Expert Reviews Mobile Network Awards 2024: The results

Every year brings a deluge of new smartphones, with new cameras, processors and AI features to make them even more indispensable than the one you had before. Yet without good, reliable mobile connectivity, even the swishest smartphones are stripped of most of the stuff that makes them useful. When you need to find your way to a location, check your messages, show your event tickets or make a call, the lack of coverage or a fast connection can hold you back.

But which networks can you trust? Which will give you the speeds you’re looking for? Which will leave you high and dry? And which networks give you real value for money, and give you the data and features you need for a decent price?

For the fourth year running, we’re publishing our annual Mobile Network Awards, to answer all these questions and more. In partnership with YouGov, we surveyed over 4,000 of our readers to ask them for feedback on their current mobile network. We asked whether they consistently provide you with a fast enough connection for browsing the web or streaming video or music. You told us if you’re satisfied with your network’s customer service and whether you’re getting good value. We also asked whether you’d be likely to recommend your network to a friend or family member.

We’ve used all these responses to work out which networks are exceeding expectations, and which are falling short. You’ll find the results below. We’ve also picked out winners and Highly Commended runners up for customer service, value, reliability and performance. Read on to find out who has proved worthy of this year’s awards.

Expert Reviews Mobile Network Awards 2024

Overall Winner: Voxi

Highly Commended: Smarty

Voxi triumphs in this year’s awards much as it did last year. Owned and operated by Vodafone, Voxi performed well across our survey, winning the award for Reliability, sharing the award for Value and placing high in every other category. As a result, Voxi is seemingly immune to the customer service worries that have plagued some of its no-frills rivals. An impressive 63% of the Voxi customers we surveyed said they would be very likely to recommend it to a friend, while a further 31% said they would be fairly likely. When 94% of customers would recommend your network, you have to be doing things right.

Voxi shows that you don’t have to be the cheapest or the fastest, as long as your customers feel they’re getting good value. Voxi provides it through a mix of strong data deals, special offers and unlimited social, music and video streaming features, where you can play music, stream video or catch up with your friends without eating into your monthly data allowance. Users also seem impressed by its reliability and speed.

Voxi’s biggest competition came from Smarty, who also scooped the same Highly Commended award in 2023. As Three’s budget sibling, it scored good results in every category except for customer service, where it has dropped a few points since last year. 93.2694% of customers told us they were likely to recommend it. With some incredibly low-priced plans, great 5G performance and good reliability, Smarty remains one of the most exciting no-frills networks available.

Read our full Voxi review for more details
Read our full Smarty review for more details

Best Customer Service: Tesco Mobile

Highly Commended: Giffgaff

Tesco Mobile wins the Customer Service award for the second year running. A total of 87% of customers responding to our survey told us they were satisfied with the network’s customer service, with 47% very satisfied. No other network in our survey scored over 80%. Only 3% were dissatisfied, while 84% of Tesco Mobile customers told us they would be likely to recommend it to a friend.

These results are backed up by Ofcom’s most recent research, where Tesco Mobile had the joint highest customer service score. Tesco Mobile also had fewer complaints per 100,000 customers than any other network, with a score of one.

As last year, Sky Mobile and Giffgaff were Tesco Mobile’s only serious competition, with Sky Mobile pleasing 79% of its customers and Giffgaff 79%. However, Giffgaff had a lower number of dissatisfied customers – 4% to Sky Mobile’s 7% – clinching it the award. Both continue to deliver great customer service, though, in a year when many other networks have sadly fallen short.

Read our full Tesco Mobile review for more details
Read our full Giffgaff review for more details

Best Value: Voxi and Smarty

Highly Commended: Lebara

How can you declare a winner when two networks both score the maximum 100% satisfaction on value for money? Well, that’s what happened with Voxi and Smarty this year, so we’re giving the award to both. Smarty is actually the cheaper of the two on most data packages, but Voxi seems to be balancing that with its solid customer service and allowance-free streaming. Whichever network you go with, you’re certain to get a great deal.

With two winners we didn’t necessarily need to give a Highly Commended, but we’re giving one to Lebara anyway. Once again, the cheap and cheerful virtual network prioritising international minutes has come up trumps, with a 98% score on Value and 90% of customers saying they were likely to recommend it to a friend. Like Voxi, it runs on top of Vodafone’s core network, so speeds and reliability are pretty good as well.

Read our full Voxi and Smarty reviews for more details
Read our full Lebara review for more details

Most Reliable: Voxi

Highly Commended: Smarty

Voxi takes its third prize for Reliability, based on another strong performance in our survey. An amazing 98% of users told us that they always or often had a fast enough connection for general web browsing. Over 94% said the same about audio streaming and 90% said the same about video streaming, so if you’re making use of Voxi’s free allowance to watch Netflix or listen to your Spotify playlists, you should be able to in more locations. Tellingly, only 6% of customers said they rarely or never had enough bandwidth for streaming video. Nearly every other network had a percentage in double figures.

As it always seems to be, Smarty wasn’t far behind. A total of 93% of users said their connection was always or often fast enough to browse the web, while 75% could say the same about listening to music or podcasts, and 65% felt their connection was usually fast enough for streaming video. iD Mobile, Three and Vodafone also did well here, though not quite well enough to grab their own awards.

Read our full Voxi review for more details
Read our full Smarty review for more details