Apple’s first folding iPhone is here. Limited Availability. Get yours from £51/month›
The BusinessMobiles.com Fair Price Index is an independent quarterly benchmark of UK business mobile pricing, built from 512 tariffs across EE, O2, Vodafone and Three. The Q4 2026 edition sorts every device, data tier and contract length into five bands: on a 36-month contract with unlimited data, a good deal means under £21 a month for SIM only, under £41 for an iPhone 17 (256GB), or under £35 for a Samsung Galaxy S26 (256GB). On a 24-month iPhone 18 Pro, the best and worst deals are close to £800 apart across the term.
recommends 💡
Before you renew anything, pull your current line rental and match it to the right device, data tier and contract length in the index. If your price lands in Worth Reviewing or Probably Overpaying, treat that as your signal to compare the market rather than roll over the existing quote. For more than a couple of lines, send the bill to our specialist team; benchmarking a whole team by hand is slow, and pooled allowances and fleet discounts are where the real savings sit.
Answer a few questions, rough answers are fine. Same day response.
This page explains what the Business Mobiles Fair Price Index is, how the five-band rating system works, and how to read it against your own contract. It includes a Q4 2026 snapshot showing what a good and fair price looks like for popular handsets, SIM-only plans, tablets and mobile broadband, so you can see where your spend sits and what to aim for.
It also draws on what we see every day across the accounts we manage: why so many businesses cannot say what they pay per line, how much data they actually use against what they buy, and what an independent specialist saves against going direct to the network.
Finally, it sets out where the data comes from and how the bands are calculated, so you can judge how much weight to give it. If you want the complete picture across every device and network, the full 56-page index is available at the end.
Want a personalised recommendation?
Most UK businesses renew their mobile contracts without knowing whether the price is fair. The BusinessMobiles.com Fair Price Index for Q4 2026 changes that. We checked 512 tariffs across EE, O2, Vodafone and Three in October 2026 and sorted them into five clear price bands, so you can check your monthly cost against the real market in seconds.
Business mobile has no independent price comparison tool of the kind the consumer market takes for granted. Most businesses rely on a single quote from their current provider, with no straightforward way to check it against the wider market. So they renew, year after year, with no benchmark for whether the number in front of them is competitive or well above the odds.
The BusinessMobiles.com Fair Price Index answers one question: what is a fair monthly price to pay for a business mobile contract?
To build the Q4 2026 edition, we analysed 512 tariffs across all four UK networks. It covers 31 handsets, 27 tablets and 14 mobile broadband devices, on both 24-month and 36-month terms, at every data tier from 10GB to unlimited. Prices are checked against each network’s published business tariffs in October 2026, and the index is updated every quarter.
The prices quoted on this page are 36-month contracts with unlimited data unless stated otherwise. The full index covers 24-month terms and every data tier from 10GB up.
Every device and data-allowance combination is split into five bands. Each band is a pricing tier relative to the full range of tariffs we recorded for that exact specification.
To use it, find your device and data allowance, then compare your current monthly price against the band ranges shown for your contract length. Aim for the Excellent or Good Value bands. Fair is acceptable, but it usually means a better deal is out there.
See what your phones, tablets, SIM-only and mobile broadband should cost in 2026, benchmarked across all four networks.
A good price for a business iPhone 17 (256GB) with unlimited data is under £41 a month on a 36-month term. Up to £49 is still fair, and over £53 is where you are probably overpaying. The table below shows the same five-band picture for the most-requested handsets, all on 36-month business tariffs with unlimited data. Every figure reflects new connections and new contracts.
| Device (unlimited data, 36-month) | Excellent value (under) | Good value | Fair price | Overpaying above |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro (256GB) | £52 | £52 – £58 | £58 – £64 | £70 |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max (256GB) | £54 | £54 – £60 | £60 – £65 | £70 |
| iPhone 17 (256GB) | £41 | £41 – £45 | £45 – £49 | £53 |
| iPhone 16 (128GB) | £38 | £38 – £41 | £41 – £45 | £48 |
| Samsung Galaxy S26 (256GB) | £35 | £35 – £40 | £40 – £44 | £49 |
| Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (256GB) | £44 | £44 – £49 | £49 – £53 | £58 |
| Google Pixel 11 (256GB) | £40 | £40 – £44 | £44 – £48 | £53 |
| Google Pixel 11 Pro (256GB) | £47 | £47 – £53 | £53 – £58 | £63 |
The two new Apple flagships are the most-requested handsets this quarter. A good price for the iPhone 18 Pro (256GB) with unlimited data is under £52 a month on a 36-month term, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max (256GB) is good value under £54; both sit within the wider iPhone 18 series. On the Android side, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (256GB) is good value under £44, while the standard Galaxy S26 comes in under £35. You can check current deals across the full Apple iPhone, Samsung and Google Pixel ranges, or browse every business mobile contract in one place.
