iD Mobile Review and Network Coverage

Who are iD Mobile and which network do they use?

iD Mobile is a mobile network owned by the Carphone Warehouse that uses Three’s network. It offers a range of great value Pay Monthly, Pay As You Go and SIM Only plans.

But it really stands out due to the fact that plans come with data rollover and spending caps - we'll cover those things in detail below.

There are some ways in which iD Mobile doesn’t do such a good job though, which we’ll also look at below, giving you a full review and overview of the network.

Summary

Pros	Cons
Affordable and flexible plans	Phone plans have restrictive data
Data rollover	Free EU roaming only, not worldwide
Offers Wi-Fi and 4G Calling

Our Rating

Coverage

As iD Mobile uses Three’s network it has the same coverage as Three, as you'd expect.

iD Mobile Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
4G	99.8%
3G	98.3%
2G	N/A

That means iD Mobile has around 99.8% UK population coverage with 4G and around 98.3% with 3G.

Use iD Mobile's coverage checker above to find out more about iD Mobile coverage in your area, including signal strengths and details on both indoor and outdoor coverage.

Towns and cities with partial or full coverage include but are not limited to: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Coventry, Derby, Dundee, Durham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Gloucester, Huddersfield, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Luton, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Sheffield, Southampton, Southend On Sea, Stoke On Trent, Swindon, Watford and York.

That's a very small subset of locations and the full list is growing all the time, so expect 4G from iD Mobile in your area soon if you don't have it already.

Network Speeds and Frequencies

OpenSignal – Mobile Networks Update, October 2018

Network	4G download speeds	4G latency (ms)
EE	28.9Mbps	39.77ms
iD Mobile (Three)	18.78Mbps	48.15ms
Vodafone	21.92Mbps	40.78ms
O2	14.61Mbps	42.38ms

In an OpenSignal report from October 2018, Three was found to have the third fastest 4G download speeds at 18.78Mbps on average. Since iD Mobile uses Three’s infrastructure it’s likely to offer similar speeds.

However, Three’s latency (the amount of time it takes for the network to respond to a request), averaged 48.15ms in this report, which is slower than any rival.

Speedtest – Mobile Speedtest Data, Q3-Q4 2017

Network	Download/upload speeds
EE	28.80/9.29Mbps
Vodafone	17.26/8.16Mbps
iD Mobile (Three)	14.58/7.35Mbps
O2	14.11/7.13Mbps

A Speedtest report from late 2017 paints a similar picture, as it shows Three’s average download speed as being 14.58Mbps and its average upload speed as being 7.35Mbps.

Those scores are worse than either EE or Vodafone, but they still top O2 and they factor in both 4G and 3G use.

Network Frequencies

Frequency	Frequency Band	Network
800MHz	Band 20	4G
1800MHz	Band 3	4G
2100MHz	Band 1	3G

iD Mobile uses 800MHz and 1800MHz bands for 4G, as well as the 2100MHz band for 3G. The 800MHz band helps with indoor and rural coverage, while the 1800MHz helps meet data demands in congested areas. You can find in depth details of those bands in our 4G frequencies guide.

Planned improvements

iD Mobile’s improvements are tied to Three’s, and that’s no bad thing as Three’s network and 4G coverage is continually improving.

Three recently revealed that it has begun a £2 billion+ investment designed to overhaul its network in preparation for 5G. Some of that upgrade work is already complete and should benefit both Three and iD Mobile even before 5G is available.

Traffic management

Currently iD Mobile doesn’t publish its traffic management policy, other than to say that “at certain times the Network traffic will be managed when it begins to affect other customers on our Network.”

Beyond that there’s no information on whether it will slow certain types or amounts of data traffic.

Plans

iD Mobile has a range of plans available from as little as £4 per month. All plans come with free roaming in the EU, data rollover and spending caps.

