Tesco sim only contracts....any good?

minibbb

I've had my ipone 4 with 02 now for two years and could upgrade however want to wait for the new Iphone ideally which is a few months off.

Im on a £35 a month contract however have seen that Tesco mobile offer this

£15 500 mins 5000 texts 1 months rolling contrac 1GB data

So this would save me £20 a month and im guessing I could take my phone number with me, would just need to unlock my iphone to take the new sim.

Is Tesco mobile a good bet or best avoided? Also, can my number be moved back to an O2 sim in the future?

Many thanks for any help

buscape

I see no reason for you to avoid Tesco Mobile, from a coverage/signal perspective. They are 50% owned by o2 and use o2 signal so will be identical to o2 in terms of coverage.

From a customer service perspective, I know that they have UK based call centres. Whether or not that means their customer service is any good I don't know, sure a search of this forum will give you the answers you need in regard to that.

You will be able to take your number, and you will be free to leave Tesco with your number and go back to o2 (or any other network) once you have completed your initial 30 days.

Think you have to give Tesco 30 days notice to cancel, not totally sure about that though, I'm sure it will tell you that on their website though.

minibbb

buscape wrote: »

I see no reason for you to avoid Tesco Mobile, from a coverage/signal perspective. They are 50% owned by o2 and use o2 signal so will be identical to o2 in terms of coverage. You will be able to take your number, and you will be free to leave Tesco with your number and go back to o2 (or any other network) once you have completed your initial 30 days. Think you have to give Tesco 30 days notice to cancel, not totally sure about that though.

Sounds good to me, will look forward to a bill going down for a change! Thanks for the quick and helpful reply

buscape

No problem, happy to help

Guys_Dad

Although Tesco Mobile use the O2 network as a backbone, there are threads on here that suggest Tesco customers have experience of being the casualties if the O2 network gets overloaded, with some experiences of missed or dropped calls.

I stress I am speaking 3rd hand here, although I have had similar tales from a CPW employee that I know personally and who wasn't trying to sell me anything.

Despite that, I was considering them for myself because of their deals on sim-only, until Vodafone retentions gave me a great deal last week.

Any MSE member on Tesco mobile - your own personal experiences would be welcome.

riva

I'm on Tesco Mobile for the past 1 year and due for renewal now for my iphone. I decided to go for them initially because I was ok with the heavy upfront but wanted a short contract. Now I'm very keen to switch providers for all the reasons Guys Dad mentioned- dropped calls, missed calls, calls cancelled, poor reception (I live and work in Central London where I would have thought had a very good coverage). No experience with customer services as I never bothered to call. I stumbled upon this thread while trying to research giff gaff which is also O2 bound and so may possibly have the same problems. I was with Orange for around 10y before this with no real problems. Hope that helps!

minibbb

Hmmm thats interesting and slightly concerning. I spoke to Tesco earlier on the phone (before seeing these replies) and was very impressed with how quickly I got through to someone (In England!!) and how helpful she was.

I have to say with o2 ive always experienced dropped calls and random signal loss so to be honest im not sure tesco can be much worse. I think i'll go with them for the time being on a month to month contract and I can always jump ship if the service lets me down.

I'll be back to have a moan if it goes wrong

billa_champion

As with most things in life it comes down to your own personal experience.!
I've been with Tesco Mobile since September 2010 on their Sim only £10/500 mins/unlimited text/500Mb internet deal. Not had ANY problems at all.

kev225

I'm in virtually the same position as you OP.

Will have been with 3 for two years in July and was looking to go onto a sim only deal and then buy the iPhone 5 when it launches.

So far what appeals to me is:

Tesco:
£7.50pcm - 250mins/5000texts/500mb - 24month contract

Talkmobile:
£6.25pcm - 250mins/5000texts/500mb - 24month contract
(£6.25pcm because of £30 cashback)

You also get a free phone with the above plans, not great but stick it on ebay I reckon get around £40.

The Tesco option uses O2's signal
Talkmobile uses Vodafone's signal

I'd strongly suggest using this site to check your usual usage:
http://www.billmonitor.com/

I found this site useful to compare contracts (though avoid any redemption offers, they are hassle fraught):
http://www.mobilephonechecker.co.uk/mobile-contract-tariffs/

Tesco: (7.50 x 24 + 499(iPhone 5) - 40 (sell phone)) / 24 = £26.21pcm

Talkmobile: (6.25 x 24 + 499 -40) / 24 = £25.38 pcm

saver_1_2

I'm with Tesco sim only 500mins 5000 texts 500m of Internet one year contract £10 no problem what so ever best thing i did.
i was with o2 so no need to change my phone. I could have kept my number but wasn't bothered so kept the number that came with the sim.
With o2 i was getting 2000 texts and 500m of web for £10 so you can see the big difference.

minibbb

See you later O2!!

Having attempted to cancel with them about four times this week and having no joy due to either their systems being down or long queue times I have finally ended my contract and signed up with Tesco (who answered the phone immediately and were very helpful indeed)

Looking forward to £15 a month phone bills with double what I was getting with O2!

Oh and I tried a tesco sim card in my O2 Iphone and it worked perfectly, no need to get the phone unlocked which was a result.