Best PAYG option?

chrisaw

The 3pay deal is still better than anything currently on offer.

I think in terms of my usage you're probably right. I got very huffy when they reduced the contents and length of the top up benefits, but I'm discovering that 45 days is actually still quite good.

However, I have found that as soon as I move out of the main population centres here in Lincolnshire the coverage gets very patchy. Hubby often can't get a signal at all where he works, and I spent a recent holiday holding the phone against the window of our lodge and even then only had limited success. Whether a different phone would change things... I don't know.

Im_just_careful

I was also quite hacked off when they changed the 90 days to 45, but it is still a good "light user" data deal, particularly using £5 top ups.

It has to be said that "3" tend to have poor rural coverage. The networks with best rural coverage, all things being equal, are Vodafone or o2 (or virtual network operators who use these networks).

This is because Vodafone and o2 (or BT Cellnet as they were) got the first issue of frequencies which have the best coverage and range. These "good coverage" frequencies are generally used for 2G (slight exception for o2 on very modern phones) so you will find you can call but any smartphone use id s...l...o...w !

It sounds like you should get a few PAYG SIMs and try them in an unlocked phone and see what works for you. Giffgaff use the o2 network so are well worth a try.

SailorSam

I only use my mobile in emergencies so very light user and with Tesco. I think i've only topped up 2 or 3 times.