The 5G Price Wars: How Smarty’s £12 Deal Exposes Our Data-Guzzling Habits

The Case of the Disappearing Wallet
Dude, remember when “unlimited data” actually meant something? Back in the flip phone era, we rationed texts like wartime rations. Now? We’re out here slurping 200GB of 5G like it’s a £12 all-you-can-stream buffet—and mobile providers are feeding our addiction with increasingly absurd deals. Enter Smarty, the UK’s cheeky MVNO, dangling 200GB of 5G plus EU roaming for less than the cost of a soggy meal deal. Seriously, what kind of data-hungry monster needs this much bandwidth? (Spoiler: It’s all of us.)

The Great British Data Binge

1. 5G: The Buffet Nobody Asked For (But Everyone’s Pigging Out On)

Let’s break down Smarty’s deal like a receipt from a shameful ASOS haul: 200GB of 5G for £12/month is roughly 6.7GB per pound—a steal compared to EE’s £68/month unlimited plan (which, let’s be real, probably throttles you after 50GB anyway).
But why 200GB? Because 5G turned us into data gluttons. With speeds 100x faster than 4G, we’ve gone from “I’ll wait for Wi-Fi to download this podcast” to “I will livestream my morning commute in 4K while my kid facetimes Grandma from the backseat.” Smarty knows this. They’re betting heavy users—remote workers, TikTok addicts, *that guy* hotspotting his entire office—will see 200GB and salivate like it’s a Black Friday doorbuster.

2. Roaming: The Sneaky Hidden Charge We All Forgot About

Remember 2017, when the EU killed roaming fees and we all cheered? Yeah, that’s over. EE now charges £2/day for EU data, and Vodafone’s like, “Hold my espresso.” Smarty’s 12GB free roaming is a lifeline for budget travelers, but here’s the catch: burn through that allowance, and you’re back to 1999 rates. Still, for weekend trips to Barcelona? It’s the difference between posting *#Wanderlust* stories and crying over a £50 bill for Google Maps.

3. The MVNO vs. Big Telecom Smackdown

Smarty isn’t playing nice. While France’s Free Mobile offers 35GB across Europe for €19.99 (~£17), and Three’s “unlimited” plans start at £22, Smarty’s £12 price tag is the equivalent of finding designer jeans at a thrift store. MVNOs (virtual operators piggybacking on big networks) have zero infrastructure costs, so they can undercut the EE’s of the world. The real question: Why are we still paying £68 for unlimited when 200GB is more than enough for 99% of users?

The Verdict: We’re All Data Addicts (And Providers Are Our Enablers)

Let’s be real—nobody *needs* 200GB unless they’re running a Netflix server farm from their basement. But in the 5G era, providers have us convinced that “enough data” is a myth. Smarty’s deal isn’t just a bargain; it’s a mirror. It shows how:
– 5G normalized data gluttony (RIP, our attention spans)
– Roaming fees are back—unless you’re sneaky (MVNOs to the rescue)
– Big telecom’s “unlimited” plans are a scam (200GB for £12? *Mic drop.*)
So next time you see a “too good to be true” data deal, ask yourself: Are you the savvy shopper—or just another sucker in the 5G price wars? Case closed. 🕵️♀️