Quick verdict
If Three’s signal is fine at your address, this is 48 versus Tesco Mobile, and 48 wins on price: €12.99 unlimited 5G, rolling, no thereafter jump. Tesco only makes sense if you want to top up at a checkout, earn Clubcard points, and you will stay off the Elevate SIM. If Three is patchy and Eir is the stronger radio where you live, GoMo is the only one of the three that helps, at the same €12.99 plus a €12.99 activation fee up front, with eSIM and a price-for-life promise.
Tesco is never the cheapest of the three for unlimited 5G. Its honest pitch is convenience: a SIM you can buy with the shopping and a top-up you can do at the till.
Why Tesco and not Clear? Our 48 vs GoMo vs Clear page covers the €12.99 tie across all three radios. This page swaps Clear for Tesco because a lot of people are not asking “which is cheapest” but “I shop in Tesco anyway, is Clubcard worth it”. Pairwise: GoMo vs 48 · Tesco vs 48 · Tesco vs GoMo.
Side-by-side, August 2026
Each column is the retailer’s listed unlimited 5G plan. For Tesco that is the Elevate SIM, because it is the one with “unlimited” on the shelf tag. The cheaper Tesco routes are in the next section. Fair-use applies to every “unlimited” here.
| GoMo | 48 | Tesco Mobile | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | €12.99 | €12.99 | €15 |
| Thereafter | Same price | Same price | €30 after 12 months |
| Contract | Rolling monthly | Rolling monthly | 12 months |
| Activation fee | €12.99 | None listed | None listed |
| Year-one cash | €169 | €156 | €180 |
| Data | Unlimited (fair-use) | Unlimited (fair-use) | Unlimited (fair-use) |
| 5G | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| eSIM | Yes | No | No |
| EU roaming | 23 GB EU roaming | 20 GB EU/UK roaming | 36.95 GB EU (fair use) |
| Student plan | No | 100 GB €10.99 (4G) | No |
| Top-up / pay | App, card only | App or web, card | Till, app, phone; Clubcard points |
| Host radio | Eir network | Three network | Three network |
| Our score | 9.1 / 10 | 9.3 / 10 | 8.3 / 10 |
Tesco’s Elevate year-one looks close to the other two because the €30 thereafter sits just outside the twelve months. Year two is where it goes wrong: roughly €360 against about €156 on GoMo or 48.
Tesco year one, all four ways to pay
Tesco does not have one price, it has a menu, and the Clubcard column is the one that matters. “Clubcard” below means the Clubcard Price or scheduled top-up rate; “rack” is what you pay without it. Prepay is 28-day, so a year is 13 top-ups, not 12.
| Tesco path | With Clubcard | Rack rate | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elevate SIM (12-month) | €180 | €180 | €15 × 12, then €30 a month |
| Prepay Data Ultra 5G (28-day) | €195 | €260 | 13 top-ups a year; €15 only on a scheduled Clubcard top-up |
| €20 5G Clubcard SIM (rolling) | €180 | €240 | Clubcard Price at point of sale |
| Prepay Data Plus 100 GB (28-day) | €195 | €195 | 4G, 100 GB, no Clubcard discount on the price itself |
| GoMo unlimited 5G | €169 | €12.99 × 12 plus €12.99 activation fee, eSIM, Eir radio | |
| 48 unlimited 5G | €156 | €12.99 × 12, no activation fee, plastic SIM, Three radio | |
Read it this way. The cheapest Tesco unlimited 5G path with Clubcard is Data Ultra on a scheduled top-up, about €195 a year. That is roughly €39 more than 48 for the same Three masts. Without the scheduled top-up it is €260. The €20 Clubcard SIM on a rolling bill is €180 a year if the Clubcard Price is applied at the point of sale. Data Plus is the value row, but it is 100 GB on 4G, not unlimited 5G.
Clubcard points on top of that are real, but small. Model them as a few euro a year, not as a discount that changes the answer.
Pick by radio, then it is a two-horse race
The thing people miss is that this is not a three-way at all. Two of the three sit on the same masts. Turn Wi-Fi off, walk the house and the commute with a Three SIM and an Eir SIM if you can borrow them, then:
- Three works. It is 48 versus Tesco. Same radio, same 5G layer, same indoor brick walls. The only variables are price, Clubcard, top-up channel and the student plan. On those, 48 wins unless you specifically want the till. GoMo is out of the picture because you would be swapping a working radio for a different one.
- Eir works, Three does not. Only GoMo helps. 48 and Tesco cannot fix a Three dead spot between them, no matter how many points you collect. GoMo is the same €12.99 with eSIM and Wi-Fi calling, but support is the app and nothing else.
- Both work. 48 for the highest score and the student fallback; GoMo if you want eSIM or the “for life” wording; Tesco only for the checkout habit.
Neither Vodafone nor Clear appears here. If Vodafone radio is the one that works, none of these three is your answer; see best mobile network in Ireland and MVNO explained.
The catches, one per SIM
- Tesco: Elevate is the trap, not Clubcard. €15 becomes typically €30 at month 13 and the term is 12 months. The shelf tag says “unlimited 5G from €15”; the small print says thereafter. The Clubcard rows, Data Ultra and the €20 SIM, are rolling or 28-day and do not do this. Read price for life before you sign.
- Tesco: the discount needs a habit. Data Ultra at €15 requires a scheduled recurring top-up on a registered Clubcard. Pay ad hoc at the till and it is €20. Prepay 15 doubles to 30 GB only once the Clubcard is registered in the app.
- GoMo: app-only, €12.99 up front, and the Trustpilot reflects the first part. The activation fee makes year one about €169, not €156. There is no shop, no phone line for sales, and web chat is office hours. If your parent needs a person, this is the wrong SIM. Eir radio also means Eir indoor coverage, which is not always the same as the coverage map.
- 48: plastic SIM, post, wait. No eSIM for your Irish number. If you need to be live tonight, Tesco at the counter is faster and GoMo’s eSIM is instant. 48’s student plan is 4G, not 5G.
- All three: roaming is a fair-use number. GoMo 23 GB EU, 48 20 GB EU/UK, Tesco Elevate 36.95 GB. The Tesco figure is the biggest and the most decimal-pointed. See EU roaming rules for what happens past the cap.
Who should pick what
Most people on Three radio: 48. Highest score of the three, €12.99 rolling, student 100 GB at €10.99. Plastic SIM in the post is the price of admission. Year one about €156, year two the same.
Eir-first homes, or eSIM people: GoMo. Same €12.99 after the €12.99 activation fee, for life in the marketing, eSIM in minutes. Year one about €169, year two about €156. Accept that the app is the whole relationship.
Tesco shoppers who top up at the till: Tesco Mobile, but only Data Ultra on a scheduled Clubcard top-up (about €195 a year, unlimited 5G) or Data Plus if 100 GB 4G covers you (also about €195 a year). The €20 Clubcard SIM at €15 is fine on a rolling bill. Skip Elevate.
Switching out a Three or Eir bill-pay: all three let you port your number in a day or two; the new SIM does it. Steps in how to switch mobile. Full ranking at best mobile in Ireland; prepay-only options at best prepay.
