Asda Mobile PAYG massive price increase

MorrisonsEmployee

fwor wrote: »

Does anyone happen to know which carrier Ikea Family uses/resells?

I'll be one of those (one of the many, I hope) asking Asda for a PAC on 31st May...

They use Vodafone - However i wouldn't be suprised if all these companies now increase their prices to the same as Asda.

tony077844

I thought family mobile ikea uses the t mobile network. i have heard they are pretty rubbish. if you want like for like why not tesco lite all there prices are the same as asda. others to look out for is now mobile on the orange network they are cheap too 2p on network minutes 8p calls free voicemail they do 3.50 top ups too at paypoint.

Icard as i mention on vodafone network 1p landlines 5p mobiles and free voice and on net calls.

If you need to use tmobile network a good one for calls is vectone mobile.

melipona

As above, Family mobile from Ikea do not use voda they use tmobile. http://www.familymobile.co.uk/about

Tmobile share their masts with orange and in my rural area I get a reasonable signal for family mobile.

blahblahdoh

The real shocker here is the 50% increase in text message costs (4p>6p).
Its a massive slap in the face to customers, accompanied by a two fingered gesture.

Thanks for the alternatives given here. iCard Mobile and Family Mobile both look interesting: will have to check regularly to see if they follow suit, but if they are sensible they can grab a large chunk of business from this.

Edit: just ordered a free SIM from iCard ( http://www.icardmobile.co.uk/free.php )
- they aim to get it out in two weeks, so I'll be ready when my Asda credit runs out.

fwor

blahblahdoh wrote: »

The real shocker here is the 50% increase in text message costs (4p>6p).

Agreed - it will hit me hard, as I text a lot more than I call.

Hopefully Ikea Family and the like will see the opportunity for growth here...

Stuart_W

When Asda slashed their rates in September 2008 to 8p/call and 4p/text, this became the benchmark for the more mainstream value-sensitive PAYG deals. This forced Tesco to create TescoLite, CPW replaced FreshMobile with a TalkMobile Essentials tariff, Family Mobile eventually had to drop their 9p rate to 8p and when giffgaff launched, surprise surprise 8p/min 4p/text was also used as the base price.

They will all be grateful to again follow Asda, but this time price-upwards. The reality is no one will really wants to fight for the under-£50/year PAYG market and there isn't a huge amount of profit in it - especially low end users like me that don't have a phone that is able to make any data calls. With bundles and top-up rewards beginning from just £5, even relatively modest users can find a seemingly better deal through the increasingly incomprehensible myriad of deals, rewards and bundles. I'd expect more deals like Talkmobile's 100 mins, 100 texts and 100MB for £5.11 deals to appear to get more light users on to monthly bills. 32 minutes and 32 texts on Asda's new tariff gets to the same price - so even if well over half the allowance wasn't used it could still be cheaper.

Amongst the smaller SIM providers, it seems that it is Text Messages where they are attempting to recoup the costs of providing a low per minute rate elsewhere -

NowMobile 8p/min mobiles, 5p/min landlines, 8p texts
Nomi Mobile 8p/min mobiles, 5p/min landlines, 8p texts
Lyca Mobile 10p/min mobiles. 3p/min landlines, 9p texts
Libera Mobile 10p/min mobiles, 5p/min landlines, 10p texts
Vectone Mobile 10p/min mobiles 5p/min landlines, 9p texts
icardmobile 5p/min mobiles, 1p/min landlines, 4p texts (until 30.04.11)
(only basic PAYG prices shown, no deals/bundles/offers)
I would expect icard to end up with a similar rate to the five others shown above once it ends the promotional period (or go bust).

pearls_of_wisdom

Hi, Does anyone know if asda are abandoning there simply talk bundle end may as at £10 it's working out at only 5p per minute many thanks.

Stuart_W

pearls_of_wisdom wrote: »

Hi, Does anyone know if asda are abandoning there simply talk bundle end may as at £10 it's working out at only 5p per minute many thanks.

They have made no official mention of any changes to bundles at the moment. They are likely to keep bundles - and perhaps even improve them, as this seems to be the continuing trend with other providers, especially when their run-on rates will be more profitable after the price increases.

The £10 Asda bundle only works out at 5p per minute if you use exactly 200 minutes in the month of course. Use 150 minutes and it works out at 6.7p per minute. Use 300 minutes and it works out at 6p per minute (or 6.7p after the price increase).

Orange's PAYG monthly 100 minute extra works out at 5p per minute for any usage of 100 minutes or more as the run-on rate is 5p per minute. Of course, texts are higher. It's becoming impossible to even compare PAYG these days!

alexlyne

Just had a text. From 31st May:

Calls 10p, texts 6p, voicemail 10p
Internet 50p/MB.


grrrr.

Exhortation

That doesn't really mean much if you don't tell us what your current charges are.