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Pay as you go Essentials
This page will help you understand the tariff and how to use it.
Pay as you go Essentials
This page will help you understand the tariff and how to use it.
How Essentials works
Pay as you go Essentials offers everything you need in a simple 30-day bundle of data, minutes and texts. Bundles start from just £5, with unlimited calls and texts on every bundle from £10 and up.
After 30 days your bundle will auto-renew from your available top-up balance. If you’re happy with your current bundle, just keep your balance topped up and your allowances will automatically refresh each month. Alternatively, you can change your bundle — either immediately or from your renewal date — whenever you like.
Don’t want a bundle? No problem, you can still use Essentials like a traditional pay as you go SIM. Without an active bundle, you can use your top up balance to make calls, send texts and use data, charged at our standard rates.
Essentials offers five bundles to choose from:
Bundle Price |
Data |
Minutes & texts |
£30 |
100GB |
Unlimited mins and texts |
£20 |
50GB |
|
£15 |
25GB |
|
£10 |
10GB |
|
£5 |
500MB |
500 mins and texts |
Topping up and choosing your first bundle
To top up with a credit or debit card:
Download the new Tesco Mobile app, which is available free from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Once you’ve installed the app, select the option marked “top up” and choose how much you’d like to add to your balance (for initial activation, the minimum top-up is £10). You’ll then be asked to enter your credit or debit card details.
Once you’ve topped up your balance, you can use the option marked “add bundle” to select your first bundle. (If you bought your Essentials SIM card from tescomobile.com, this will arrive with a bundle already added to your account.)
To top up with a voucher:
You can buy a top-up voucher from any of our stores. Call 4488 free from your phone and follow the steps to add your first bundle. You’ll then be asked to enter your voucher number. We’ll deduct the cost of your bundle, and any remaining credit will be added to your top-up balance.
Please note: when you call 4488, you can only top up using a voucher. However, we’ll soon be updating this service to enable top-up via credit or debit card. E top-up cards are not supported on Pay as you go Essentials.
About auto-renewal
Each bundle lasts for 30 days. For example, if your bundle activates on 3 September, it will last until midnight on 2 October.
By default, your current bundle will automatically renew at the end of the 30-day period, taking the cost from your current top-up balance. However, you can stop your current bundle to turn off auto-renewal using the Tesco Mobile app, or by calling 4488 free.
Pay as you go Essentials FAQs.
To use Pay as you go Essentials, you’ll need a compatible 4G or 5G phone. You’ll also need to turn on 4G Calling (also known as VoLTE) in your settings.
If you’re not sure if your phone is compatible, you can use our helpful checking tool. Just use the link, then enter the make and manufacturer of your phone.
This will also give you instructions for how to turn on 4G Calling on your device.
Once you’ve inserted your Essentials SIM into your phone, you can activate it by making a standard call, sending a standard text, or by using data.
If you bought your SIM card from us online, rather than in a store, your first bundle should automatically activate at the same time as your SIM.
Yes, you can earn points by linking your Clubcard to your Essentials account.
To get started, just text the word CLUBCARD to 28578, free from your Tesco Mobile phone. Then follow the instructions.
Once linked, you’ll collect one Clubcard point for every £1 you top up using our app, in our stores, or by calling 4488 from your Tesco Mobile phone.
Our help page has more information about earning Clubcard points.
If you're travelling within the EU you can continue to use your phone just as you do at home, with no roaming charges until 2026.
When using your phone in countries outside of the EU, our standard roaming charges will apply.
Your number will remain active as long as it’s used very occasionally.
If you don’t use your phone for a period of six months or more, we’ll disconnect you. If this happens, you may lose your mobile number and any remaining credit.
To top up with a credit or debit card: Download the new Tesco Mobile app, which is available free from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Once you’ve installed the app, select the option marked “top up” and choose how much you’d like to add to your balance (for initial activation, the minimum top-up is £10). You’ll then be asked to enter your credit or debit card details.
Once you’ve topped up your balance, you can use the option marked “add bundle” to select a bundle, if you want one.
To top up with a voucher: Call 4488 free from your phone and follow the steps to add your first bundle. You’ll then be asked to enter your 16-digit code. You can buy a top-up voucher from any of our stores, or online here.
Please note: when you call 4488, you can only top up using a voucher. However, we’ll soon be updating this service to enable top-up via credit or debit card. E top-up cards are not supported on Pay as you go Essentials.
Sorry, Essentials doesn’t offer this feature at present. However, we’ll be considering ways to improve the tariff with future updates.
You can add up to £30 to your top-up balance at a time, and your balance can hold up to £100.
Within any given 30-day period, you can top up a maximum of £150 via the app.
The Tesco Mobile app is the easiest and quickest way to manage your bundle. This will allow you to check your allowances and usage, change bundles, top up your balance and more.
You can also do these things by calling 4488 from your Tesco Mobile phone.
Please note: to sign up to our app, you’ll need an email address that isn’t already linked to a Tesco Mobile account.
No. Your allowances of data, minutes and texts last for 30 days, starting from the date that your bundle activates or renews.
No, you cannot add extra allowances before your bundle renews. However, you can renew your active bundle early or start a different bundle at any time*. This will give you a new set of allowances that will last for 30 days, as well as a new renewal date.
Alternatively, you can still make calls, send texts or use data once you’ve used up your bundle allowances. This usage will be charged at our standard out-of-bundle rates.
*Please note: you can’t make changes to your bundle in the last two hours before your renewal date (10pm to midnight on the day before)
Yes, you can stop your current bundle to turn off auto-renewal. You can do this easily in the Tesco Mobile app or by calling 4488 from your phone.
Without an active bundle, any calls you make, texts you send or data you use will be charged at our standard out-of-bundle rates.
Please note: you can’t make changes to your bundle in the last two hours before your renewal date (10pm to midnight on the day before).
No problem. On pay as you go Essentials, you can still use your phone for calls, texts, and data without a bundle. You’ll just use your top-up credit and will be charged at our standard rates.
To do this, you just need to stop your active bundle to cancel auto-renewal. You can easily do this using the Tesco Mobile app or by calling 4488 from your phone.
Your bundle will only renew if your top-up balance is high enough to cover its cost. If your balance is too low on your renewal date, your bundle will be paused until you top up.
As soon as your top-up balance is high enough your bundle should automatically activate, beginning a new 30-day period.
If your top-up balance is high enough but your bundle still hasn’t activated, or if you have any other problems with your bundle, please contact us using the help tab of the Tesco Mobile app.
You can check our standard out-of-bundle rates here.
Every bundle you purchase from us online is subject to a 14-day cooling-off period. This policy covers bundles bought through the Tesco Mobile app, as well as our website.
So, during your first 14 days of a bundle, you can contact us to ask for a refund on any allowances that you haven't used yet — as long as you bought the bundle from our app or tescomobile.com.
For more information, please see our returns policy.