PAYG Sim for iPhone

lonestarfan

We have 4 iPhones. ( 3 are iphone 4 and i have iphone 5s) One is on giff gaff for the teenager the unltd £12 and 3 of us very low users of data on £7 pm with virgin. I'd like us to all be on same network to get free calls & texts amongst us.
We all use a lot of texts to text each other mostly. The teenager uses a lot of data. The oap uses lots of picture messages. We didn't really use more than 125 minutes each of calls but are now using a lot more minutes since Sept when the teen started at uni as we have longer conversations.
I have an iPad and would be interested in tethering but not essential.
We can't use virgin abroad for roaming data but we keep that tightly controlled anyway abroad and usually take an old PAYG phone & use the iPhone on wifi on FaceTime or Skype etc.
Not sure if giff gaff can be used abroad for phone calls or roaming.
We have to pay 40 p on virgin everytime we send a photo so I try to remind the oap to send it over what's app.
Don't know what giff gaff charge for photo messages but again the teen generally sends them via what's app.
I was thinking of all going giff gaff and us 3 being on the £7.50 pm but not sure now. What would anyone else suggest? I don't want a pay monthly like virgin and want a PAYG so I don't get any surprises on the bill like I've occasionally had with virgin pay monthly. Thanks everyone.

NFH

For texts and photo messaging, you can all use iMessage; there's no need for old-fashioned expensive SMS any more. For anyone without an iPhone, you can use WhatsApp or Viber instead.

lonestarfan

NFH wrote: »

For texts and photo messaging, you can all use iMessage; there's no need for old-fashioned expensive SMS any more. For anyone without an iPhone, you can use WhatsApp or Viber instead.

Good point. I did forget to mention that the 4th person has only just been given my old IPhone from a Samsung and now we are all I messaging so that helps.
3 of us will be ok with 200mb of data and if all 4 of us had same provider then we would get over the need for more minutes as we would use free minutes you usually get with the same provider eg free to giffgaff and virgin do 3000 virgin minutes. I'm looking for a sim only deal that's PAYG not pay monthly, that gives free to same provider texts and calls, that doesn't cost to send photos maybe and which can roam abroad if we choose to and possibly one who accepts tethering for my iPad. Are there any better deals than the giffagff £7.50 that anyone knows of altho i think that has no abroad roaming and offers tethering but not to iphone & blackberry! Thanks.

NFH

lonestarfan wrote: »

I'm looking for a sim only deal that's PAYG not pay monthly, that gives free to same provider texts and calls, that doesn't cost to send photos maybe

Sending photos via iMessage (or WhatsApp or Viber) will come out of your data allowance. Forget using MMS which is a rip-off system from the pre-smartphone era.

lonestarfan

NFH wrote: »

Sending photos via iMessage (or WhatsApp or Viber) will come out of your data allowance. Forget using MMS which is a rip-off system from the pre-smartphone era.

I still believe I'm charged 40p by Virgin every time i send a photo by text as opposed to what's app even if its via iMessage. I'll check my bill again.

Pippin12

I'm on Virgin and yes, a pic message is 40p - extortionate! Whatsapp etc is the way to go.

NFH

lonestarfan wrote: »

I still believe I'm charged 40p by Virgin every time i send a photo by text as opposed to what's app even if its via iMessage. I'll check my bill again.

If it's a blue iMessage, not a green SMS/MMS message, then you won't be charged because your network has no knowledge of it, except for any standard data used (if using mobile data as opposed to wifi). In previous iOS versions, there were bugs with this whereby some iMessages were erroneously sent as chargeable green SMS or MMS messages. Which iOS version do you have? Always use the latest version to ensure that you have the latest bug fixes.