Advisory note AN-07

Wholesale brands

giffgaff, SMARTY, iD Mobile, VOXI, Lebara and 1pMobile — who rents whose masts, and what the lower price actually removes.

Note AN-07 · six sections · reviewed July 2026 · no prices published

Independent status. fernwick is an independent guidance and information service. We are not a mobile network. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, appointed by or connected to Three, EE, O2, Vodafone, Sky Mobile, Tesco Mobile or any other provider, and we hold no commercial arrangement with any of them. We do not sell, supply, arrange or broker SIM cards, contracts, handsets or services of any kind, and we take no commission. Everything published here is general information and must not be relied upon in place of the provider's own current terms.

Our position in one line

Six brands, four landlords, identical radio waves — a very good trade for most households, provided you identify the landlord before you look at the price.

§1How the arrangement works

Four companies own mobile infrastructure in this country. Every other brand buys capacity wholesale and resells the same radio waves under its own name.

Owner	Brands buying its capacity
EE	1pMobile
O2	Tesco Mobile · giffgaff · Sky Mobile
Three	SMARTY · iD Mobile
Vodafone	VOXI · Lebara

The governing rule is short: coverage comes from the landlord; price, service and feature timing come from the brand. Complaints, without exception, go to the brand issuing your bill.

If any of this is unclear

Telephone the advisory and we will talk it through. There is nothing to buy at any point.

020 3896 5248This line is for guidance and information only. We sell nothing, arrange nothing and act for no provider. If anything on this page is unclear, telephone and we will explain it.

§2What the lower price removes

Not signal. Shops, call centres and marketing — and with them three practical things.

Support depth. Several are online-first, and one has no telephone lines at all by design.
Feature timing. eSIM, Wi-Fi Calling and the newest tiers can arrive later than at the landlord.
Peak-time priority. At very busy masts, the landlord's own customers can take precedence.

§3The brands individually

giffgaff — on O2. Runs entirely online and through a member community, with no shops and no telephone support by deliberate design. Rolling monthly bundles, consistently competitive on mid-size allowances, and the cheapest reliable way to test O2 coverage at an address.

SMARTY — on Three. Operated by Three itself, so it carries the host's full network performance including its speed advantage in towns. A deliberately simple rolling grid, with discounts on some tiers where allowance goes unused.

iD Mobile — on Three. A retailer's brand competing hardest on allowance pricing, frequently the lowest cost per gigabyte on Three's signal, with rollover on some tiers. Satisfaction results have trailed the leaders in some years, so keep correspondence in writing.

VOXI — on Vodafone. Run by Vodafone, excluding selected social and video apps from the allowance, which can materially increase usable data for heavy users of those services. The exempt list changes; confirm it before buying.

Lebara — on Vodafone. An international-calling proposition on inexpensive rolling plans. Introductory rates commonly step up, and the country list matters far more than the number of destinations advertised.

1pMobile — on EE. Charges per minute, text and megabyte on the broadest network in the country. The cheapest route to that coverage for genuinely light use, and an excellent testing SIM; expensive quickly for regular data users.

§4Verify before you commit

Identify the landlord first — that decides your signal entirely.
Run the landlord's coverage checker and Ofcom's, weighting indoor predictions.
Buy one rolling month before any fixed term.
Check whether the brand offers telephone support, if that matters to you.
Confirm eSIM and Wi-Fi Calling support for your exact handset.

§5Common pitfalls

Common pitfallAssuming a cheaper brand means a weaker network. The radio waves are identical to the landlord's.

Common pitfallContacting the landlord about a wholesale brand's account. It achieves nothing; the contract sits with whoever bills you.

Common pitfallMissing the date an introductory rate steps up — common on the international-calling brands.

Common pitfallBuying VOXI without checking that the apps you actually use are on the current exempt list.

§6Joining and leaving

Identify the landlord and check its coverage at your postcode.

Buy one rolling month and live on it through an ordinary week.

Bring your number in with the free code from your old provider.

To leave: text PAC to 65075 to keep the number, or STAC to 75075 to drop it — free, valid thirty days, exit position itemised.

Complain to the brand issuing your bill, in writing, and refer it free to the Communications Ombudsman at eight weeks or on a final response.

Speak to the advisory

Telephone the advisory and we will talk it through. There is nothing to buy at any point.

020 3896 5248This line is for guidance and information only. We sell nothing, arrange nothing and act for no provider. If anything on this page is unclear, telephone and we will explain it.