suggestions on mobiles?

mhoc

I think I am in the wrong forum again!

Anyway my daughters phone finishes its contract in August ( not my idea,actually it was broken yet again but she has managed to get it stolen before she could take it in, but that is another story...).

She is on something called video talk 500 and has 500 free minites every month but never used them up probally only used about 400 minites a month. But she uses around 600 texts a month. (She is only allowed 75 so the extra ones she pays for hence the bills of up to £110 a month)

I dont want her to have another contract obviously, we've spent months arguing over the size of the bills and often I have to wait nearly two months before she can pay me back - the DD goes through our account.

So can anyone suggest something PAYG. I suppose what she needs is the cheapest method of getting some talk time and 600 texts a month.

Mary

Pink.

Hi mhoc,

I'll move this over to the mobile phone board, where you may get more answers.

Pink

andy88_2

I think with 400 minutes of usage a month as well as the texts, it will still be a contract of some kind. Did you mean 400 or was it a mis-type of 40?

mhoc

Yes about 400 minites on phone calls. I think she is allowed 500.

Mary

mhoc

andy88 wrote:

I think with 400 minutes of usage a month as well as the texts, it will still be a contract of some kind. Did you mean 400 or was it a mis-type of 40?

Wondering that myself. seen an adver tonight for an orange phone which gives 500 texts, £30 minimum a month. I dont really want to have another direct debit on my account.

Dont want her openeing a cheque account yet, not mature enough. She wont even open her building society stetments now!

Mary

andy88_2

I think the problem will be that on payg, the cost of that sort of usage could be even higher. I think that there are hints in what you're saying that your motives are to encourage less use.

I'm not a fiend for text messages, and I'm mystified about their addictive popularity, so perhaps other people can hint about good deals for loads of texts, some of which are on payg. The trouble then is that cross-network calls can cost 20 or 30p per minute.

If you think it must be payg, something you might look at for the moment is Easymobile; there are details on other threads here; this is probably the most detailed - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=38994

Since launch they have had a promotional offer of all calls at 6p per minute and text messages at 2p each. The offer, which constitutes a 60% discount, is originally projected to last until June, but I have recently read that the number of people signing up has been disappointing - only 5000 customers in the first 2 months - so perhaps the offer will be extended for a while.

Maybe you could go with this for while the offer lasts and see if you can wean your daughter off so much use.

On contracts, many of the higher tariffs seem to be oriented to business use and have perhaps a modest number of texts. But there are sometimes promotional offers for bundled-in texts for maybe 3 or 6 months. It's going to sound a bit daft, but you might think of a contract phone with cashback for the minutes content, and a separate one for texts (maybe the Easymob still?), unless other people here are more up to date on the best text deals.

allthatmularky

Think your/her best bet is probably one of the online tariffs from o2 - have a look here - 400 xnet minutes and 1000 texts for £30pcm.

http://shop.o2.co.uk/cgi-bin/o2uk/jsp/tariffs/selectSimOnlyTariff.do?menu=y&ref=consumerMod2L1

However - there is no shiny new phone - try Martin's article and barter with the present provider and see whether they match the £30 and throw in a free phone.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1099157672,92885,

EDIT : Should have said - this is not strictly PAYG on O2 but a 30 day online contract.

andy88_2

that looks better than anything I managed so far