Zevvle is a new virtual mobile network that was announced in 2018 and launched in May 2019. The network’s co-founders are brothers Nick and Tim Goodall. Nick first started thinking about the network back in after a terrible experience with roaming on his old network and realising how stagnant legacy mobile networks were able to get away with being.

(Interesting piece of trivia: Tim is exactly 7 years, 7 months and 7 days older that Nick.)

An ex-Elmfield Rudolf and King Edward VI College schoolboy from Stourbridge, Nick worked for 18 months on the project before first announcing the network on 31 May 2018. The public launch was on 31 May 2019 and SIMs started to be dispatched on 1 June 2019 when Nick was still only 23. Zevvle set up their headquarters in Birmingham.

The idea behind Zevvle is to innovative and shake up the whole industry in the same way new fintech companies like Monzo, Starling, Zopa, Curve, Ratesetter, Monese, and Revolut are doing to the financial industries. In keeping with this, the network is founded on principles such as transparency, service and tech.

Because of this, you’ll be able to see that there’s no confusing or hidden pricing or long waits on hold. Instead, they are offering really transparent pricing and useful support.

Zevvle has been completely built from the ground up. While they don’t control every aspect of the stack as an MVNO, they have made their own app and have written their own billing software. As of 1 September 2019 they are still small with fewer than 200 customers, but they are growing rapidly (their target is 10% week-on-week growth) and eventually want to be able to bring things like routing and infrastructure in-house too. Eventually, expansion internationally is also in the works.

For now, Zevvle have chosen to use EE’s backbone in the UK because it’s very mature and has great coverage and data speeds. In fact it’s currently the fastest 4G network in the UK. However, they are not directly connected to any network (they go through an MVNO aggregator to work with EE), so are technically freer to change if need be.

Overall, with a really straightforward pricing plan at reasonable PAYG rates as well as great customer service and a rapidly-growing community, Zevvle looks set to be very successful network while providing excellent value to its users.

Zevvle review

Contents

• Summary
• Pricing
• Coverage and speeds
• Zevvle App
• Round-up
• Rating

Summary

After ordering a SIM from the website, it will arrive quickly by first class post and you’re ready to get going. Our SIM arrived hand-addressed (this probably won’t be the case if you’re not an early-adopter like us) in a simple brown envelope. We were pleased to see it uses recyclable packaging without too much superfluous waste. The little Z logo real-wax seal is a really cute touch . It reminded us a bit of the seal on Tanqueray gin bottles but better (as refreshingly, it’s not a cheap wasteful plastic fake) 🙂

According to the packaging, getting started is a simple two step process. You just need to pop the SIM out and put it in your phone then open the app and enter your number. Unlike some other companies, we didn’t have to faff about manually adding settings or waiting for a APN embedded in a test message – we just popped the SIM in and got going.

Inside the compact envelope you’ll fine a SIM card and some basic instructions ready to get your started on the Zevvle network. We had no issues at all getting everything set up and running and the whole process was difficulty-free.

PAYG Pricing

At a glance

Zevvle must have the most simple pricing plan available. It’s the same anywhere in the EEA and fits on just four lines on their website:

As well as being straightforward, we’d claim that it’s also one best value choices for a mobile network in the UK. It might not seem so at first (especially for high-volume data users that rely on bundles) but, according to Zevvle, British people use less than half their our allowances on average last year, wasting about £9 billion in the process. By paying for exactly what you use and no more you might end up better off with a true PAYG network.

Details

Most people should seriously consider whether switching to Zevvle would save them money. Especially for users spending £5-£10 per month, they work out to be incredibly cheap compared to any other PAYG mobile network. Big names such as O₂ or 3 charge 30p or more per minute for calls and up to 12p just for sending a text message. With Zevvle you’ll just be paying 3p for an SMS and only an incredible 3p/minute when making calls from your phone.

Even better it also has some of the best pricing for mobile data available at just 0.2p/MB. This is especially important now more and more of us rely on our phones to stream music and video and keep in touch with apps like Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp. Zevvle have also promised to bring prices down as they are able to negotiate volume discounts.

To compare Zevvle’s latest pricing with that of other networks to show just how much cheaper it is, please check out our conclusive mobile price comparison table.

Coverage and speeds

Summary

Zevvle specifically chose to partner with EE as their :mvno: provider specifically due to their their excellent data speeds and good country-wide coverage. In our 4G+ tests, we got fairly respectable and consistent data transfer rates:

One downside is that like most networks piggybacking on EE, at the moment they don’t have access to the 800 MHz 4G layer so unfortunately no VoLTE/4G calling just yet.

Coverage map

Please see our Zevvle coverage page to learn the network coverage in your area. For more information, compare it with other mobile phone networks’ coverage.

Zevvle app

Zevvle is integrated with an app to control all aspects of your account. The app is available for both Android and iPhone with a webapp for other ecosystem users in the works.

Overall, it’s basic at the moment but pretty polished and works as expected. It’s really helpful to see your charges come in almost in real time and you can instantly see what you’re paying for:

Another helpful feature is the monthly summaries broken down between calls, texts and data which allow you to track your usage. We can see this being especially useful if you’re on a budget. It also lets you see at a glance whether you’re saving money compared to a previous network. The daily curve is also great for more granular analysis.

There are a few niggles with the app. There are some odd UX decisions and not everything is completely logically laid out. We got a bit confused at points and also the front camera cut out on some phones will obscure parts of the interface. One especially frustrating thing is needing to enable auto-top up to allow data roaming which is an artefact of the billing system Zevvle are using. You also can’t update your payment card in app. We’d like to see this change.

There are a few niggles with the app. There are some odd UX decisions and not everything is completely logically laid out. We got a bit confused at points and also the front camera cut out on some phones will obscure parts of the interface. One especially frustrating thing is needing to enable auto-top up to allow data roaming which is an artefact of the billing system Zevvle are using. Sadly, you also can’t update your payment card in app and there is no ex-EEA roaming currently available. We’d like to see these things change.

But overall the app is a refreshing pleasure to use and really puts control back in your hands. It’s a huge step up from their competitors. And it’s really cool that it shows the countries you’re roaming in too.

Round-up

Thanks for reading this review. We hope it’s given you a much better idea about what using Zevvle as your mobile network is actually like.

To summarise, we’ve really enjoyed using Zevvle and it’s a fantastic option choice if you’re looking for cut price PAYG deal run by people who really care. Not only do you have a personal touch and a great community but they offer fast 4G speeds from EE at a low price. Even with just a small team, they are very professionally run.

For a price-conscious customer, Zevvle is a great choice and even though they can’t compete on rock-bottom pricing as a newcomer, they might still be the cheapest option going for many people. If not, y might find you’re paying slightly more but, at the same time, you’ll get more than you pay for. The app is a game-changer and is only set to improve so, overall, we highly recommend them 🙂

Rating

Our final review score is determined by our readers – give your own rating to Zevvle below:

Zevvle, 3.8 out of 5 based on 35 ratings