PAYG or retention?

expat_jo

Hi

Can anyone advise me ?

I have been using my husband's Orange mobile for the past 4 years. What I can only explain as extreme lazyness has meant that we have never upgraded the phone / changed tariff even though I only use it for texting (about 30 a month and the tariff is £30 per month!)

Anyway, sense has finally caught up with us and I am going to change. Do we just cancel the monthly contract my husband has with them and I buy a PAYG (I want to stay with them) or would we get a better deal some other way?

Many thanks - and please go easy on me for being so wasteful for the last 4 years!

Crazy_Jamie

Do you use it for calling at all, or just thirty or so texts every month? If you do use it for calling, or think you would in future, you might as well call retentions to see what sort of deal they can do for you. Obviously you wouldn't want to be paying any more than £10, so say that and see what they offer.

If you really do only want to use it for one text a day on average, then pay as you go is the better option. Just ring up an cancel the contract, asking if the SIM card can be transferred from a contract to a PAYG card.

expat_jo

Hi Jamie

Thanks for the reply. I am currently on maternity leave so guess I might start using some minutes but really only send a few texts to friend/husband in the UK and my parents who live abroad. I would also like to be able to look at Facebook etc but that's not essential (I think it adds quite a bit of money on the package)

I might just phone up and see if they would do anything for £10 - as you say, nothing lost! I didn't know that I could use the same SIM card. Would that mean I keep the same number?

I really know nothing about phones - and don't even get me started which handset I want - this is part of the reason for my procrastination as, although I don't use the phone much I want a nice looking one!

Crazy_Jamie

If you only send a few texts to your husband and parents then I think pay as you go is the best option. In terms of which pay as you go package to use, you should either use Dolphin (which gives free texts when you top up) or Camel (which gives cheaper texts/calls) to foreign countries. It depends on the balance of how often you text your husband and parents, but Dolphin will probably be your best bet. Use Camel if you ever call your parents from your mobile, which I doubt you do.

Either way you will be paying extra for texting your parents abroad on any contract package, so pay as you go really seems like your best option. The only downside is that you will have to pay for a new handset, though this is a one off payment that will no doubt be effectively off set by the savings you make by switching to pay as you go.

I didn't know that I could use the same SIM card. Would that mean I keep the same number?

To be honest I am not entirely sure how it works. If they cannot change the nature of your current SIM card (I would be slightly surprised if they couldn't) what you can definitely do is get a new one and port your number over. You shouldn't have to change numbers either way.

expat_jo

Thanks Jamie

donny-gal

Yes you can change your phone to PAYG and keep the number, I did.
DG