PAYG old style

Grouchy

Hello, I'm asking for a friend. I've looked around the net without success so thought I'd ask.

He wants a PAYG for the odd phone call and the odd texts. No need for data. Is there anywhere that offers a contract free option without time limits. I can't find one. Best I could suggest to him would be the £5 month bag with giffgaff which would be overkill as far as his small needs but the cheapest option?

Think he is with Orange/EE under an 'old style' payg which he's had for years and they have told him he must spend his remaining credit and go to a contract with them. Is this right?

Thanks

Tyler_Du

The three 321 SIM could be suitable.

Ian011

The most common way to pay for calls is to purchase an inclusive allowance that lasts for one month. These deals usually cover calls to geographic numbers starting 01 and 02, non-geographic numbers starting 03 and mobile numbers starting 071-075 and 077-079. The more you pay, the larger the allowance. If you are a very low user (less than ten to fifteen minutes per month), this type of deal may not be cost effective.

Most mobile networks also have deals where you pay a per-minute rate for these calls. Some providers charge as little as 3p per minute. Others charge as much as 45p per minute. Make sure you choose one with a low rate. If you start to make more than fifteen to twenty minutes of calls each month, purchasing an inclusive bundle of calls (even if you don't use them all) will work out cheaper.


All pay-as-you-go mobile deals have some sort of time limit.

If you fail to make any calls for a period of (usually) three or six months, the provider assumes you no longer need the number and will cut it off.

To avoid this, it's best to make a short call on, say, the first day of each month, to keep the account active.

loulou41

I use giffgaff but do make calls or txts regularly so I make sure I make a call every six months to give it active.

J_B

Grouchy wrote: »

Think he is with Orange/EE under an 'old style' payg which he's had for years and they have told him he must spend his remaining credit and go to a contract with them. Is this right?

Sorry, this sounds nonsense - how have they 'told him'?

I know it's EE's mission to alienate their customers, but this sounds incorrect to me.
As long as he spends X amount of credit per X days, he can go on ad infinitum .... can't he???

:undecided

Ian011

EE is working hard to phase out the Orange and T-Mobile brand names.

You can no longer take out new connections with these brands.

Sales people are always trying to push people on to contracts. This has always been true.

J_B

Ian011 wrote: »

Sales people are always trying to push people on to contracts. This has always been true.

which isn't quite the same as being told that they "have to" move is it!

Ian011

J_B wrote: »

which isn't quite the same as being told that they "have to" move is it!

Hence, my use of the word "push".

Grouchy

Thanks for replies.

He wants things as simple as possible, so continuing with his EE payg would be ideal. I will ask him to confirm what he has been told and wonder if they are just trying to pressure him into moving to a contract. I have a back phone with an old o2 payg deal and as long as I text or call once every 6 months or less I can continue with it. I'll look into that. I think he was told by orange/EE verbally at a shop - so could be 'unofficial'.

The £5 payg for 30 days which there are a few options are perhaps the best otherwise, but daft to pay that much for a couple of texts and a call ...

Thanks

Ian011

The existing deal likely charges 30p to 40p per minute for calls.

Take this opportunity to move to another network. There are plenty with rates at, or below, 10p per minute.

matelodave

For basic PayGo rather than a monthly top up there's ASDA (uses the EE network) 8p/min per call and 4p a text. I think Tesco have something similar.

Or if the phone can manage it Three's 3-2-1 is hard to beat 3p/min for calls, 2p per text a 1p/mb for data. The credit doesn't expire you just have to make a call once every six months.
I use my phone fairly frequently, occasionally for E-Mails and even used it abroad late last year and have only managed to spend £22 in 21 months

You certainly don't have to stump up a fiver a month.