website and see their latest SIM offers.
Skip to the Half Cooked breakdown to find out how Tesco Mobile performed in each of our main categories by clicking here
Otherwise read on for our full review or skip to a specific section by choosing from the table of contents below.
Table of Contents
5. Wi-Fi Calling & Wi-Fi Hotspots
7. Multi Buy Discounts/ Family Plans
10. Sim Deals & Phone Contracts
11. Half Cooked Overall Breakdown
Network Basics
Network Coverage & Data Speeds (4 / 5)
Tesco Mobile runs on the O2 network, this means as a Tesco Mobile customer you will be getting identical coverage to an O2 customer. However, prior to purchasing we recommend checking out the Tesco Mobile coverage checker on their website.
O2 has around 99% population coverage for its combined 4G & 3G network – meaning you will be covered almost anywhere in the UK. Their great coverage is supported by the fact they won the uSwitch 2018 mobile award for best network coverage. O2’s recent investment in expanding their network has paid off with coverage improving in 2018.
Tesco Mobile offers data speeds with which you won’t have any problem streaming HD content but looking at Open Signal results for H2 2018, O2 is tracking behind EE & Three in terms of data speeds with an average download speed on 4G of 15 MB/s vs EE who leads the way with 28MB/s.
Voice Call Quality 
(3 / 5)
To consider the call quality on Tesco Mobile, we need to look at O2’s performance. You won’t have any issues making a call with a Tesco Mobile SIM, with recent call quality tests run by P3 communications giving O2 a score of satisfactory.
Tethering 
(5 / 5)
Tethering is turning your mobile device into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot which in turn allows your data to be used by other Wi-Fi devices to access the internet.
Occasionally you find networks will limit tethering as it can tend to use up network capacity. If customers are heavily using their data, this then slows down the network for other users.
Tesco Mobile however provide no limit on tethering to its customers. Regardless of what plan you are on you can use your total data allowance when tethering. However, with you likely to burn through your data more quickly, we recommend checking Tesco Mobiles out of plan data charges.
International Roaming (3 / 5)
Tesco Mobile has the basics covered with roaming in 48 EU destinations free of charge to customers. This is however part of the EU roaming regulation changes that came into effect in the summer of 2017 and is now offered by all pay monthly UK network providers that have roaming.
Beyond this, you won’t be getting any additional countries included as part of your plan and you will have to pay per minute, text or MB of data used abroad in other destinations. We still rate Three’s Go Roam proposition as the best in the market with over 70 destinations with inclusive roaming.
Wi-Fi Calling & Wi-Fi Hotspots 
(1 / 5)
Wi-Fi calling
allows customers to place calls and send texts using wireless networks instead of using their 3G/4G network. This gives customers the opportunity to make calls even when they have no network access.
This is not currently offered to Tesco Mobile customers but this is common amongst a lot of the MVNO’s, with Tesco you get less of the frills but great value instead.
There are also no Wi-Fi hotspots exclusively available to Tesco Mobile customers. We don’t consider this a big issue with many public locations such as restaurants, bars & shopping centres now offering Wi-Fi hotspots free of charge.
Data Rollover (1 / 5)
Data rollover means you can roll your unused data from one month to the next. For e.g. if you have a 3GB plan and only use 2GB the following month you will have 4GB as the extra 1GB would be rolled over and added to your allowance.
Data rollover is not offered to Tesco Mobile customers – any data not used by the end of the month is lost.
Some of the better offers in the market include Sky Mobile who offer data rollover for up to 3 years and SMARTY Mobile who offer money off your next bill for any unused data.
Multi Buy Discounts/ Family Plans (4 / 5)
Some networks are now offering customers discounts on any additional SIM or phone contract purchases they make to incentivise people to sign up their family & friends.
Tesco Mobile do a great job when it comes to their family plans with their ‘Family Perks’ scheme. Multiple plans can be added to a single account and as a result any of these plans then get a choice of an additional perk which can be extra data, minutes, money off your bill or club card points.