A mainstream current flagship comes in under £50 a month for unlimited data on a 36-month term across any of the four networks: the iPhone 17 at under £41, the Samsung Galaxy S26 at under £35, and the Google Pixel 11 at under £40 are all below that line. The Pro and Pro Max models sit higher, from under £47 for a Pixel 11 Pro to under £54 for an iPhone 18 Pro Max.
On a 24-month term the same phones cost more each month, because the handset is paid off over less time. With unlimited data, a good iPhone 18 Pro deal is under £65 on 24 months against under £52 on 36, and a good iPhone 17 is under £50 against under £41.
The average UK business saves
on business mobiles with BusinessMobiles.com
Most UK businesses are overpaying on their mobile bills. We spot the savings within 2 hours.
SIM only is where the clearest benchmarks sit, because there is no handset cost muddying the monthly figure. On a 36-month business SIM in Q4 2026, here is the Excellent Value price to aim for, the Good Value band and the Fair Price band:
| Data allowance | Excellent value (under) | Good value | Fair price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10GB | £12 | £12 – £15 | £15 – £17 |
| 20GB | £13 | £13 – £16 | £16 – £19 |
| 50GB | £15 | £15 – £18 | £18 – £21 |
| 100GB | £17 | £17 – £19 | £19 – £22 |
| Unlimited | £21 | £21 – £22 | £22 – £23 |
A good unlimited-data business SIM is under £21 a month on 36 months. Over £25 and you are paying more than any equivalent deal we recorded this quarter. Unlike handset deals, SIM-only prices barely move between the two terms, and at the lower tiers a 24-month plan can be a pound or two cheaper than the 36-month version.
A good price for an entry-level business iPad (A16, 128GB) is under £31 a month over 36 months, with a fair price up to about £42; the 256GB model is good value under £33. For mobile broadband, a good deal on a 5G hub or router comes in under £15 a month on a 36-month term, stays fair up to around £22, and over £26 is likely overpaying.
Two patterns in the Q4 data are worth calling out.
First, the gap between a good deal and a poor one is wide. On a 36-month iPhone 18 Pro with unlimited data, deals run from under £52 a month to over £70, a gap of more than £600 across the term for identical hardware. On a 24-month term the gap is wider still, close to £800, because the monthly figures are higher when the handset is spread over fewer months.
Second, contract length moves the monthly price more than most businesses expect. On current flagships with unlimited data, a good 36-month price is roughly £10 to £17 a month lower than the 24-month equivalent. Whether that suits you depends on how often you refresh devices, but it is a lever many businesses never weigh up.
The index shows what the market charges. Our day-to-day work with business customers shows why so many of them are in the wrong band to begin with.
Nine in ten of the businesses that come to us to upgrade cannot tell us their current cost per line, and roughly seven to eight in ten new enquiries are the same. If you do not know what you pay per connection, you cannot know which band you are in, and renewal prices tend to drift upward unchecked year on year.
Most businesses also buy far more data than they use. In two years of tariff reviews, only one or two customers had used more than 100GB in a month, and businesses that are convinced they need unlimited usually turn out to be using 20 to 30GB once they check. Paying an unlimited-data price for 20GB of real usage is one of the most common ways we see businesses overspend. For a team, allowances pooled across the whole account often cost less than a stack of individual unlimited SIMs, because light users subsidise the heavy ones instead of everyone paying for a ceiling nobody reaches.
The index also makes the SIM-only versus handset question concrete. An unlimited business SIM is good value under £21 a month; an unlimited iPhone 18 Pro is good value under £52. The difference, about £31 a month or roughly £1,100 across a three-year term, is the handset cost baked into the airtime. Buying the phone outright and taking a SIM-only plan removes that cost from the monthly bill, which is why it works out cheaper over the term for businesses that can fund the handset up front.
