Fiddly but possible 98p Mobile Phone "Contract" - Thoughts?

DontDoDebtKids

OK, so I'm coming to the end of my contract with T-Mobile and scouting around for options when I leave.

One idea I've had is that I could combine:

1) An Android smartphone (I have a Huawei Ascend G300)
2) A cheap PAYG data plan
3) A VOIP service that has a UK mobile number

So far my research has led me to (a) Three offer 3 month data only deals for about £10.90 with 3Gb of data allowance over that 3 months and (b) the Truphone app which costs £2.99 a month to have a mobile number.

So you pay £6.62 a month for 1Gb data and 100 mins of landline calls (in Europe).

To make this deal a little more complicated, apparently you can purchase the Three prepaid SIMs through Quidco at £10.49 for the 1Gb:

http://store.three.co.uk/SIM_Only/Mobile_Broadband_Pay_As_You_Go

But Quidco gives you £12.50 cash back for this so in effect the cost is -£2.01

This means that if you buy one of these for every month (assuming the Quidco cashback works and carries on) then you only pay 98p a month for 1Gb of data and 150 landline calls. You can use a text message replacement app like WhatsApp etc to send text messages.

Bargain? Has anyone tried this?

Silk

DontDoDebtKids wrote: »

This means that if you buy one of these for every month (assuming the Quidco cashback works and carries on) then you only pay 98p a month for 1Gb of data and 150 landline calls. You can use a text message replacement app like WhatsApp etc to send text messages.

Bargain? Has anyone tried this?

A very quick scan of the idea my thoughts would be problems like you already say
a/ getting paid by quidco ?
b/ how long will the offer be available ?
c/ different number each month ?????

For whats involved why not just get Ovivo and get 100 calls 100 texts and 400mb each month without doing anything ???

spannerzone

I have bought the Three '1GB preloaded data SIM' via quidco - it costs £10.49 and you do earn £12.50 cashback.

Note the SIM lasts 1 month or 1GB of data usage, whichever happens first, you're supposed to then top up the SIM for £10 for another 1GB/1month. however myself and others have found that if you buy the SIM via Quidco or TopCashBack (earns a bit more) then each month you theoretically can get paid to use a data SIM.

Points to consider:
You can only buy 1 sim per transaction as cashback only paid once per transaction, cashback is never guaranteed, cashback takes a couple of months to arrive, if it arrives, Three may decide to block this loophole if you keep buying SIMS that actually loses them money. The data only SIM may have Voip restrictions (can't say I've tried) so needs testing with the app in question. No outbound voice calls can be made without a topup, it can however receive incoming calls while the 1GB / 1month period is still valid. Each new SIM has a new phone number of course.

I've bought 3 sims this way, one paid out after about 6 weeks, one is outstanding after 2 months and the 3rd SIM has tracked but not confirmed so TBA.... might be due to the SIM hasn't been activated yet.