Mobile networks love it when you buy a smartphone through them at a great deal. That’s because, though you may be getting that latest flagship for only £20-£100, you end up paying more for the phone over the long run because the higher price of your contract, where you pay a little for your phone each month, ends up being way more than the cost of the device by itself.

And it’s not just a little bit, either. Take a new 64GB iPhone 6s, for instance. If you bought that outright it’d cost you £619 — I know, quite a bit of change! But over the duration of a two-year contract you end up paying thousands for that phone when you could have had it for £619 and THEN gone out and picked a simple, rolling SIM-only contract.

The outlay is expensive when buying a premium phone, yes, but in the long run, especially when you factor in resale value, you do end up saving an absolute fortune — even more so if you can do it with some interest-free credit rather than simply giving the network ALL that extra money.

At the end of the day, you need to remember this: phones are EXPENSIVE, but calls, data and minutes are not. When you get a two year contract, you’re effectively leasing the phone — the minutes, calls and data are a fraction of the total monthly bill. This is why SIM-only deals are so much cheaper.

Wanna go one better? Pick yourself up a cheap-but-awesome Android phone, a phone like any of these handsets, and get yourself a rolling SIM-only contract from one of the providers below and make MEGA savings.

So what is a SIM-only deal? It will typically include three things: a certain amount of monthly minutes, a certain amount of monthly texts, and a certain amount of monthly data. There are plenty of SIM-only deals that offer unlimited data, however these, naturally, have a higher monthly cost and if you only us, for example, 1GB of data a month, it’s not worth paying for a 5GB or limited monthly data plan.

This is why we’ve listed the best SIM-only plans for both moderate (2GB and less) and heavy (5GB or more) data users.

Keep in mind that SIM-only plans can change monthly, but here are the latest best deals in the UK right now according to carrier.

EE – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate Users: a SIM-only plan for just £8 a month, which includes unlimited minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 2GB of data each month.
• Heavy Users: a SIM-only plan for just £22 a month, but it comes down to £18.67 a month after a £22 cash back offer. That includes unlimited minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 16GB of data each month.

Three – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate users: a SIM-only plan for just £9 a month, which includes 600 minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 1GB of data each month.
• Heavy users: a SIM-only plan for just £33 a month, but it comes down to £29.25 a month after a £33 cash back offer. That includes unlimited minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as unlimited data each month.

BT – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate Users: a SIM-only plan for just £10 a month, which includes 500 minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 2GB of data each month. You also get a £30 Amazon or iTunes gift card. This plan is only for existing BT customers.
• Heavy Users: a SIM-only plan for just £16 a month, which includes unlimited minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 15GB of data each month. You also get a £60 Amazon or iTunes gift card.

Vodafone – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate users: a SIM-only plan for just £5.50 a month (after a £150 cash back  offer). That includes 1000 minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 1GB of data each month.
• Heavy users: a SIM-only plan for just £10.50 a month (after a £140 cash back  offer). That includes unlimited minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 20GB of data each month.

O2 – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate Users: a SIM-only plan for just £12.75 a month, which includes 1000 minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 1GB of data each month.
• Heavy Users: a SIM-only plan for just £28.90 a month that includes unlimited minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 16GB of data each month.

Giffgaff – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate Users: a SIM-only plan for just £10 a month, which includes 500 minutes and 5000 texts per month as well as 1GB of data each month.
• Heavy Users: a SIM-only plan for just £20 a month that includes unlimited minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as unlimited data each month.

Talkmobile – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate Users: a SIM-only plan for just £7.50 a month, which includes 500 minutes and unlimited texts per month as well as 2GB of data each month.
• Heavy Users: a SIM-only plan for just £15 a month that includes 5000 minutes and 5000 texts per month as well as 15GB of data each month.

TescoMobile – Best SIM Deals

• Moderate Users: a SIM-only plan for just £10 a month, which includes 500 minutes and 5000 texts per month as well as 1GB of data each month.
• Heavy Users: a SIM-only plan for just £30 a month that includes 750 minutes and 5000 texts per month as well as 20GB of data each month.