BT Mobile is a
mobile virtual network operator
A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...
(MVNO) provided by
BT Consumer
BT Consumer is the main retail division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group that provides fixed-line, mobile, broadband and digital television to consumers in the UK. It buys access to some of these services from BT's other divi ...
; a division of
BT Group
BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broa ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
that was launched in March 2015. It uses the
EE network via an MVNO agreement signed in March 2014 as well as using the spectrum BT won in the 2013 4G auction. EE is now owned by BT following a successful acquisition that was officially completed on 29 January 2016. BT Mobile operates alongside
BT Business Mobile which is provided by the
BT Business and Public Sector
BT or Bt may refer to:
Arts, media and entertainment
The arts
* BT (musician) (born Brian Transeau), American electronic musician
* ''BT'' (album), a 2000 album by Buck-Tick
* Burton Taylor Studio or ''The BT'', managed by Oxford Playhouse
Fi ...
division. BT Mobile launched as a SIM-only service and had more than 400,000 customers as of 5 May 2016.
Products
SIM-only plans
BT Mobile is a full fledged mobile service with handsets and sim only offers four 12-month contract plans as of 7 November 2020:
# BT Mobile 500MB Plan - 500MB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts
# BT Mobile 10GB Plan - 10GB of data, 1000 minutes and unlimited texts
# BT Mobile 16GB Plan - 16GB of data, unlimited minutes and texts
# BT Mobile 20GB Plan - 20GB of data, unlimited minutes and texts
# BT Mobile 30GB Plan - 30GB of data, unlimited minutes and texts
# BT Mobile 100GB - 100GB of data, unlimited minutes and texts
Anyone living in a
BT Broadband
BT Broadband is a broadband service offered by BT Consumer; a division of BT Group in the United Kingdom. It was formerly known as BT Total Broadband, BT Yahoo! Broadband and BT Openworld. With the introduction of BT Infinity, the Broadband packag ...
home are eligible for a £5 monthly discount on all BT Mobile plans - each account holder can have up to five discounted plans but there's no limit to the number of people in a house that can take up the offer.
Features
BT Sport
Subscribers to BT Mobile can watch BT Sport through the dedicated mobile streaming app. However, watching BT Sport via television still requires a paid subscription.
BT Wi-Fi
Subscribers to BT Mobile have unlimited access to BT Wi-Fi, regardless of the data allowance in their contract. Connection to BT Wi-Fi can be made through an internet browser or the dedicated BT Wi-Fi application.
BT Mobile App
The BT Mobile app allows a subscriber to keep on top of their contract allowance, allowing them to see their minutes, texts and remaining data allowance. The app also shows outwith contract spending, details of the consumers contract and information on data roaming.
Services
Network
BT Mobile offers
4G as standard to all customers at no extra cost and in order to benefit from 4G speeds, a 4G-ready phone is required. However, customers in areas with no 4G coverage or without a 4G-ready phone will still be able to connect via the
3G and
2G networks.
Coverage
As BT Mobile uses the
EE network, its
4G network reaches more than 95% of the UK population while its
3G network reaches 98% and
2G network reaches 99%.
Extra Speed 4G
On 3 February 2016, BT announced a new add-on service called Extra Speed 4G for BT Mobile customers, allowing them to access even faster upload and download speeds than standard 4G, provided they are in an Extra Speed 4G area. The speeds can reach a maximum of up to 60Mbit/s and the service costs £4 a month and is a 30-day rolling contract, which means customers won't be tied in for 12 months. The speed will vary on a day-to-day basis and depends on various things such as coverage, distance from the mast, the number of people using the network and the type of 4G phone you have, as well as whether you're indoors or in a densely populated area.
Wi-Fi Calling
BT introduced
Wi-Fi Calling
Voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN), also Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi), is the use of a wireless broadband network according to the IEEE 802.11 standards for the purpose of vocal conversation. In essence, it is Voice over IP (VoIP) over a Wi-Fi networ ...
on 29 March 2018, which allows customers to use
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
to call and text in areas with poor or no signal, and will come out of their monthly minutes and texts allowance or at the normal network rate, with no extra charge. It works on any
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
handset from
iPhone 5S
The iPhone 5S (stylized and marketed as iPhone 5s) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the seventh generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, and unveiled in September 2013, alongside the iPhone 5C.
Th ...
onwards and certain
Android handsets bought from BT Mobile. For existing customers, BT's 'My BT' and BT Mobile app offer the ability to check phone compatibility. The phone's software must be updated to take benefit of the service, minimum
iOS 11.3 or later for Apple handsets.
4G Calling
BT introduced 4G Calling (
VoLTE
Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is an LTE high-speed wireless communication standard for mobile phones and data terminals, including Internet of things (IoT) devices and wearables. VoLTE has up to three times more voice and data capacity than older 3G U ...
) on 29 March 2018, which allows customers to make calls over
4G and can continue to use 4G data as they talk. It works on any
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
handset from
iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are smartphones that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the eighth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S, and were announced on September 9, 2014, and relea ...
onwards and certain
Android handsets bought from BT Mobile. For existing customers, BT's 'My BT' and BT Mobile app offer the ability to check phone compatibility. The phone's software must be updated to take benefit of the service, minimum
iOS 11.3 or later for Apple handsets.
Voicemail
BT Mobile automatically diverts all unanswered calls to
voicemail
A voicemail system (also known as voice message or voice bank) is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to ind ...
. Customers will receive a text from BT when a voicemail is left. It uses the same voicemail code -
1571
Year 1571 ( MDLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
January–June
* January 11 – The Austrian nobility are granted freedom of religion.
* January 23 &nd ...
as BT's fixed lines.
Parental Controls
BT Mobile offers free
parental controls
Parental controls are features which may be included in digital television services, computers and video games, mobile devices and software that allow parents to restrict the access of content to their children. These controls were created to ...
to limit what a user can access via the internet such as blocking inappropriate content.
See also
*
EE Limited
EE is a British national mobile network operator and internet service provider, which is a brand within the BT Group. EE is the second-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, with 26.1 million subscribers as of September 2 ...
References
External links
BT Mobile Official Website
{{UK mobile phone companies
Mobile virtual network operators
BT Group