Cheap business SIM only deals: what really drives the cost

What makes the cheapest business SIM only deal for your team

A business SIM only deal is cheap when the whole account costs less over the whole term, not when one line has a low headline price. Monthly charges, annual price rises, extra data, roaming and lines nobody uses all land on the same bill, so the cheapest business SIM only option for one team can be an expensive one for another.

Most of the total comes down to a handful of things you can control:

The sections below take each one in turn. If you are still choosing how to judge offers side by side, our guide to business SIM only deals sets out how to compare them.

Pay for the data each line really uses

Data is usually the biggest lever on cost. Many teams pay for the same large allowance on every line because it feels safe, while most people use far less and a few use a lot. Look at several months of usage for each number, from recent bills or your network's online account, and group your users:

• Light users: mostly on Wi-Fi in the office or at home; a small allowance is often enough
• Everyday users: email, maps, messaging and the odd video call on the move
• Heavy users: field staff, people who hotspot a laptop and anyone on video calls away from Wi-Fi; an unlimited data business SIM can work out cheaper than repeated add-ons
• Devices: tablets, laptops and routers that need data but no calls or texts

Shared data can lower the bill further when usage is uneven, because the team draws on one allowance instead of headroom on every line. EE Business, for example, describes The Shared Plan as a fixed monthly bill with data shared among all the users on the account, with data caps you can set, and The Individual Plan as one where you decide each team member's allowance. Our guide to business SIM only plans explains the plan structures the networks use.

Term length and the total cost over the contract

The networks sell business SIM only on more than one term: rolling 30-day or 1-month plans, 12 and 24-month terms and, on some networks, longer. A longer term often carries a lower monthly charge, while a rolling plan costs more each month and lets you change quickly. The cheaper option is the one with the lower total once the whole term is added up, for the lines you will still need at the end of it.

A settled team with predictable usage can usually take a longer term with confidence. A growing team, a project with an end date or a move between offices can make a shorter or mixed term the cheaper route overall. Lining up end dates also helps: when every line finishes at once, you can review the whole account and move it in one go rather than paying for lines that are out of step. Our guide to business SIM only contracts covers terms and adding lines mid-term.

Ex VAT pricing and annual price rises

Business SIM only prices are normally quoted excluding VAT, and our quotes show them that way. When you set a business price beside a personal one, add the VAT back to the business price or take it off the personal one, otherwise the cheaper-looking option may not be cheaper at all. Whether your business can reclaim the VAT is a question for your accountant.

Networks also publish how the monthly charge rises each year, usually from April: on many plans the rise is a fixed amount, and on some it is a percentage. Multiply the rise across your lines and each remaining year of the term, and add it to your total. A deal that looks like the cheapest business SIM only option in year one can cost more by the end of a 24-month term. Your quote shows how the annual rise applies to your lines.

Stop surprise charges with spend caps

The cheapest plan on paper becomes expensive when one line runs well past its allowance or roams without a plan. On some business plans, data used beyond the monthly allowance is charged by the megabyte unless an add-on is bought, and roaming has its own charges and fair use terms.

Business accounts give you controls to stop that before it reaches the bill:

• Spend caps: limits on charges beyond the plan, per line; EE Business lets you set limits on data, calls and roaming, with alerts for employees close to their limits
• Bill Protector: EE Business's Bill Protector All Data sets a limit on the data your team can be charged for, and Bill Protector Roaming Data does the same for roaming data
• Bars: blocking premium-rate and international calls on lines that do not need them
• Roaming per line: roaming plans chosen for the people who travel, rather than for everyone

Agree the caps and bars before the SIMs go live; it is far easier than unpicking a large bill afterwards. We can help you set these up through the network's own business tools.

Cut lines nobody uses

The simplest saving has nothing to do with the deal itself. Many accounts carry numbers that nobody uses: lines kept after staff left, SIMs in devices that were retired and data SIMs from a project that ended. Each one adds a monthly charge, and its annual rise, for the rest of its term.

Before you ask for prices, list every number on the account and confirm who or what uses it. Lines that are not needed can be ended at the right point in their term rather than carried into a new agreement. If a number still matters, for example one customers ring, a small low-cost plan may be all it needs, and the number moves with you when you switch using a PAC code; see how to keep your number.

Data only SIMs for tablets and routers

A tablet, laptop, router or vehicle unit does not need calls or texts, so putting a phone plan in it means paying for things it does not use. A data only SIM covers just the data, and is sized on what that device really uses. EE Business sells Data SIMs for connected devices such as tablets, laptops and mobile broadband, and other networks offer data only SIMs too.

Size routers separately: a router serving a site or a vehicle can use far more data than any phone, while a tablet used mostly on Wi-Fi may need very little. Our guide to the business data only SIM explains the options, including mobile broadband SIM only for routers and dongles.

Multibuy and team plans

Buying several SIMs together can change the price per line. Some networks offer multibuy SIM only pricing when you take two or more SIMs on one account, and plans for larger teams move onto shared data and account-level pricing. EE Business, for example, has three SIM-only plans for medium and large businesses: The Team Plan, The Shared Plan and The Individual Plan.

Multibuy and team plans keep costs down when every SIM in the bundle is needed and the allowance fits each person. They cost more than they should when they carry spare lines or give everyone the largest allowance. For a whole team on one account, our page on fleet SIM cards covers joiners, leavers and keeping a record of every SIM, and our page on SIM only for small businesses covers teams of ten or fewer.

Buy phones separately and keep airtime costs down

With SIM only, the monthly charge pays for airtime alone: calls, texts and data. We focus on getting that airtime cost down, so your business can buy its phones separately, outright or through its usual procurement. That can save a lot of money over the life of the phones, and it lets you choose when to refresh devices rather than tying the decision to a contract date.

Phones you already own can usually carry on as they are, as long as each one works on the network you choose (unlocked if you are changing network), and eSIM-capable if you want an eSIM. EE Business describes its SIM-only business contracts as the choice for businesses that already have mobile devices or want to keep their number. Our guide to buying business phones separately explains how to plan the move line by line as current agreements end.

Ask us for a quote

The cheapest business mobile SIM only plans for your team depend on your usage, your coverage and when your current contracts end, so we build the quote around you. A practical order to work in:

1. List every line and what it is for: staff phones, tablets, routers and anything else with a SIM.
2. Gather a few months of usage per line from recent bills or your online account.
3. Check coverage where your people work, using each network's own coverage checker.
4. Tell us when each current contract ends, so the move can be timed around them.

We then set out options on the networks we supply, with the total cost over the term, the controls on each line and how the annual rise applies, so you can see the total cost of each option before you decide. Contact us and ask us for a quote.