SIM Only Deals

All Plans Include: Capping, Data Rollover and Roaming
	500MB data 500 minutes Unlimited texts	£3.99 a month See Deal
	1GB data 500 minutes Unlimited texts	£5 a month See Deal
	3GB data 1500 minutes Unlimited texts	£8 a month See Deal
	6GB data 1000 minutes Unlimited texts	£12.50 a month See Deal
	8GB data Unlimited minutes Unlimited texts	£15 a month See Deal
	20GB data Unlimited minutes Unlimited texts	£20.00 a month See Deal
Compare iD SIM Only Deals

You’ll find more information on the extras offered by iD Mobile below, but looking at the core plans, the network is middling both in terms of data limits and the number of available tariffs that you can choose from. Data limits on Pay Monthly plans are particularly disappointing, but still comparable with many other MVNOs.

Free Data Rollover

All plans come with data rollover, meaning that unused data is carried over to the next month. That’s a great feature because it means you are less likely to run out of data!

Spending Caps

iD Mobiles plans are perfect for those who want to control their spending. They let you set an out-of-plan spending cap of between £0 and £25.

What that means is that once your allowance is used up you won’t spend more than a set amount each month. Caps are great for parents looking to control their child’s spending or for those fearful of unexpected bills.

Tethering

iD Mobile didn’t used to allow you to tether but has now reversed that decision, so you can use your phone’s data to get other devices online.

WiFi Calling

Wi-Fi Calling means making and receiving calls and sending text messages over Wi-Fi, rather than over a mobile network. This allows you to stay in touch even when there’s no signal, and it’s seamless – you use your normal number, dialler and SMS app.

iD Mobile offers Wi-Fi Calling, but currently only on a small number of handsets, including iPhones from the iPhone 5S onwards, and select Android handsets, such as the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S10. Head here for a full, up to date list of supported phones.

VoLTE

VoLTE stands for Voice over LTE and is sometimes called 4G Calling. It’s similar to Wi-Fi Calling, but it works over 4G – so you can continue to call and text when you have a 4G signal but no 3G or 2G signal.

iD Mobile offers 4G Calling but only on a subset of handsets, including iPhones from the iPhone 6 onwards, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, Samsung Galaxy S10, Huawei Mate 20 Pro and others. You’ll find the full list of supported devices here.

Free Roaming Abroad

iD Mobile plans give you free roaming abroad in 50 countries, so are perfect for those who regularly travel to foreign countries. When abroad in a destination you can use texts, calls and data allowances (subject to a fair usage policy which varies from plan to plan) like you would at home.

Free roaming is available in Austria, Azerbaijan, Azores, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, French Guiana, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madeira, Malta, Martinique, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Vatican City.

Pay As You Go

iD Mobile also offers a trio of Pay As You Go bundles which come with a combination of texts, data and minutes. Bundles last for 1 month and can be set up to recur each month.

Pay As You Go Plans

Plans Available	✔
Add-ons available	✔
Max Data Allowance	4GB
Add-on expiry	1 month
Top Up Expiry	90 days inactivity
Tethering	✔
EU Roaming	✔
No credit check	✔

Once your allowance runs out you’ll enjoy low rates of 3p per min, 2 per text and 1p per MB of data. And if you prefer you can top-up and use your allowance without a bundle.

Customer service

According to the Which? H1 2017 UK Mobile Network Survey, iD Mobile has a customer score of 63% and comes in 8th place overall. That’s based on responses from 4,026 members of the public.

It additionally has a score of 2/5 for customer service, 3/5 for ease/speed of contacting, 4/5 for value for money and 2/5 for incentives. This report suggests that iD Mobile is average to slightly below average for customer service, but of course one report isn’t much to go on. We’ll update this section if more relevant studies are carried out.

Conclusion

iD Mobile is a robust, good value 4G network. Its major strengths come from the low prices and the extras you get from the plans – whether that’s rolled over data or 4G and Wi-Fi Calling. If any of those things are important to you it’s one of just a small number of suitable networks.

It's a well above average 4G network overall, but those needing massive data allowances or wanting to roam beyond Europe should consider looking elsewhere.