Across the accounts we manage, we typically see up to 45% off equivalent tariffs compared with going direct to the network, around 15% saved on average simply by switching to a more appropriate tariff, and about 30% off handset costs for SME customers.
Compare EE, O2, Vodafone and Three with someone whose job is finding the right fit – not selling you their own product.
The index is built from 512 tariffs across four networks: EE, O2, Vodafone and Three. It draws on BusinessMobiles.com partner pricing, checked against each network’s own published business prices in October 2026, with any gap filled from the network’s website.
The bands are derived from the full tariff range for each device, data tier and term, including buying direct from the network. Excellent Value is the lowest 25% of prices recorded for that specification. Probably Overpaying is anything above the highest price observed. Coverage spans SIM-only plans, handset contracts, tablet connectivity and mobile broadband, across 24-month and 36-month terms and multiple data allowances per device.
Start with your current bill. Find the line rental you pay per connection, then match it to the right device, data allowance and contract length in the index. The band it falls into tells you where you sit against the market. If you would rather not do it by hand, our free bill analysis does the same job for you and sends back where each line sits against the bands.
A few things trip businesses up. Comparing a 36-month price against a 24-month band makes a fair deal look cheap, or a cheap deal look unbeatable, so check the term. Data allowance matters too: paying an unlimited-data price for 20GB of actual usage is the single most common overspend we see. And a single quote from your existing provider is not a benchmark. It is one data point.
In our experience, the businesses that review before renewing rather than after are the ones that hold onto the savings.
Whether you need a single number or a full team of business mobiles, our experts will match you to the right setup – across all four UK networks.
The index tells you whether your price is fair. Getting to the best price, across a whole team, is where the BusinessMobiles.com specialist team comes in.
BusinessMobiles.com has been an independent business mobile specialist since 1999, working across EE, O2, Vodafone and Three. Because we are not tied to a single network, our team compares the whole market for you and shapes the deal around how your team actually uses its phones, rather than around one provider’s price list. If you would rather talk it through than work the bands by hand, talk to our Business Mobiles specialist team and we will benchmark every line against the index for you.
Where the savings sit shifts as you add lines, so the index pays off differently depending on your setup:
To turn any of this into a concrete quote, build your team’s plan in about 30 seconds with our Mobile Plan Builder, then check the monthly figure it returns against the bands above.
We help small UK businesses save £500+ a year on mobile bills – across EE, O2, Vodafone and Three. No tie-in to one network.
average saving a year, for a small business
You get a dedicated account manager handling everything from the first quote through to the switch, upgrades and renewals, a price match on any like-for-like business deal, and one point of contact for the whole account. Send us your latest bill and we will show you exactly where the savings are.
The snapshot above is a fraction of what the index covers. The full 56-page Q4 2026 edition includes every iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel model, SIM-only plans across all tiers, iPad, Galaxy Tab and Microsoft Surface tablets, and the full mobile broadband range of hubs, routers, MiFi and USB modems, each with 24-month and 36-month bands at every data allowance.
Enter your work email to get instant access to the complete index. If you would rather our specialist team checked your current pricing against it for you, we can do that too.
If you already know what you need, you can shop the latest deals online, check this quarter’s special offers, or browse by brand, including Motorola business handsets alongside the Apple, Samsung and Google Pixel ranges above.
If we’ve not covered your question here, Book A 15-Min Call with our team to talk about your mobile needs.
It is an independent quarterly benchmark of UK business mobile pricing. For Q4 2026 it analyses 512 tariffs across EE, O2, Vodafone and Three, checked against each network’s published business prices in October 2026, then sorts each device and data combination into five price bands so you can see whether your monthly cost is competitive or above the market.
Find your device, data allowance and contract length in the index, then compare your current monthly line rental against the bands. If you land in Worth Reviewing or Probably Overpaying, you are paying more than many or all comparable businesses, and it is worth getting fresh quotes before you renew. Nine in ten of the businesses that come to us to upgrade cannot say what they currently pay per line, so checking this first is the single most useful thing you can do.
Talk to our team of experts for a better price for all employees.
