SMARTY Mobile Review and Network Coverage

Coverage

As SMARTY uses Three’s network it has the same coverage as Three.

Smarty Coverage

Network Type	Coverage by population
4G	99.8%
3G	98.7%
2G	N/A

As you can see, SMARTY has around 99.8% UK population coverage with 4G and around 98.7% with 3G. Three is also continuing to improve its 4G population coverage, so SMARTY's coverage will be improving all the time too. 

Use SMARTY's coverage checker above to find out more about SMARTY 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.

5G coverage

SMARTY has said that it will be offering a 5G service but hasn’t yet said when, so stay tuned for updates. What we can say though is that as with 4G it will only be able to offer 5G in places where Three has coverage, which at the time of writing would limit it to London.

Network Speeds

OpenSignal – Mobile Network Experience, April 2019

Network	4G download/upload speeds	4G latency (ms)
EE	32.5/10.4Mbps	37.9ms
Smarty (Three)	21.6/8.3Mbps	48.7ms
Vodafone	24.3/8.5Mbps	41.2ms
O2	15.8/7.2Mbps	39.2ms

SMARTY’s use of Three’s infrastructure is seemingly middling when it comes to 4G speeds, as in an OpenSignal report from April 2019, Three was found to have 4G download speeds of 21.6Mbps on average and 4G upload speeds that averaged 8.3Mbps, beaten in both cases by EE and Vodafone. SMARTY’s therefore are likely to be similar.

However, being on Three is worse when it comes to latency (the amount of time it takes for the network to respond to a request), as in the same report Three’s came out slowest at 48.7ms. The good news is that its download and upload speeds are better than in a previous report, so Three is improving, and by extension SMARTY likely is too.

Frequencies

Network Frequencies

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

SMARTY 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.

If and when it starts offering 5G, it’s also likely to use the 3.4GHz and 3.6-4GHz bands, as Three has access to spectrum in those bands and it’s well-suited to 5G.

Planned improvements

SMARTY’s improvements will be largely dependent on Three, but the good news there is that Three is improving its network all the time.

As an example, the network recently announced that it’s working on massively improving its 4G speeds. Not to mention rolling out 5G. Not all of these upgrades will necessarily benefit SMARTY of course.

Traffic management

SMARTY’s traffic management policy is simpler than most, as it simply says that it doesn't enforce any data shaping or network throttling, which is to say that your speeds and bandwidth shouldn’t be intentionally slowed under any circumstances.

SMARTY Plans

SMARTY has a range of plans for SIM Only which are shown below. There is no contract or credit check to worry about.

Smarty 1 Month SIM Plans

Plan Type	Allowances	Price
Mini	500MB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts	£5.00 per month Buy Now
Small	2GB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts + Data discount	£7.50 per month Buy Now
Medium	4GB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts + Data discount	£10 per month Buy Now
Large	8GB data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts + Data discount	£15 per month Buy Now
Unlimited	Unlimited data Unlimited mins Unlimited texts	£18.75 per month 25% off for life Buy Now

The key feature of SMARTY's plans is that it will pay you back for any unused data. You're paid £1.25 per gigabyte, which is the same amount as you pay in the first place, and this amount is refunded against the cost of your allowances for the following month. You don't need to have a full gigabyte left over to get a refund though, as SMARTY will refund unused megabytes too, with 8MB amounting to 1p.

You can also buy data add-ons of 1GB, 2GB or 4GB if you ever need more and these also cost £1.25 per gigabyte, keeping things simple and fair.

The exceptions to this are the Mini plan and the unlimited data plan, which is understandable given the Mini plan only come with 500MB data and you can't refund unused unlimited data. However, at just £25 (and at the time of writing offering a lifetime discount of 25%) the unlimited plan is just as good value as the rest of SMARTY's plans.

All plans are also just 1 month long, meaning you can change or cancel your plan almost whenever you want.

That makes it more flexible than some networks, though the fact that there are only five plans to choose from makes it more limiting in some ways.

SMARTY Mobile also doesn't have any credit checks, so you can join even if you have bad credit or just don't want a check on your record.

Data Only Plans

SMARTY doesn't currently offer any data only plans, though its SIMs do work with tablets and mobile broadband devices.

Pay As You Go

SMARTY doesn't currently offer a Pay As You Go service.

Tethering

SMARTY allows unrestricted tethering, which means you can share your mobile connection with other devices such as laptops and tablets. The only limit is your overall monthly data allowance, and as there's an unlimited data option this is potentially a great network for tethering.

WiFi Calling

Wi-Fi Calling refers to making and receiving calls over Wi-Fi, while continuing to use your normal number (as opposed to a separate service such as WhatsApp). It’s a seamless way to keep communicating when there’s no mobile signal, but it’s not currently offered by SMARTY. However, the network claims that it hopes to offer this service in the near future.

VoLTE

VoLTE refers to calling and texting over 4G, rather than 2G or 3G. It means you can call in more places, as some places will only have a 4G signal, but it’s not currently offered by SMARTY. That said, as with Wi-Fi Calling, the network claims that it hopes to offer VoLTE before too long.

Roaming

SMARTY now lets you roam at no extra cost across the EU. That means you can use unlimited minutes and texts and as much data as your plan generally offers. The exception to this is the unlimited data plan, which lets you use up to 19GB per month when roaming. You can also roam outside the EU but that will cost you extra and prices can be steep depending on your destination, with prices ranging from 10p to £5 per megabyte.

5G plans

Three, which owns SMARTY, offers 5G Ready plans at no extra cost. However, SMARTY plans don't have the same benefit, but this is likely to change in the future.

Customer service

It’s difficult to get a measure of how good SMARTY’s customer service is, especially as it’s not been included in any major customer service surveys or reports.

However, given that the network positions itself as fair and honest it’s likely that it also puts a focus on delivering good customer service. That seems to be the case based on its 4.4/5 Trustpilot rating. That's from 5,401 reviews at the time of writing and is what Trustpilot calls an 'excellent' rating.

Conclusion

SMARTY is a good value 4G network that's got even better with the introduction of an unlimited data plan. Its other major strengths come from the low-cost plans and a discount for those who don't use up all their data.

This isn't a network for those who want to Pay As You Go or to get a phone on contract, but for everyone happy with SIM Only it's a simple, fair and affordable option.