The more you are paying, the greater the discount you get. You can check out the Tesco Mobile site to see all these perks. If you have a a number of plans with Tesco you can really start to build up some savings.
Spending Caps (4 / 5)
Networks have begun to introduce spending caps to help customers avoid nasty bill shocks. Tesco Mobile were the first network to offer spending caps to all their SIM only and phone customers – called capped contracts.
Tesco Mobiles spending cap can be set anywhere from £2.50 to £40 a month. If you hit your spending limit, services that have an additional cost are then blocked, however anything free is still allowed. This is perfect for customers worried about getting bill shocks or trying to control childrens usage.
Other Perks (1 / 5)
With the mobile market becoming saturated with a number of new networks, some of these operators are trying to differentiate themselves by offering non-traditional perks.
Inclusive entertainment subscriptions are one such perk that is now being offered to customers. EE for example, provide access to the BT sport app and Apple Music, saving customers cash on two premium subscription services. Unfortunately, there is nothing currently offered to Tesco Mobile customers.
Free data streaming is another perk offered by networks such as Three with their Go Binge proposition. This offers unlimited streaming on popular apps such as Netflix. Again, this is something not offered by Tesco Mobile.
These perks aren’t common among the cheaper virtual networks, this is so they can offer competitive pricing on their SIM and phone deals.
Sky Mobile offers customers access to unlimited free streaming of multiple Sky TV channels right from their device, to learn more check out our Sky Mobile Review.
Sim Deals & Phone Contracts
Tesco Mobile has 9 different SIM only deals available to customers. The majority of these are 12 month contracts with only 3 different 1 month contracts available. Data allowances start at 250 MB for the entry price point of £7.50 and rise to 50GB for the top end SIM only plan which comes at a cost of £35. The minutes and texts also vary on each of these plans which can be seen on Tesco Mobiles website.
In terms of handsets Tesco Mobile stocks a large range, from budget handsets, all the way to your flagships models from the likes of Apple & Samsung.
The majority of Tesco Mobiles contracts are on ‘Anytime Upgrade’ with only a few budget handsets available on a traditional 24 month contract. The ‘Anytime Upgrade’ contracts work by splitting the handset and airtime of your SIM (minutes, texts & data) into two separate monthly payments. This perk provides flexibility to customers to be able to pay off their handsets, however the phone contract is effectively a loan which makes it more difficult to get accepted.
There are two options for Tesco Mobile PAYG customers. The first are ‘Rocket Pack’s which are bundles with a monthly set of data, minutes and texts. For a £10 Rocket Pack you get 3GB of data, 500 minutes and 5000 texts. The other option is triple credit, when you top up £10 for example you get £20 of free credit. Calls start from 25p a minute and data at 10p per MB which is on the pricey end.
Click below to follow through to Tesco Mobile’s SIM only and Phone Contracts.
Half Cooked Overall Breakdown
Half Cooked’s overall rating for Tesco Mobile:
(4 / 5)
- Network Coverage and Speeds
– Running on the O2 network with 99% 4G coverage you will always be covered, with good data speeds alongside this. - Voice Call Quality
– P3 Comms rated voice call quality as ‘Satisfactory’, you won’t have a problem making any calls on the Tesco Mobile network - Tethering – No limit to tethering on any of Tesco Mobile’s plans, tether as much as you want!
- International Roaming – Get all 48 EU destinations as standard with your contract.
- Wi-Fi Calling & Wi-Fi Hotspots
– No Wi-Fi calling or hotspots exclusively available to Tesco Mobile customers, but this common place amongst the smaller MVNOs - Data Rollover – No data rollover available, use all your data by the end of the month or lose it.
- Multi Buy Discounts/ Family Plans – Tesco’s ‘Family Perks’ schemes gives customers a free perk such as additional data, money off your bill or club card points for each plan on an account.
- Spending Caps – Set your spending limit from anywhere between £2.50 to £40 and avoid any nasty bill shocks.
- Other Perks – Like many of the other virtual networks, there are no additional perks that are available on the larger networks.
