founded 8 august 2008 headquarters united kingdom area served united kingdom products mobile telecommunications products and services parent timico slogan say hello to really cheap mobile prices website www.familymobile.co.uk family mobile was a mobile virtual network operator mvno in the united kingdom operated by coms mobile and using the ee network . 1 originally launched as ikea family mobile on 8 august 2008 it offered pay as you go sim cards to the public with members of its loyalty programme and all 9 500 ikea staff in britain presented with a handset and 5 worth of free calls . 2 3 family mobile offered uk calls for 8p per minute and uk text messages for 4p each with a minimum initial top up of 10 making the network the cheapest pay as you go operator in the uk at time of launch at least 25 per cent cheaper than any other comparable prepay offer ; and as of may 2012 family mobile was still the cheapest pay as you go uk network . 4 the service targeted individual users families with extra features for the latter allowing customers a number of sim cards per account with shared credit shared among the different family members and the ability to cap each user . a free standalone sim card or handset with their sim card can be ordered at the family mobile website . other notable features include automatic top ups online itemised bills and the ability to manually switch to the orange network if no t mobile signal is available by chaining relevant phone settings . in june 2015 the operator announced that its services would cease to operate from 31 august 2015 resulting in the network s closure . references edit http www.guardian.co.uk technology 2008 aug 04 telecoms.ikea ikea launches ready made mobile phone service t mobile the network behind ikea family mobile the uk s newest mobile service t mobile signs ikea mvno ikea claims its prepay service is 25 per cent cheaper than any rival offering mobile news 4 august 08 http mobilenetworkcomparison.org.uk compare v t e uk mobile network operators ee o2 three vodafone uk mobile virtual network operators mvnos asda mobile bt mobile bt business mobile the co operative mobile delight mobile giffgaff gt mobile id mobile lebara mobile lycamobile now mobile talkmobile telecom plus tesco mobile the people s operator truphone virgin mobile former mvnos dialog vizz family mobile kitemobile mobile by sainsbury s life mobile v t e telecommunications industry in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom science and technology in the united kingdom companies infrastructure providers arqiva babcock international bt wholesale openreach interxion telecitygroup telehouse europe service providers current andrews & arnold asda mobile bt group bt global services bt business bt consumer ee plusnet claranet colt group the co operative cable & wireless communications delight mobile family mobile inmarsat kcom group eclipse internet lebara mobile lycamobile mapesbury communications o2 uk giffgaff origin broadband sky sky broadband talkmobile talktalk group aol broadband talktalk business talktalk mobile talktalk tv telecom plus tesco mobile three tru virgin media virgin media business virgin mobile uk vodafone vodafone uk voipfone wightfibre zen internet defunct atlantic telegraph company be un limited bonelli s electric telegraph company cable & wireless plc cable & wireless worldwide dolphin telecom electric telegraph company energis general post office ionica london and provincial district telegraph company mercury communications mobile by sainsbury s national telephone company ntl ovivo post office telecommunications pipex priyo mobile rabbit stan mobile tiscali uk universal private telegraph company suppliers current arm holdings artevea csr icera metaswitch pace sarantel spirent telent defunct gec plessey telecommunications marconi company marconi communications picochip standard telephones and cables other carphone warehouse hibu phones 4u dial a phone government and regulatory bodies broadband stakeholder group defence science and technology laboratory european conference of postal and telecommunications administrations international telecommunication union ofcom phonepayplus industry bodies gsm association internet service providers association lonap london internet exchange manap symbian foundation internet telephony services providers association other adastral park british approvals board for telecommunications british telecommunications act 1981 british telephone sockets bt research bt site engineering code communications act 2003 earth stations in the united kingdom hull colour pages interception of communications act 1985 internet in the united kingdom telegraph act telegraph act 1868 telegraph act 1885 telephone numbers in the united kingdom uk telephone code misconceptions web blocking in the united kingdom category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title family mobile & oldid 739822694 categories mobile virtual network 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