Read this before you trust a number

Tax is normalised now, with one estimate left. Mobitel and Hutch file their prices including tax, so those are final. Dialog's postpaid bundles are filed excluding it — those show the filed price marked + tax and are ranked using a factor of 1.2398, taken from mobitel.lk, which prints the same plan both ways. The real rate moves with the voice-to-data mix, so treat that one figure as close, not exact.

Home internet is not in here. Dialog's Rs 2,795 / 3,795 / 5,495 packages are filed as mobile tariffs but sold as Air Fibre — 5G home internet with a router and a contract. They used to appear in this comparison. They no longer do, because you cannot put them in your phone.

App-only plans are listed but never crowned. Hutch's Learn & Work bundles are the cheapest thing here at high usage, and for someone whose whole day is Zoom and WhatsApp they are the right answer. They cover a named app list at 2 Mbps, so the badge goes to the cheapest plan carrying ordinary internet instead.

Short plans are stretched to 30 days. A 7-day pack is shown at 30-day equivalent cost so it can sit next to a monthly plan. You cannot always buy it that way.

Run out and it hurts. All three operators charge about Rs 0.30 per MB past your quota — roughly Rs 307 per extra GB. That is why buying too small costs more than buying too big.

Prices move. Tariffs are approved in windows and operators re-file often. Check the operator before you buy; every card links to the regulator's own filing.