Not sure whether to buy a SIM-only deal from spusu or 1pMobile?
In this article, we’ve explained the differences between these two mobile networks, based on our experiences using each of them.
We’ve compared spusu and 1pMobile based on their speeds and coverage, value for money, customer service, roaming allowances, and more, to help you decide which is best for you.
Before we begin, if you’re searching for a new mobile plan, on any network, use our comparison site to find the cheapest pay monthly phone plans or SIM-only deals on the market right now.
Contents
- Overview
- Coverage and speeds
- Roaming allowances
- Value for money
- Customer service
- Verdict: should you join spusu or 1pMobile?
Overview
spusu and 1pMobile are both mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) that piggyback off the EE network.
Rather than operating their own mobile masts, these two providers use EE’s infrastructure.
Both MVNOs are fairly basic, in terms of the range of plans that they offer.
spusu and 1pMobile only offer SIM-only deals – you can’t buy a handset or a SIM on a long-term contract – though spusu does have some basic phones you can choose to buy for a one-off cost.
Because they’re quite basic, these two networks’ tariffs are both quite cheap, especially given that they give you access to EE, which is often the most expensive of the big four providers in the UK.
However, compared to spusu, 1pMobile has a much larger range of different data plans to choose from. There are 10 different data tariffs you can buy, compared to just four with spusu (and spusu has no unlimited data SIM plan, which is a dealbreaker for some people).
Plus, 1pMobile also gives you the option to buy a prepaid year-long SIM, with a set amount of monthly data, allowing you to get a lower monthly cost.
Each provider offers unlimited calls and texts to UK numbers on all of their SIM tariffs. WiFi calling and 5G speeds are also included by default with both networks.
However, spusu is the only one of these companies to offer eSIMs at the moment. You can’t currently get an eSIM with 1pMobile.
Coverage and speeds
We found that both 1pMobile and spusu offer strong speeds and signal on the EE network.
Neither network is speed-restricted, meaning you don’t have to deal with the 100Mbps download speed limits that some EE SIMs come with when you buy from them directly.
Even on 4G, in an area with strong signal, we would consistently get download speeds of 150 Mbps or more with both spusu and 1pMobile, which is very fast compared to most other 4G networks we’ve tested.
On the other hand, as the speed tests show, our upload speeds could be more variable, especially on spusu, where they would sometimes drop below 3 Mbps.
Upload speeds of 3-5 Mbps are fairly typical on most mobile networks in the UK, and won’t cause problems for most people. They’re just not as fast as what we saw with 1pMobile, in most cases.
Despite this though, both providers offer very good availability and coverage, especially in more remote parts of the UK, because EE has the best coverage of any of the big four networks.
We think 1pMobile and spusu both have essentially the same network access that EE customers do, meaning you can get online and make calls in more places than you can with most other networks – especially in the countryside.
On 5G, spusu was faster than 1pMobile, though it still had fairly low upload speeds at times.
Neither of these networks offered ultrafast 5G speeds of 300 Mbps or more, which you can get with some other providers from our testing.
If you live in an urban or suburban area and are looking for the fastest possible 5G, a network like Three (or one of its MVNOs, like Smarty) is likely a better choice than 1pMobile or spusu at the moment.
Roaming allowances
1pMobile generally has better roaming allowances than spusu, but spusu’s roaming provisions are still quite good, given the prices of their SIM plans.
With 1pMobile, you can use your full data allowance for free in 46 different countries at the moment, mostly in the EU, up to 14GB per month.
On the other hand, spusu roaming only covers 35 different countries, and the data allowance varies depending on the plan that you have.
The maximum is 10GB of free roaming data per month, which is available on their 30GB and higher plans. On cheaper tariffs, you don’t always get access to your full data limit overseas, meaning you’ll only have a few gigabytes of data to use.
However, spusu does give you a certain amount of free calling minutes to EU numbers (if you’re in the UK) and back home to the UK (if you’re in the EU on holiday), which is a nice touch.
On most of their plans, 500 free minutes are included per month, but with 1pMobile, you’ll have to pay per minute of calls made – normally 9p/minute to European countries.
Neither provider offers free roaming in further-afield destinations beyond Europe, such as Turkey or the United States.
There are also no roaming add-on packages you can choose to buy to get a data plan in these destinations – instead, you’ll need to pay per megabyte of data used, or per text sent, which can get very expensive.
Value for money
spusu generally offers slightly lower prices than 1pMobile.
On a cost per gigabyte of data basis, you’ll normally save a pound or two per month using spusu instead of 1pMobile.
However, you might be able to get a lower monthly cost with 1pMobile, simply thanks to the number of plans that they have to choose from (or by using one of their annual prepaid SIM plans, which spusu don’t offer).
For example, if you want at least 10GB of monthly data, spusu doesn’t offer this as an option, so you’ll have to buy their 30GB plan. But with 1pMobile, they have a 10GB plan, allowing you to choose the exact amount of data you need.
The lack of plans on offer from spusu is also an issue if you want more than 60GB of monthly data. They don’t currently have a 100GB, 200GB, or unlimited data plan – 60GB is the maximum, though we expect this will change in the near future.
Therefore, if you want to access the EE network with a high data limit, 1pMobile is a much better choice than spusu at the moment.
Remember, if you want a phone on a contract, another network like Three is going to be a better choice, since spusu and 1pMobile currently only offer SIM-only deals.
Customer service
We think 1pMobile has better customer service than spusu at the moment.
They have an easy-to-find customer service phone number, which makes it very easy to reach a real person if you ever need help.
With spusu, they do have a better range of channels to reach out on, including phone, WhatsApp, and email, but we found that they were fairly slow to respond to messages, and more difficult to reach over the phone.
We also found it was harder to cancel our plan as a spusu customer.
With 1pMobile, you can cancel your SIM on their website. But with spusu, you have to reach out to their customer support team to do this, making the process a fair bit more difficult.
Of the two providers, only spusu has a mobile app, which is simple and easy to use, though the FAQ section is hidden away under “Contact us”, making it difficult to find if you don’t know where to look.
However, we didn’t find that we were missing out on anything with the lack of a mobile app from 1pMobile. Everything you need is available on their website, once you log in.
Verdict: should you join spusu or 1pMobile?
We generally prefer 1pMobile over spusu at the moment, but it is close between the two providers.
1pMobile has slightly better customer service than spusu, and a much better range of plans to choose from.
Plus, 1pMobile’s roaming allowances offer more data than spusu’s plans at the moment.
However, spusu does have its advantages. They are the only one of these providers to offer eSIMs, and they also provide inclusive international calling, to certain countries, up to a certain monthly limit.
If you’re still not sure which mobile network to choose, leave us a comment below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
About the author
Tom is the founder of Green Smartphones. You’ll find him writing about phones on the Green Smartphones blog, or talking about SIM deals and mobile networks on our YouTube channel. He’s the Android expert on the team – currently using a Google Pixel 9, recently upgrading from a very long-suffering Note 20 Ultra. When he’s not working on Green Smartphones, you’ll find him playing football or hiking.