Mobile phones and pay as you go

Oldman

Bit long but we were caught by EE promise of what appeared to be a good deal. My grandson recently started his senior school. They have a rule, no smart phones, just txt and talk, so we bought a cheap EE pay-as-you-go phone for him. This seemed a good deal as it claimed to have a £10 package available once you topped up with £10, which sounded similar to the Tesco deal. So we bought a £10 voucher registered it, and then when he tried to txt to test it, he got the message his balance was zero! Apparently the £10 package that comes with the phone is the £10 we just spent. This only lasts for one month then you have to top up again. As it is only for emergency use, I finally maaged to get through to a real person in EE by calling their sales line.. They put me through to technical help. The very nice man there explained we had unlimited txts, 250 mb data, 250 mins talk, for a month, none of which was wanted and he cancelled the all you can eat txt plan and put the phone on a pay as you go basis. Which is what we wanted to start with.
So be aware, if you buy a phone just for emergency txt/calls, make sure you dont get one of these renewable once a month packages.

R34GTT

The Three mobile 321 PAYG sim would be more suitable for low/emergency use as calls are only 3p a minute and the credit doesn't expire as long as a call or text is made every 6 months. So maybe consider this in future, though the phone currently on EE if locked to EE would need to be unlocked to work on Three's network and it may be cheaper just to buy a cheap unlocked or Three phone.

19lottie82

A three sim needs a 3G phone..... Might struggle to find one that is talk and text only.

cookie365

Plenty of 3g capable candy bar phones available which will work on three without being smart phones. Feature phones is the jargon.

grumbler

cookie365 wrote: »

Plenty of 3g capable candy bar phones available which will work on three without being smart phones.

Not really - unless it's second hand.

cookie365

grumbler wrote: »

Not really - unless it's second hand.

GSMArena shows 66 models of candybar phones which support UK 3G bands and are currently available.

http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?sAvailabilities=1&s3Gs=UMTS900,UMTS2100&sFormFactors=1&sOSes=1

I expect it's not an entirely accurate list, but you can get several of those models cheaply, today, from Amazon. Proper Amazon, not marketplace sellers.

McKneff

Research and read the terms and conditions before buying.....


Its the only way..


My OHs orange phone which has £10 on it will stay forever as long as he makes 1 call, phone or text each 90 days.....

SnowTiger

cookie365 wrote: »

GSMArena shows 66 models of candybar phones which support UK 3G bands and are currently available.

http://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?sAvailabilities=1&s3Gs=UMTS900,UMTS2100&sFormFactors=1&sOSes=1

I expect it's not an entirely accurate list, but you can get several of those models cheaply, today, from Amazon. Proper Amazon, not marketplace sellers.

In this contact posters were referring to phones that would work on the Three network. The first phone on the page you mentioned (Nokia 225) is listed as operating on "2G bands GSM 900 / 1800".

IIRC Three still piggybacks on a 2G netowork in some areas, but they (eventually) block 2G phones that attempt to connect to their network.

Kernel_Sanders

Forget about searching for non-smart 3 phones, just get a free Delight SIM and top up £5 online. Same rates plus some perks.

cookie365

SnowTiger wrote: »

In this contact posters were referring to phones that would work on the Three network. The first phone on the page you mentioned (Nokia 225) is listed as operating on "2G bands GSM 900 / 1800".

IIRC Three still piggybacks on a 2G netowork in some areas, but they (eventually) block 2G phones that attempt to connect to their network.

I'm sure there are some models that the search has picked up incorrectly, but some of them are most definitely 3g phones that will work on three.

roxy28

Have bought a cheap samsung mobile for dad, its sim free just a 2g phone.Sending for a delight mobile sim payg, but before it arrives wants to try out another sim first to check alls well.
Is it ok to try 1 or 2 sims or can it cause problems, ie becoming locked to the first one inserted?