OT PAYG mobile phone tarrifs

[charles]

so will foil backed plaster board

[DJC]

Tesco. doesn't run out, I've had credit on mine for well over a year since the last top up.

[stuart noble]

For me, Three's PAYG seemed like a no-brainer after paying 14p per text on Orange, and I got my number transferred to the new SIM without incident. Only trouble is, I invariably have no signal to speak of at home! Fortunately their In Touch app can use my wi-fi for texts (and allegedly calls) though I still use the land line for those.

As a newbie this mobile stuff is a bit of a learning curve. With data roaming off, I find I can can send a GMail with a file attachment from virtually anywhere for free, but public wi-fi won't accept Whatsapp messages. One way and another I just don't text any more

[ARW]

Tell me about it. I am picking up a Samsung Galaxy 5 on Friday.

The most advanced phone I have ever owned is a Nokia C2-01!

One of the apprentices will have to show me how to use it.

[tim.....]

none of them run out if you use them (for an occasional outgoing call)

it's the policy applied if you just use them for incoming (or want them available for a once every 3 year emergency) that differs

[charles]

don't you have grandchildren?

[tim.....]

You'll have to be polite to him first

tim

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Of course. But the question was about one which didn't time out. Or rather perhaps which takes the longest to do so.

I also have Tesco in the spare phone - which can go unused for many months. I do try to remember to make a call on it once in a while, though.

[ARW]

No.

[tim.....]

you know that

and I know that

but it isn't at all clear that all of the people answering the question, know that

tim

[ARW]

And it's for the odd use - such as last week when I left my mobile phone at home. I had my old phone in the glove box (with all the numbers I need) so I bought an O2 sim card topped it up with £10 and was able to call the office when needed (I was not working locally I was in Harrogate). Then 2 days later whilst working in Northampton EE must have had a network problem and I could not make or receive any calls (I could text) so the old phone got used again.

The cost of the calls is not important as I will almost certainly be calling someone who I work with and they will call me back. But a £10 top up a month is only just less than I pay for unlimited calls on my contract phone.

So I'll give Tescos a go.

Cheers

[stuart noble]

To all intents and purposes, it's a Google phone, so life is much easier if you donate your soul to them. Have a Gmail account and tick all the boxes saying Google has permission to do whatever it damned well likes! It will drive you crazy for a while, but after a few weeks you'll wonder how you ever managed without a smartphone.

[Reentrant]

It's six months for Giffgaff. Any one of the following keeps the SIM alive:

- Make a chargeable call/text (ie not emergency services or 0800)

- Connect to the internet

- Receive at least 4 calls of more than 10 seconds

- Top up airtime credit

Airtime credit lasts indefinitely.

AFAIK *all* networks will cancel an inactive SIM after a certain time - this is an OFCOM requirement as the pool of numbers is limited.

[alan_m]

There are/were many PAYG deals where you put credit on the SIM and the credit disappeared after 30/31 days. These deals may be cheaper and advantageous for high usage PAYG customers but not advisable for low usage customers. Albeit a few years ago, when I was looking around for the best PAYG deal for my usage I had to change providers because my existing provider only had these cheaper time limited credit packages.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You snipped the bit where I more or less said that. ;-)

>

[tim.....]

You'll have to explain that to me, cos I didn't see it that way at all

tim

[DJC]

Tesco have some sort of bonus on topups where you get 2 (or 3?) times what you top up but the bonus is limited to 1 month. I only use the phone occasionally but possibly a lot of calls over a few days, in which case a top up all gets charged to the bonus minutes and the actual top-up value is unused for months. Which is how I have ended up with over £40 credit on a phone I often do not use for months.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It was obviously clear enough to me, otherwise I'd have put it differently. Perhaps you would explain what you didn't understand?

[Harry Bloomfield]

+1 and can be almost free if you post questions and answers in their forum often enough lol

[Harry Bloomfield]

Dave Plowman (News) formulated the question :

They also took £20 of my data credit, citing lack of use. Never again.