Cheapest PAYG for low user?

Bayblue

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could offer any advice?

My contract with Vodafone expire in November and I would like to use the opportunity to drastically cut the cost of my mobile expenditure.

I currently pay £30 per month for a phone and service I hardly use (maybe one call a week- a text every two). Stupid of me I know, but I signed up a low moment- unemployed at the time as well- what an idiot!!:o:p. Anyway, entirely my fault, but now I've decided NOT to waste nearly £400 a year and to get a PAYG phone or even just a sim for emergencies and the odd call only. I could keep the Blackberry issued with this contract, although I can't say I love it and I've also got another phone, a Samsung which I like better ( changing was another stupid decision at the last upgrade) so would I be better just applying for a sim only?

They've already been phoning offering me upgrades and even supposedly 'lowering my monthly costs', but I have a low income, a tight budget, am trying to save for the future and think that it's time to be realistic and cut the costs to the bone.

Just to add- I'd like to keep my number, but I realise that this may be difficult and anyway my current network vodafone doesn't have great coverage at the site where I work so it may be a better decision to go with another.

Also as I work in a fairly isolated place I'd like to be able to top up on-line. Any suggestions?

DUTR

Ovivo uses vodafone i believe and is next to nowt to use for low usage, you even get some text and data, the sim costs £10 though, but minimal ongoing costs until you get back on your feet.

Bayblue

Thanks DUTR, I'll look into that.

I'm er..'on my feet' as it were, no debts and living well within my means, albeit earning a low wage, it's better than being unemployed like I was last year. I just baulk at paying over £300 a year for the odd call and text

Thinking about it more I am what used to be described a the 'little old lady' in terms of mobile usage, ie emergencies and the odd rare call only. Although that doesn't really fit me totally because I'm not that old and for me it's more a case of not liking using the phone for tinternet and stuff. I know it's unusual, because we're all supposed to love new technology but I've somehow missed that gene.

I do like computers though..and I've love an Ipad or similar so that's where the saving comes in.

Stuart_W

We're not all too dissimilar to you, Bayblue.

I've recently replaced my Nokia 1112, which was great and did everything I wanted for over 7 years, and was only replaced due to an incident involving a gust of wind, a copy of the daily telegraph and the river ouse.

I now have a Nokia 1280 - I had to go out of my way to try to stick with a basic monochrome screen. The odd call and text is all I want a phone for - just like you.

Unlike some smartphone users, I don't have to wait for my phone to boot up, my battery lasts 4 weeks and not 4 hours, and I don't need to bother with insurance because if my phone joins my other one at the bottom of a river any time soon, I just buy another one.

You might want to consider spending very little on a basic handset (eg - a Nokia 100 at £9.95 from phones4u, £6 quidco cashback, cash in the £10 top up for about 65% of face value so you get the phone for under a tenner in total).

You'll get much better battery life out of a new really basic handset if you just want it to be contactable and for the odd call.

You might want to look at icardmobile offering 5p/min landlines, 8p/min mobiles and 5p/text on their basic PAYG, or TalkMobile Essentials who offer 8p/min calls and 4p/texts. A £10 top up with either will probably last you a long while. icard offer free calls of up to 10 minutes to other icard users and talkmobile offer half price calls and texts to other talkmobile numbers. These are two of the only same-network free/discount deals that apply to really low users. Most other schemes require some degree of regular top up.

Alternatively, a £1/month billed account with Vectone gets you a monthly allowance of a maximum combination of 50 minutes/texts/MB. (ie 1 minute or 1 text or 1MB of data would all count as one of your free 50 units each month, so 20 minutes and 30 texts would together use you your allowance of 50 and only cost you your £1 monthly rental). Go over the free bit during the month and it's 20p/min or 10p/text. No use also costs £1/month so sometimes cheaper, sometimes more expensive depending on usage.

Hope that helps!

brick

Bayblue wrote: »

maybe one call a week- a text every two

Tesco PAYG lite (on O2) - 8p/min call, 4p/text

jhp

www.familymobile.co.uk also 8p a min call and 4p text.

james7765

Tesco lite tarrif. Works on O2 phones. Just get a normal tesco sim and transfer the tarrif to tesco lite
8p/ min calls
4p txts

[Deleted User]

Try GiffGaff: http://giffgaff.com/

NiftyDigits

Bayblue wrote: »

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could offer any advice?

My contract with Vodafone expire in November and I would like to use the opportunity to drastically cut the cost of my mobile expenditure.

I currently pay £30 per month for a phone and service I hardly use (maybe one call a week- a text every two). Stupid of me I know, but I signed up a low moment- unemployed at the time as well- what an idiot!!:o:p. Anyway, entirely my fault, but now I've decided NOT to waste nearly £400 a year and to get a PAYG phone or even just a sim for emergencies and the odd call only. I could keep the Blackberry issued with this contract, although I can't say I love it and I've also got another phone, a Samsung which I like better ( changing was another stupid decision at the last upgrade) so would I be better just applying for a sim only?

They've already been phoning offering me upgrades and even supposedly 'lowering my monthly costs', but I have a low income, a tight budget, am trying to save for the future and think that it's time to be realistic and cut the costs to the bone.

Just to add- I'd like to keep my number, but I realise that this may be difficult and anyway my current network vodafone doesn't have great coverage at the site where I work so it may be a better decision to go with another.

Also as I work in a fairly isolated place I'd like to be able to top up on-line. Any suggestions?

If you have a Blackberry and would like to keep full function, consider this option @ £2.50 per month for the first eight months and £3.33 per month subsequently.
Gives you unlimited Blackberry Internet Service. You can put an extra £5 on to cover the odd call or text message.

Blackberry Plan

Blackberry SIM

Blue_Max

Current PAYG rates for Landline / Mobile / SMS of the providers I know are:

> VectoneMobile.co.uk
UK 5p/12p/10p
France 5p/19p/12p
India 1p/1p/12p

> Lebara-mobile.co.uk
UK 5p/10p/12p
France 7p/19p/12p
India 1p/1p/12p

> Lycamobile.co.uk
UK 5p/10p/10p
France 5p/19p/12p
India 1p/1p/12p

> iCardmobile.co.uk
UK 5p/8p/5p
France 3p/12p/10p
India 2p/2p/10p

> Nowmobile.co.uk
UK 5p/10p/10p
France 5p/17p/10p
India 1p/3p/10p

iCard mobile charges have gone up a lot but still the least expensive for calling UK mobiles.
With thousands of free Wi-Fi hotspots available, I use an app for mobile phones to make VoIP calls to landlines.
With many VoIP providers landline calls are free to UK, Europe, US and many Asian countries. But calls to mobiles are chargeable.

Ypaymore

Blue_Max wrote: »

iCard mobile charges have gone up a lot but still the least expensive for calling UK mobiles.

Family Mobile, Talk Mobile Essentials , and Tesco lite all charge 8p a minute the same as icardmobile.

Giffgaff dont charge you for calls to freephone numbers so this gives you the option of calling 0800/0808 access numbers for cheaper calls eg http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php