An Post Mobile vs GoMo: the post-office counter against the €12.99 app

Price: 13 cycles of €12.99 against 12 months of €12.99

Both start at €12.99, and the figure is a trap. GoMo’s €12.99 is a calendar month for unlimited data. An Post’s €12.99 is 28 days for 50 GB, 500 minutes and 300 texts, and the 300 texts only count between An Post Mobile customers. A year is 13 cycles of 28 days, so An Post’s cheapest plan costs about €168.87 a year. GoMo is 12 months of €12.99 plus a €12.99 once-off activation fee paid up front — also €168.87 in year one, and €155.88 every year after. Same cash, but one of them is unlimited 5G.

Unlimited is where the gap opens. An Post unlimited is the €18 plan: 13 cycles comes to €234 a year. GoMo unlimited is €168.87 in year one and €155.88 after. That is roughly €65 a year in year one, and €78 every year after, for the post-office counter and a 4G-only radio. The €15 An Post plan is the odd one: 25 GB, less data than the €12.99 plan, but 3,000 minutes and texts. It is the talk-plan, not the data plan.

One detail An Post’s own plan terms spell out: on manual top-up the plan runs 28 days, but on Auto Top Up it runs 31 days. Set auto top-up and the year drops to roughly 12 cycles, €155.88, which puts the 50 GB plan €13 under GoMo’s first year and level with it after. That only works if you give An Post a card, which is exactly what most An Post customers are there to avoid.

GoMo’s price-for-life promise is tied to the sign-up window printed on its pricing page, and gomo.ie charges a €12.99 once-off activation fee up front, so the first payment is €25.98, not €12.99. Check the order summary. Background: price for life explained.

Network: different masts, different radio generation

These two SIMs are on different radio networks and different generations at the same time. GoMo is Eir’s own brand on Eir’s 5G network. An Post Mobile is a prepay MVNO on Vodafone’s network — “powered by Vodafone network”, in An Post’s words — and every plan we list is 4G only. An Post claims 99.9% 4G population coverage; Eir claims 99% population on its network. Both are population figures, not a promise about your kitchen.

So the question is not "which is better" but "which mast is closer to your house". Vodafone and Eir have different gaps. Eir has spent heavily on rural 5G and is often the stronger signal along the western seaboard and in parts of the midlands; Vodafone has the longest-established 4G footprint and tends to hold up well indoors in towns and suburbs. Neither of those generalisations beats a phone test. Our county-by-county notes are on best mobile network in Ireland and best mobile for rural Ireland.

The practical test is free. Borrow a phone on Eir (or GoMo) and a phone on Vodafone (Vodafone, Clear or An Post are all Vodafone radio) and check bars in the rooms you actually use, not the garden. If Vodafone is dead in your sitting room, An Post Mobile is dead there too, however friendly the counter. One caveat: An Post is replacing SIMs issued before September 2025 ahead of “service changes in 2026”, so confirm the host network on the order page.

On 5G: GoMo gives it on the one plan. An Post does not, full stop. If your phone is 5G-capable and your area is covered, GoMo will be noticeably quicker for downloads and video. If your phone is a €150 4G handset bought for a relative, the 5G gap is irrelevant. Map and reality check: 5G in Ireland.

Data: 50 GB, 25 GB or unlimited, versus unlimited

GoMo has one answer: unlimited data, unlimited calls and texts, with fair use on calls and texts. You cannot buy less, so you cannot be sold the wrong tier.

An Post has three answers and they do not line up neatly. €12.99 buys 50 GB but only 500 minutes and 300 on-net texts. €15 buys 25 GB with 3,000 minutes and 3,000 texts. €18 buys unlimited with the same 3,000 and 3,000. So data goes 50, 25, unlimited as you climb the ladder. If you are picking An Post for a data-heavy phone, skip the €15 plan entirely. If you are picking it for a phone that makes calls and texts anyone on any network, the €12.99 plan is the wrong one because its texts are on-net only.

For a light user, 50 GB on 4G is plenty, and unused allowance expires with the 28 days. For anyone streaming on the bus or tethering a laptop, unlimited on GoMo at €12.99 is the obvious buy. Work out which you are on how much data do I need.

Contract: prepay that just stops, versus rolling monthly with a card

Neither has a minimum term, but they stop in different ways. An Post is true prepay. Top up €12.99, €15 or €18, get 28 days, and if you do not top up again the plan simply ends. There is no bill, no direct debit, no cancellation form. For a phone that must never run up a charge, that hard stop is the feature.

GoMo is a 30-day rolling plan paid by card. It renews every month until you cancel, and cancelling is a form in the account area or a web chat, not a phone call. The risk is the opposite of An Post’s: it keeps charging quietly if you forget it, which is fine for your main phone and less fine for a drawer phone.

Buying experience is the real contract difference. GoMo is app and web only; you order online, the SIM arrives in the post or you activate an eSIM, and you never meet a person. An Post is sold and topped up at the counter as well as online, with delivery free in Ireland if you order the SIM on the website. Number porting: An Post’s terms say the transfer is done for you within two hours of starting it; GoMo does it in the app. Steps for either: how to switch mobile.

eSIM: GoMo yes. An Post’s general terms define a SIM as a card or an eSIM profile, but the plans we list are physical SIM only and we have not found an eSIM order path on the site. Treat An Post as plastic SIM. Detail: eSIM in Ireland.

Roaming: 23 GB listed versus a 25 GB fair-use cap

GoMo lists 23 GB of EU roaming data a month on the €12.99 plan, with calls and texts roaming like home. An Post says EU roaming is included on all plans, and its plan terms put a fair-use limit of 25 GB of data and 250 minutes and texts on EU roaming, with UK roaming charged at EU rates "until further notice".

On paper An Post’s roaming cap is slightly bigger. In practice the 250-minute roaming limit on calls and texts is the tighter number if you are abroad for a month and ringing home, and the €12.99 An Post plan only has 500 minutes domestically anyway. GoMo’s unlimited calls travel with you inside its fair use. For a fortnight in Spain, both will do the job without a surcharge.

Neither is the roaming pick for Irish travellers who go often or go further. That shortlist is on best mobile for roaming, and the rules on what "roam like home" actually covers are on EU roaming.

Who it's for: the person at the counter versus the person in the app

Choose An Post Mobile when the buyer is not the user. A daughter setting up a phone for a parent, a carer managing a client’s SIM, anyone who wants to pay cash once every four weeks at a counter they already visit for the pension or the car tax. It is also the right SIM for the person who has been burned by a direct debit before and wants a phone that physically cannot cost more than the voucher. Irish-owned, no app dependence, a person to ask when it goes wrong.

Choose GoMo when you are the user, you have a card, you trust the app, and you want the most data for the least money with no thereafter jump. It is the better phone plan on every spec line. The service line is where it is weak: web chat hours, no phone support, a Trustpilot record that lags 48 and Clear. If that bothers you but you still want €12.99 unlimited, compare the three cheap brands on best unlimited mobile before you settle on GoMo.

If you are on the fence, the deciding question is not price. It is: who fixes it when the SIM stops working, and how do they want to pay? Answer that honestly and the page has picked for you. Full prepay field: best prepay in Ireland.