The Great 'granny In A Glovebox' Hunt

mifster

I think someone mentioned this before, but you do have to use the phone in 6 months, otherwise they deactivate the sim.
I had an O2 pay as you go sim, in the glove box (no I'm not a granny), and went to make a call one day and the sim wouldn't connect, nor would o2 reconnect as they say its all in thei T's & C's....
so just bought a new sim (as the phone wasn't locked).

Wig

Others have said but I will repeat, make sure you know your T&C's ... Orange & others insist the phone is used atleast once every 6 months, with Orange this can be any of:
make a call
receive a call
send a text
receive a text

I have a 3330 on Orange Payg for years now, I currently spend about 24p per month (I go to the cinema about twice a month) - There is no minimum spend for me, maybe because I was an existing customer when the offfer was launched. - For those who don't know what I am talking about, Orange phones for the cost of a text (12p) allow two cinema tickets for the price of one on Wednesdays at participating cinemas.

I got a used 3330 from a family member for my partner, initially it was LOCKED but I found a site online that gave me the codes free to unlock it. I have yet to do the next step of obtaining a new SIM for this phone then I will have two payg phones. Thanks for the poster who said earlier in this thread the cost of SIM's.

So far in this thread, I don't think anyone has been able to beat the offer found by the seller on amazon, 10 pounds for a phone which comes loaded with 10 pounds credit + 1000 texts, sounds good to me. But check the seller is including the 10pound credit & free texts in his offer before you buy.

However, I would be sceptical about how good this Amazon phone was, phones are not all the same, some are better at receiving and transmitting a signal than others. I would definately look further and go to a phone shop and ask what they have to offer. Just looking at my paper in front of me, I see a new orange PAYG phone Nokia 3120 rrp 80 quid, being sold at half price, (40 quid). Would you put your granny in the "safe? reliable?" hands of a cheapo -free phone?

scoobs_2

Wig, I have an orange PAYG and didn't know about the cinema tickets. Who do you have to text please? Wish I'd known about it. I was going to get it unlocked and move to Tesco who have half price texts and phone calls to 3 numbers - 5p and 10 p - I thought this would be good cos I only use it to ring/text hubby but with the cinema offer it might be worth sticking to orange. Please let me know how I get the cinema tickets. THANK YOU

Wig

Hey Scoobs,

If you have been wiv Orange for a long time (1 year) you should be OK, but someone mentioned new customers have to spend 5 pounds a month to qualify, easy way to find out is just to text and see.

Text "film" to 241 so you text the word film & send to number 241 that's it! you immediately get a text back valid for the coming Wednesday. I usually text 10 mins before the film and I have not yet had a problem receiving a voucher. The T&C's say vouchers are limited to first come first served, but like I say I have always got a voucher.

Check the orange website for participating cinemas near you.

lellie

The every 6 months thing shouldn't be a problem.. remind yourself to use it every few months if only to make a 1 minute call to your house phone or send a text or whatever it needs to keep it active!! It's not exactly gonna cost you much to keep it active.

andy88_2

2nd hand Nokia 3210 or 3310 or 3410 as already said - should be almost free as only about £20 new

use trycktill or nokiafree to get unlock codes or ask for help on MSE unlock Nokias thread

free SIM cards available from time to time on all networks - best was Virgin free with £5 credit

take it abroad to use with foreign SIMs - not Americas or Japan

most UK networks require a call every 180 days to stay valid

Wig

lellie wrote:

The every 6 months thing shouldn't be a problem.. remind yourself to use it every few months if only to make a 1 minute call to your house phone or send a text or whatever it needs to keep it active!! It's not exactly gonna cost you much to keep it active.

It's not a problem if you know your t&c's, but this thread illustrates there are people out there with payg phones who don't know the t&c's hence, they lose or are in danger of losing their credit. Which is why it's good to let people know about the 6 month rule.

tonyg_2

wolvesinwales wrote:

If you go to Amazon, there is a seller ( Harry7227) selling them for £4.99 supposedly new, where do you find out the postage costs though ? i have gone so far but it was asking for card details so stopped !

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/detail/offer-listing/-/B000816MDK/new/ref=olp_pg_new/026-6871678-2066814

Cant find this Harry guy here... T

Wig

Yep, you're right, He was there last night (4.99) when I posted above, now the price's are from 19.99

If it's any consolation he didn't say that his 4.99 offer included the 10 pound credit & free texts, so I reckon he was just selling the phone.

chinagirl

Yeh! I bought this one on the Virgin website. Great, delivered within 24 hours, no probs. Excellent value for money, and if you text another Virgin phone, its only 3p.