Pay up front for life sim - what can I transfer it to?

fatbelly · 27 July 2005 at 8:53PM

About four years ago I bought a Nokia 3310 on a pay up front for life deal with BT Cellnet. I think I get 50 mins free per month but don't use many of them. Consequently I've never had to get involved with contract issues or top-ups and am still a complete novice with mobiles and sim cards.

My question is - now that the battery appears to be taking less of a charge and the 3310 is looking like old technology, what could I transfer the sim into without causing any problems? I've been very happy with it and wouldn't mind another Nokia.

Hope that's not a stupid question.

knuckledragger · 27 July 2005 at 8:56PM

fatbelly,
the world (and your pocket) is your oyster. Choose a Nokia on PAYG, unlock it with help from Browntoa or Drahcir, drop your sim in and carry on.
If it's cheap you want then look for one of the Nokia 1100's- check the threads on this site.

andy88_2 · 27 July 2005 at 9:33PM

You should use the minutes a bit more. 0870, 0845 and 0844 numbers are included from those minutes, so mine tends to get reserved for 0870 and 0844 as first priority, and I hardly ever ring them from landline now.

If this is your only phone and you really don't use it much, you could also add cross-network mobiles to its capabilities by using Abroadtel's 0844 number (while it lasts), as discussed on Home Phones board

thefirs · 28 July 2005 at 5:43PM

And if Andy's suggestions still don't use up your 50 minutes, get an 0870 number forwarding calls to your home landline (or Sipgate virtual landline) number. You can then burn off the remaining minutes earning yourself 3p per minute.

fatbelly · 28 July 2005 at 9:12PM

Thanks, guys

I really hadn't worked that out. Somewhere i saw a thread (think it was something like 'screw the banks back') that talked about setting up an 0871 number that paid you 4.5p per minute.

So potentially that's £2 per month (plus what I manage to get from giving the 0871 number to banks and insurance companies). Think I may be able to afford better than a Nokia 1100.

andy88_2 · 28 July 2005 at 9:17PM

careful - 0871 numbers are not included; 0870, 0845, 0844, 0800 are

fatbelly · 28 July 2005 at 9:20PM

OK, getting a bit too enthusiastic there.

The 50 mins free is 'alltime'. I think I can switch to 200 mins free evenings and weekend. I'll check tomorrow but wondered if anyone else has done that on this deal.

seaniboy · 29 July 2005 at 8:43AM

o2 wont change the tariff to 200 eve/wends, and they will try to get you to change to a current tariff so dont raise eyebrows with your account by calling or then you will have a fight to keep your existing tarrff, Ofcom stated in past cases o2 only need to pay you £50 compensation for migrating you to another tariff for the breach of T&C

Upfront for life and "unlimited" with mobile companies dont exactly mean that

millie · 29 July 2005 at 9:30AM

I have the same o2 tarriff but I opted for the 200 off peak minutes, I was told a couple of years ago that I could change to 50 minutes anytime, but I could not change again, you could only change once.

I wrote to them a couple of years ago because I could not work out what they were charging me for the peak calls and texts, as I do not have itemised billing.That costs 99p per month and my bills are not usually that much anyway, because I just tend to use the free time mostly.

The bills that I have been receiving for the last few months have a tarriff shown on them, and the charges are completley different to the one I am supposed to be on. Most of them are lots more per minute. It also appears
the the peak times have changed, peak time. now starts at 7.00am Monday to Friday, my letter shows it should start at 8.00am, so I am losing an hour every day. I often made calls at this time and only realised when I started to get charges on the bill, I know I had made no chargeable calls, and it was because the time had changed. I have written to them and am getting no where they just skirt around the issue, and it is a waste of time phoning customer services because, no one seems to know about this tarriff.

I emailed them last week and thought I was getting somewhere, as they said they had passed it on to the relavent dept., but no today they have replied telling me to phone customer services. I have now asked them for the name of some one in authority that I can write to.
Has any one any other suggestions?

stphnstevey · 1 June 2009 at 4:38PM

thefirs wrote: »

And if Andy's suggestions still don't use up your 50 minutes, get an 0870 number forwarding calls to your home landline (or Sipgate virtual landline) number. You can then burn off the remaining minutes earning yourself 3p per minute.

I know this is some years ago, but how does that work??? Would you use the minutes to call yourself and get 3p a minute???

redux · 1 June 2009 at 5:04PM

stphnstevey wrote: »

I know this is some years ago, but how does that work??? Would you use the minutes to call yourself and get 3p a minute???

some providers offered 0870 numbers which would forward calls and pay a margin to the account-holder

but 0844 0845 and 0870 numbers are no longer inclusive, so that idea is history

Pay up front for life sim - what can I transfer it to?

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free