Yes. On a 36-month term with unlimited data, a current mainstream flagship sits under £50 a month at its Excellent Value price across all four networks: under £41 for an iPhone 17 (256GB), under £35 for a Samsung Galaxy S26 (256GB), and under £40 for a Google Pixel 11 (256GB). Lower data tiers and SIM-only plans come in well below that.
On a 36-month business SIM in Q4 2026, a good (Excellent Value) monthly price is under £12 for 10GB, under £13 for 20GB, under £15 for 50GB, under £17 for 100GB, and under £21 for unlimited data. Over £25 a month for unlimited is probably overpaying. On a 24-month SIM the Excellent Value prices are similar, and a pound or two cheaper at the lower tiers: under £10 for 10GB, under £12 for 20GB, under £16 for 50GB, under £19 for 100GB and under £21 for unlimited.
Per month, yes, because there is no handset cost in the price. An unlimited business SIM is good value under £21 a month; an unlimited iPhone 18 Pro is good value under £52. The roughly £31 a month difference, about £1,100 over a three-year term, is the handset baked into the airtime. If you can fund the phone up front, buying it outright and taking a SIM-only plan usually works out cheaper across the term.
Across the accounts we manage, we typically see up to 45% off equivalent tariffs compared with going direct to the network, around 15% saved on average simply by moving to a more appropriate tariff, and about 30% off handset costs for SME customers. Because an independent specialist compares all four networks rather than selling one, it can match the plan to how your team actually uses its phones.
Yes. Every device has separate bands for 24-month and 36-month terms, because the monthly price changes with contract length. On current flagships with unlimited data, a good 36-month price is roughly £10 to £17 a month lower than the 24-month equivalent, as the handset cost is spread over a longer period. SIM-only prices barely differ between the two terms.
Every quarter. Each edition re-checks pricing against the four networks’ published business tariffs, so the bands reflect the current market rather than a historic snapshot. This Q4 2026 edition was checked in October 2026.
Business mobile is one of the few recurring costs with no public benchmark, which is exactly why renewal prices drift upward unchecked. The Fair Price Index gives you that benchmark, and a target. Check where your current contract lands before your renewal date, not after, aim for the Excellent or Good Value bands, and treat anything in Worth Reviewing or Probably Overpaying as a prompt to shop around. Download the full Q4 2026 index to see every device and network in detail, or send your bill to our specialist team and let them benchmark it for you.
Practical advise to save on your bill, switching tips, and the latest deals worth knowing about. No spam.
Unsubscribe any time. We never share your email.
Two minutes is all it takes to start. Pick the path that suits you:
Send us your bill – we’ll spot the savings within 2 hours.
Expert in…
Katie du Plessis is Content Lead at BusinessMobiles.com, with eight years as a content writer and researcher and a habit of not stopping until she has a proper answer. She works directly with the specialist sales team – people who spend every day talking to IT managers, fleet administrators, and business owners about real contract decisions – and turns that knowledge into content that actually reflects how businesses buy mobile.
Her writing covers network and device comparisons, tariff news, contract management, and the kind of questions that don’t have tidy answers. If something’s worth digging into, she’s probably already halfway down the rabbit hole.
Enjoy this post? Share it with your colleagues
Download the fair price index
Pop your details in and we'll send the PDF straight to your inbox.
Unsubscribe anytime · data never shared with 3rd parties
The BusinessMobiles.com Fair Price Index is on its way to your inbox. Check your spam folder if it doesn't appear within a few minutes.
Download the fair price index
Pop your details in and we'll send the PDF straight to your inbox.
Unsubscribe anytime · data never shared with 3rd parties
The BusinessMobiles.com Fair Price Index is on its way to your inbox. Check your spam folder if it doesn't appear within a few minutes.
Download your free MDM platform flowchart
Pop your details in and we'll send the PDF straight to your inbox.
Unsubscribe anytime · data never shared with 3rd parties
Your free MDM platform flowchart is on its way to your inbox. Check your spam folder if it doesn't appear within a few minutes.
Download your free SIM-only plan flowchart
Pop your details in and we'll send the PDF straight to your inbox.
Unsubscribe anytime · data never shared with 3rd parties
Your free SIM-only plan flowchart is on its way to your inbox. Check your spam folder if it doesn't appear within a few minutes.
