Updated 9 September 2026<\/p>\n
The people of Ireland are cute enough. They know that buying phones, like the latest iPhone 18<\/a>, directly from a network is more or less hire-purchase with a spicy interest rate to boot. What do I mean by that? Well, if you can find a way to buy a phone outright yourself instead of on a long-term 24-month contract, you\u2019ll almost certainly save money. We\u2019ve built a bill-pay versus pre-pay<\/a> calculator to help you work out the maths too. <\/p>\n But while that\u2019s the phone sorted, you will still need a plan, right? That\u2019s what this article is all about. Helping you find the cheapest mobile plans ireland that offer you the best coverage and usage.<\/p>\n 48 offers Ireland\u2019s best overall SIM-only mobile plan<\/p>\n 48 is Three Ireland\u2019s sister brand, and right now they offer the best value SIM-only mobile phone plan<\/a> in the Irish market. That means you get most of Tree\u2019s quality network but at a discount price. Sure you don\u2019t get access to Three Plus and the likes but at the end of the day thats a nice little bonus rather than a must have.<\/p>\n Kindly sponsored by<\/p>\n Right now 48 is offering a 6-month promotion, which makes them the second-best value offering in Ireland but the best overall offer with everything considered. For example in the first 12 months, Lyca Mobile is cheaper in year one but with no discount in the second year it becomes considerably more expensive. We consider the risk that you may forget to change your plan and to shop around again in 12 months. <\/p>\n That\u2019s why we pick 48 as Ireland\u2019s best value plan. This 6-month promotion reduces their normally \u20ac12.99 plan down to just \u20ac9.99 for 6 months. Overall this means your first 12 months with 48 will cost you \u20ac147.87, and in year 2 it will cost you \u20ac155.88. And remember there\u2019s nothing to stop you shopping around after 6 months on 48 given it\u2019s a rolling monthly agreement for 28 days.<\/p>\n Brought to you by<\/p>\n One somewhat sneaky cost to keep an eye out for with all of these networks is an initial upfront connection fee. This is usually a month in advance. For example on 48, when they run a 9.99 offer, their connection fee is 9.99. 48, Clear Mobile, and GoMo all have connection fees that we take into consideration for our overall calculations<\/p>\n Critically despite this plan costing just \u20ac9.99 for 6 months, you get:<\/p>\n Kindly sponsored by<\/p>\n unlimited 5G data<\/p>\n 20 GB of EU and UK roaming<\/p>\n 5,000 minutes<\/p>\n 5,000 texts<\/p>\n No additional contract<\/p>\n It is a rolling 28-day monthly agreement<\/p>\n It is worth noting that 20 GB of EU and UK roaming is amongst the lower of Ireland\u2019s sim-only plans.<\/p>\n Pairing all that with the fact that this is on Three\u2019s sister network, which is arguably Ireland\u2019s strongest network for coverage, there\u2019s a lot to be enjoyed about joining 48.<\/p>\n Lyca Mobile does earn itself an honourable mention as Ireland\u2019s cheapest mobile phone plan<\/p>\n It\u2019s only fair that we give Lyca Mobile some recognition for their offering as well. Usually their plan will cost you \u20ac20 per month; however right now they are running a sizeable discount that reduces that down to \u20ac11 per month for the first 12 months. That\u2019s a massive \u20ac108 saved in the first year, which is great but only if you remember that after 12 months you need to shop around.<\/p>\n The cost of forgetting to shop around is considerable as Lyca Mobile\u2019s first year is \u20ac132 total, versus a second year of \u20ac240 total. One important fact here is that Lyca Mobile operates on Three\u2019s network.That means coverage should be pretty solid and if you do trust yourself to shop around in 12 months\u2019 time, this is arguably a better deal.<\/p>\n Another big caveat with Lyca Mobile is that if you do a lot of international calling, the rates can be very competitive.<\/p>\n Clear Mobile narrowly edges out Gomo for third place<\/p>\n Clear Mobile, Vodafone\u2019s sister network, offers a competitive deal of \u20ac12.99 per month, matching 48\u2019s pre-discount price. However Clear Mobile does not offer any discounts. This means they are about \u20ac8 more expensive than 48 in the first year while both reach parity in year two.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that Clear Mobile also charges you a \u20ac12.99 connection fee but in return gives you your first month free. While GoMo also charges a \u20ac12.99 connection fee, they do not give you 1 month free. This means ClearMobile totals \u20ac155.88 in year 1, while GoMo reaches \u20ac168.87 in year 1. Both ClearMobile and GoMo give you 23 GB of data while roaming in the EU.<\/p>\n