Best network for PAYG internet

Mark_In_Hampshire

I have a Samsung Galaxy S mobile phone. Monthly usage is normally:

Calls - perhaps 3 to 6 hours, almost all to mobiles
Texts - between about 5 and 20
Internet - 300MB to about 700MB

Basically it's used as a pocket PC more than a phone.

It's on PAYG as I'm not prepared to have a contract, mostly because I'm not prepared to hand over a direct debit mandate, I don't allow those and believe that all contracts require one. I accept this rules out the best deals.

Have been with O2 for a while. That has unlimited internet with a limit of 500MB in any one month between top-ups of £15. (Regulators have much to answer for, but that's something else)

The voice call quality is quite poor however calls are something like 20ppm for the first 3 minutes then 5ppm which is fine.

I tried 3 which is "unlimited" as well. That doesn't seem to have a limit, and includes about 5 hours of calls too, so it's very good value for the same £15, except that it won't hold the network downstairs, so that's not an option.

Plus, I've found it quite poor when out and about as well. O2 isn't great by any means but it's much better.

Vodafone barely works here.

T-Mobile and Orange do work here, but don't appear to have much in the way of internet offerings.

It isn't often that I exceed the 500MB on O2, but when I do (just takes downloading say one audio book over the HSPA as opposed to Wi-Fi in addition to normal use), I have to switch off data connectivity completely until the next top-up anniversary, as just one email will cost me £1. (It's £1/day over 500MB)

I'm thinking O2 is probably still my best option. Would that sound about right; am I missing anything?

Thank you.

smudger1964

Have you considered virgin who use Tmobile/orange signal..For £15 a month on their think they call it addict tarriff you get 1Gb of internet and unlimited texts no minutes tho just use up your £15 for the calls you make would this work for you?The unlimited texts wouldnt be needed but the internet is good for you,the only prob might be the 3-6 hours of calls guess £15 wouldnt go far there

grumbler

giffgaff (o2): PAYG £15 400+Unltd+Unltd
chitter-chatter (tmobile): rolling contract 12x£10 600+500+Unltd/500Mb or 1x£10 300+300+Unltd/500. Internet is a free flexible booster.
talkmobile (voda): rolling 1x£12 400+3000+750 or 6x£12 600+3000+750

won't hold the network downstairs

Do you not have WiFi at home?

ETA: t-mobile do sim-only rolling tariffs similar to chitter-chatter. They are more expensive, but the same internet is included and you can chose, say, a free unlimited landlines booster. Also £20-£50 TCB cashback is available depending on the min term.

robbies_gal

giff gaff i believe do unlimited internet they run off o2

Mark_In_Hampshire

Thanks for all the tips

The Vigin deal looks very good for Virgin customers. If we could get cable here, we'd have it like a shot, but we can't since you get some air time.

I don't tend to run out of call credit (the monthly £15), not least because most of the people I call are also on O2; it's only the data allowance that I tend to use up frequently, and not by much. Not least because, to answer a point above, yes, we do have Wi-Fi but the Samsung phone has a habit of dropping it for no reason and reverting back to 3G without me noticing (I think this 6 month old phone is dying, that said, my old HTC did that too, I give up with these things, the Wi-Fi isn't failing or dropping, it's just a very solidly built cottage with thick walls and floors, I do have an old router I might be able to set up as an access point to extend the Wi-Fi more reliably, there's a thought) and I'm not disciplined enough to turn the data connection on and off.

It's such a shame about 3, we actually use their MBB service as our home connection (each 7GB is £25 so we spend about that per month, but no phone line to pay for so it's fast and economical) with a fat antenna on the roof and a 3G router - that's the "Wi-Fi" but even their dongles don't work downstairs. Upstairs, 6 to 11Mbps downstream - great. Downstairs, nothing. It's a bit annoying to go to bed and then suddenly get all that evening's SMS messages in one go 'cos you went upstairs and it caught the network again.

I have some things to go away and look at now. Thanks all.

Im_just_careful

I've no idea about calls but if their 3G is OK where you are, I've been very pleased with the T-Mobile PAYG Internet Booster.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/mobile-phones/price-plans/pay-as-you-go/boosters/

The 6 month Internet Booster costs £20 and gives 6 months of internet on your phone

The 500MB a month limit seems "soft" in that they don't charge you if you exceed it. I've had around 1GB without any obvious consequences.

I use it in an Orange San Francisco (which has Android 2.1) and a similar tendancy to loose connection to WiFi at home.

harvey_mayway

have you thought about getting S2 deal + 24month contract.

Free Samsung Galaxy S II

£20.42 per month
Tmobile
300 mins/300 texts
24 month contract
500MB Data Booster + Unlimited Internet Browsing
Free Phone.


you could sell the phone on ebay for £400

IceColdRum

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

It's such a shame about 3, we actually use their MBB service as our home connection (each 7GB is £25 so we spend about that per month, but no phone line to pay for so it's fast and economical) with a fat antenna on the roof and a 3G router - that's the "Wi-Fi" but even their dongles don't work downstairs. Upstairs, 6 to 11Mbps downstream - great. Downstairs, nothing. It's a bit annoying to go to bed and then suddenly get all that evening's SMS messages in one go 'cos you went upstairs and it caught the network again.

I have some things to go away and look at now. Thanks all.

Have you considered getting Plusnet instead for your internet? it comes to £16.23 for 10gb bandwidth and that's including the line rental and free evening and weekend calls to other landlines and some other numbers (0870 etc.) we get 4.5mb/s downstream here but our new house is quoted at 11mb/s:D