The start of student life is packed full of excitement mixed with trepidation as young people embark on what is for most, their first time away from home. But are students still destined to eat baked beans on toast for the next few years, stretching every single penny of their loans? It's true to say that money can be a bit tight in those formative years and that's why it's doubly important that students get enough bang for their buck when it comes to technology.
I'd hazard a guess that staying in touch and tech is pretty high up on the list of student priorities (please don't forget to call your parents, guys). I asked Lewis, an 18-year-old student in Bristol about his current EE phone plan. I wanted to find out the most important thing for him and the answer was resolute: the data. There had to be enough and it had to be fast.
Luckily for him and thousands of you, EE has recently announced the launch of a brand new deal offering a 500MB data safety net to all university students. Plus if you’re an existing customer and it’s time for an upgrade you’ll get a whopping 20% off your monthly phone plan. Don’t worry if you’re not with EE yet, all new customers are eligible for 20% off too. Oh and did I mention the 6 months free Apple music? Yep, that’s also for grabs. Pretty epic, hey?
So, student, what can you do to get the deal?
This deal is available to new, upgrading or existing eligible pay monthly mobile customers who are UK university students or in further education and registered with leading student affinity network UNiDAYS.
Existing student customers with an eligible plan can sign up to the offer by:
Texting ‘STUDENT’ to 150 and entering your unique UNiDAYS code when prompted and follow the sign-up instructions.
Customers will receive a confirmation when the 500MB data safety net has been activated.
The 500MB of data is yours for free every single month and will last for the duration of your contract. It's automatic, meaning it will renew each time, by itself without you having to lift a finger so no need to worry that you'll run out of data.
Visit www.ee.co.uk/student for all the info you need, if you have any questions about the deals, leave a comment here or visit the dedicated student help page.
Phone plan sorted, data locked and loaded. What happens if you've streamed one too many boxsets? Nobody wants an unexpected bill, especially a student that still needs to have money left over for all those books you need to buy (read: student bar happy hour). EE has your back by offering data caps helping you stay in control. Voice caps enables EE to send you a text message within a two-hour max of you using up your minutes. You can buy add-ons which are a great way of still being able to use your phone while staying in control of your bill. Don't forget that you can keep an eye on this yourself by checking in on My EE online or through the app.
Speaking of superfast data; let's talk about home broadband. Setting up house can be daunting and the subject of broadband a little overwhelming. Let's face it, student digs with no internet is like the internet without those funny cat memes; because what's life without tiny little fur balls lording it up over humans? Exactly.
You will need to take into account the number of people that will be using the internet connection, and what you’re using it for - if it's too slow you'll experience lag, buffering and arguments over who's using up all the bandwidth. With EE Broadband you can get speeds up to 76Mb/s, all their plans come with totally unlimited data, and they’ll never throttle your speed, even at peak times! There are a few options available and you can check what broadband speeds you could get here.
Taken up student residence alone? EE Standard Broadband is a fantastic product for smaller households with 1 or 2 devices and basic usage. It comes with speeds of up to 17Mb/s for just £21.50*/month on an 18 month contract, with a £10* set-up fee
If there's a few of you in a shared house then pitch together and get Fibre broadband, it's great for when there are multiple devices on the go and is much faster versus standard broadband. EE Fibre Broadband offers speeds of up to 38Mb/s for £29/month*; or for their best speeds, Fibre Plus gives you up to 76Mb/s for £33/month*. Both come on an 18 month contract, with a £35* set-up fee (or if you're quick, there's free set-up on all Fibre plans until December 7th 2017). With all EE Broadband plans, check online for any special offers that may be available at the time.
No phone line? No problem - 4GEE Home Broadband is the answer. 4GEE Home Broadband, uses EE's superfast 4G network, so there’s no need to wait around for an engineer. Just plug in your 4G router and you're good to go.
Before you go, check out the rest of the EE website: there are so many deals available to students with pay monthly phone plans from £14.99 and pay as you go phone plans from only £0.79. There's really no need for you to survive on beans on toast!
Tap 'Comment' below if you have any questions about the deals mentioned in this article and leave a line or two telling us your top money-saving tips for students. Sharing is caring, people.
Happy surfing.
*pricing accurate as of 2nd November 2017
