The second-largest mobile communications network in the UK, O2 is a staple on British high streets and in British homes. With over 25-million customers at present, chances are there’s an O2 phone or tablet in your home, student digs or room! We also like that you can get a great O2 refresh, which is their term for an upgrade as well as airtime plans.

It can be tricky to get the best O2 student deals at O2 but this is where Student Discount Squirrel can help. We’ve researched the best deals and airtime plans and listed them below. And remember if you’re looking for a student discount voucher code in 2024 then check out our O2 student discount guide page for the latest codes for money off your monthly bill and save money.

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o2 student deals

The Best O2 Deals for Students

Check out our top buys:

TOP STUDENT DEAL: PAY AS YOU GO TOP-UP – £10.00

The evergreen top-up card for Pay As You Go phones, this single SIM fits all devices including the iPhone 12. You can buy the standard £10 O2 top-up from pretty much any convenience store or supermarket but now also a range of cash points and O2 stores for your device plan.

With this SIM, and therefore a temporary phone number in place, you can access calls to UK phones for 3p a minute, texts at 2p a message, and data at 1p an MB. It’s a good idea to have one of these SIMs around as a back-up, in case you ever got caught short having run out of data or having to work to avoid a crazy high bill.

Remember that you can O2 refresh in the future too or change your 20% discount off airtime plan to suit your requirements and this is a great alternative to a  pay monthly mobile phone.

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TOP STUDENT BUY: APPLE IPAD PRO 11 INCH 2018 – £DEPENDENT ON PLAN

Apple’s latest 11-inch iPad tablet is the best incarnation of this device yet: and with an advanced edge-to-edge liquid retina display; FaceID, to unlock your device just by looking at it; and the A12X Bionic chip to give it the fastest processing ever, we’re sure you will agree too!

With a 12-megapixel camera and up to 10-hours battery life, the new Apple iPad Pro will keep you connected through image, video, text and speech. This tablet is available on a variety of data plans or airtime plans, or to buy standalone.

TOP STUDENT BUY: SAMSUNG GALAXY S10 SMARTPHONE – £DEPENDENT ON PLAN

Samsung is notorious for releasing phone ranges similar in performance but differing in size, but the S10 truly has everything covered. A huge 6.1-inch screen gives a stunning display and with a 16-megapixel camera, you’ll be able to really enjoy the moments you capture. It’s well worth it if you’re looking for an O2 refresh.

The Galaxy S10 charges extra fast with wireless charging and you have the ability to share your battery life with your Android-toting friends too, should you wish. The S10’s fingerprint scanner is built into the screen for the ultimate security, so you don’t need to worry about your information ever being passed on unintentionally. This phone couldn’t have more… how have we been doing without it as well as mobile phones 20% off airtime plans with the student offer!

ABOUT O2

O2 utilises the UK’s fastest 4G coverage across over 99% of the country. Of course, that keeps you going while you’re out and about, but the network also keeps you connected at home with O2 Wi-Fi, abroad with O2 Travel Roaming and when travelling with O2 Drive. They’re in the business of keeping you connected with your loved ones wherever, whenever. Even if that is your Mum being able to call you relentlessly when you’re putting the moves on at a uni house party and need some peace and quiet or mobile broadband.

As a major player in the UK mobile market, O2 always stock the latest handsets and tablets, and aside from tech, have been able to work out some pretty impressive sponsorship deals to benefit their customers. As the sponsors of England Rugby, you can get first dibs on tickets and new merch, and with the network taking over the sponsorship of live music venues nationwide, there’s gig tix and VIP access to boot. Take advantage of their strategic partnerships and bag yourself some unforgettable experiences just by being a customer of a company you would be anyway.

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O2 are extremely favourable to students looking for a device plan, with a permanent discounted plan available or upgrade with an O2 refresh. Requests about getting an 02 student discount are one of the most popular we deal with. If you meet the criteria and can provide the relevant evidence, you can enjoy the student offer 20% off your airtime plan: that is your calls, texts and data. The discount isn’t applied to the monthly cost of your device, if you bought one with the plan, so bear that in mind. Your itemised monthly bill for mobile phones will be able to tell you the cost you can expect to receive the discount on, so do the maths to see how much you can save!

HISTORY OF 02 MOBILE

In 1985, John Carrington, then CEO of British Telecom’s mobile division, launched their first-ever cellular service, known as BT Cellnet; a joint venture between BT and Securicor. Initially based around Motorola technology, it had to be quickly adapted to work the UK and was not stable for quite some years. Within a decade, Securicor sold up, and BT bought over the whole business.

In 2002, BT Cellnet, then one of many BT ‘spin-off’ type subsidiaries, re-launched as O2 and had a whole new brand to reinvigorate its products and services. It grew hugely in popularity as part of a quad-location network (including Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the UK) and later acquired Telefonica, then the continent’s biggest mobile network. In 2005, the whole lot was listed as a public company and were no longer owned or controlled by BT.

As a competitor of O2’s once said; the future’s bright, the future’s orange… only for O2, it’s most definitely crystal clear communicative blue! Just a reminder we use cookies.

If you’re looking for similar offers, you may like to visit the pages below as well as Vodafone Student Discount, Carphone Warehouse Student Discount and Cyber Monday student deals: