icardmobile.co.uk

iCard Mobile has gone into administration as of 27 June 2014. For full details please see here and also check out our comparison table for alternative networks to switch to.

iCard Mobile is a new virtual network that was launched in September 2010. They are run by iCard Telecom who are a major European provider of prepaid phonecards. They are already very experienced in the telecoms industry with their products in over 20,00 UK outlets and connections to tier 1 and 2 carriers as well as many VoIP and TDM links.

iCard Mobile is their latest product as they move into the mobile phone industry. They are specialising in the ethnic market with low-price international calls to a variety of destinations. But they also aim to position themselves as a general low-cost mobile network by offering some of the lowest prices available for UK calls to mobiles and landlines. iCard Mobile runs on the the Vodafone network and infrastructure.

Free SIM

If you are interested in trying iCard Mobile, you can order your free SIM from here.

iCard Mobile review

iCard Mobile is a great virtual network that really excels on being competitively priced. In fact, we have to admit it’s pretty much one of the very cheapest mobile networks in the UK if not the world. The website looks worryingly budget but it really just reflects the no-frills simple-but-cheap thing they’ve got going. With calls to UK landlines at just 3p/minute and UK mobile calls charged at about a quarter of the price of some of their rivals at 6p/minute, they are pretty unbeatable on price.

However, the service is a little basic. There’s still no ability for roaming whatsoever so your phone becomes a useless brick if you leave the UK. Beware of customer services too – although email support is usually completely fine, their call centres are based in India and are pretty poorly trained from our experiences. They do however offer itemised billing free of charge. And you’ll be relieved to hear that their data charges are very reasonable as are their international rates. Even voicemail is completely free.

iCard Mobile are based on Vodafone which means they have a solid 2G and 3G signal in most parts of the UK. However, for some reason, you still have to unlock your phone to use their SIMs even if you have a Vodafone handset.1 Also, watch their rates because some of their international call charges have crept up and none of the prices are guaranteed to last. It’s also worth knowing that their e-voucher option is hidden away on PayPoint terminals as “icmobile” so it can be hard to get top ups.

However, despite the minor flaws, there are no hidden charges and the service they offer is more than solid. For prices like this, they are more than worth a punt and they are bringing welcome competition into the PAYG market. iCard Mobile are a great choice of network for UK and international calls and can easily save you a huge sum of money.

PAYG Pricing

At a glance

Details

There’s no doubt about it – iCard Mobile’s UK tariff is probably the best we’ve ever seen. The low prices are pretty much unparalleled on any PAYG or contract deal with only companies like Giffgaff coming close. Even after some price rises, standard calls to UK mobiles are already pretty much a record low at just 8p/minute but the UK landline rate of just 5p/minute is even better. Not only that but you also get absolutely free iCard to iCard calls albeit with a fairly severe restriction of only 10 minutes per call and an obligatory minimum balance of 10p.

Voicemail is somehow 100% free too making iCard Mobile the best value network for heavy voicemail users. In comparison SMS texts seem very expensive at 10p each but it’s worth bearing in mind that this is still about half as cheap as the main network providers. Unfortunately freephone numbers are 10p/minute but this really isn’t too bad and the 25p/minute charge for 0845 and 0870 numbers is fairly standard. Mobile data is also incredibly cheap charged at just 10p/MB.

The great value pricing doesn’t stop there though. Several foreign countries are very cheap to call too with mobile calls to Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China all coming in at just 3p/minute for international calls. For landline calls to international numbers, they have 1p/minute rates to Thailand and China too.

Deals

With fantastic prices like these, we suppose that iCard feel they don’t need any special offers or bundles and so they don’t currently offer any, just cheap calls and texts all the time.

Price comparison

To compare iCard’s current pricing to all the other mobile networks, please see our price comparison page.

Coverage

Summary

Coverage map

iCard Mobile runs on the Vodafone network. Please see our iCard coverage page to learn about iCard Mobile’s network coverage in your area. For more information, compare it with other mobile phone networks’ coverage.

Rating

Please give your own rating to iCard Mobile below:

1. Psilas has let us know that ASDA Mobile-locked phones do work fine on iCard Mobile and we are interested in hearing from more people about whether they have managed to get Vodafone-locked handsets to work. [↩]