Best business mobile network 2024: The top UK providers for coverage, reliability and value

Smartphones are a part of modern life and a critical part of modern business. These days, everything – from answering customer emails and uploading invoices, to attending video meetings and organising travel arrangements – can be, and often is, done from a mobile phone, but you can’t do any of that without one of the best business mobile networks.

To help you decide which network deserves your custom, we’ve conducted extensive research to find out which business mobile network their customers would recommend. We’ve asked the customers of four of the UK’s major networks to rate their provider in terms of speed, coverage, reliability, value for money, customer service and choice of phones, to give us a detailed picture of which networks best cater for business customers.

There are a number of factors to take into consideration when choosing a mobile provider, so below you’ll find a buyer’s guide covering the key topics you should think about before signing up, making a switch or renewing the contract with your current provider.

Beneath that, you’ll find our evaluation of the business mobile networks, based on the feedback provided by our survey respondents.

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How to choose the best business mobile network for you

Phone contract or SIM-only?

The key decision when taking out a new mobile tariff is whether to build the cost of the handset into the tariff, or go SIM-only and bring your own hardware.

It’s normally more cost-effective to buy a phone outright and partner it with a SIM-only contract. Those £30 or £40 per month deals with a phone included might look tempting, but with networks now increasingly trying to put customers on three-year deals, it can be a considerably more expensive way to obtain the hardware.

Some networks now separate out the cost of the phone and the airtime to make it easier to see quite how much you’re paying for the phone alone.

Length of contract

As we alluded to above, the networks want you tied down for as long as possible. The most tempting deals are often on 36-month contracts, and that’s a big commitment for a small business. Who can really say where their business will be in three years’ time?

If you must buy the phone on contract, be sure to check the cost of doing so over one or two years, as well as three. You may find it’s cheaper overall to take the shorter-term deal, even if the monthly fee is more expensive.

SIM-only deals are also sold on fixed-term contracts, with cheaper tariffs for those willing to commit to the longer term. However, be aware that networks may still impose mid-contract price increases, so read the terms carefully.

Data caps

It’s easy to overestimate how much data you’ll need on a monthly basis, resulting in taking a more expensive contract than you actually need. iPhones and Android phones both have data usage counters in their settings, so check how much data you actually use on your business phones before signing new deals – you may be surprised at how little you really need.

On the flip side, the fees for exceeding a monthly data cap can be extortionate, so check the terms and conditions carefully and set alerts on phones to warn users when they’re approaching their monthly data cap (you’ll find these in phone settings too).

Roaming charges

If you regularly travel abroad for business, roaming charges are an important consideration. These can vary wildly from network to network, but also from tariff to tariff. Pay particular attention to the countries you regularly visit – as a general rule of thumb, roaming charges outside of Europe tend to be much more expensive.

Quick tip: look for dual-SIM phones as these allow you to buy cheap data SIMs in your destination, while still using your regular SIM to answer calls/texts while abroad.

Coverage

If you’re considering switching to a new network, it’s best not to rely solely on the coverage maps provided by the networks, as they can be inaccurate. Ofcom has a network coverage checker you can use, though it also has some caveats over its accuracy. It may be a little rough and ready, but our best advice is to see if you have a friend or colleague on the network you’re considering and check if they can get a reliable indoor signal in key places such as your office.

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The UK’s best business mobile network in 2024

1. EE: Best business mobile network

Price when reviewed: From £15/mth (Note: Prices may rise during contract) | Check price at EE

EE topped all but one category in the Expert Reviews Best Business Mobile Network Awards this year, making it the clear choice for business customers.

EE’s best scores came in the categories that matter most to business customers: reliability, coverage and customer service. In each of those three categories, more than 90% of EE customers were satisfied or very satisfied with EE, which shows astonishing consistency.

The network seemingly doesn’t compromise on performance to deliver a reliable service either, with 90% of customers happy with the speed on offer. And, even though EE isn’t the cheapest network on the market, customers are still highly satisfied with the value for money they’re getting.

Overall, eight out of ten EE business customers said they’d recommend the network, by far the best score of any of the four networks on test here.

Read our full EE Business mobile review for details

2. Vodafone: Best business mobile network for coverage

Price when reviewed: From £15/mth (Note: Prices may rise during contract) | Check price at Vodafone

EE might have scored very highly for network coverage, but Vodafone did even better. A staggering 92% of Vodafone customers reported being happy with the coverage, while only 2% were dissatisfied and not a single customer claimed to be very dissatisfied.

Vodafone put in a strong all-round performance, claiming Highly Commended awards for choice of phone, customer service, reliability and speed. In many cases, it came second to EE only by the slimmest of margins.

Vodafone is a relatively expensive network, which is why its value for money score suffered slightly, but there’s no denying its quality.

Read our full Vodafone Business mobile review for details

3. O2: A strong contender on value

Price when reviewed: From £10/mth (Note: Prices may rise during contract) | Check price at O2

O2 picked up one Highly Commended award in the value for money category, with eight out of ten O2 customers happy with the value they’re getting from the network – a score that came agonisingly close to edging out EE, the winner in this category. Another reason it’s strong on value? It offers EU roaming at no extra charge.

Otherwise, O2 puts in a relatively middle-of-the-road performance. Most of its scores in the other categories hover around an industry average, not doing enough to stand out, but not upsetting many of its customers either.

A fairly healthy 73% of O2 business customers would recommend the network.

Read our full O2 Business mobile review for details

(* O2 offers data-only SIMs at a slightly cheaper price)

4. Three: Best business mobile network for cheap deals

Price when reviewed: From £5/mth (Note: Prices may rise during contract) | Check price at Three

Three has some unbelievable deals if you order through its website, not least of which is an unlimited data tariff for only £5 per month (at the time of writing) – far cheaper than you’ll find on any of the other networks.

However, there’s an element of ‘you get what you pay for’ from Three, as it posted the worst scores for customer service, reliability and speed, and customers didn’t rate it particularly highly for value for money either, despite those cheap deals.

However, none of Three’s scores was truly terrible, and two-thirds of its customers said they would recommend the network.

Read our full Three Business review for details