Best Sim-only Deals guide Discussion

Fat_Lilz

I wanted to draw to your attention a flaw in the Smarty SIM-only deal that was recommended by MSE. It was the £10/month for 30GB data option. I bought this, and then found out that the 'no frills' approach means that you cannot send or receive 'premium rate' text messages. This would be fine, expect that also includes verification texts sent from your bank, which are very important. It doesn't make this clear anywhere, so just be wary. I am going to switch network providers after less than a month with Smarty. Thank goodness it is only a one-month contract.

buthy

wonko said:

a note of caution.
I see the current SIM only deal from Plusnet and that's great, if you subscribe by May 20th 2020.

They ran a great deal last year that I subscribed to in the same time frame. I was a little surprised then, shortly after subscription to receive a notification of a price increase, annually, by the Consumer Price Index. No sooner then had I subscribed to one price than it was (almost) instantly increased.
I made a note in my schedule to check annually then and, you'll never guess, the date the price increase occurs is... May 20th.
So yes, it is, currently, the best deal - as we've come to love and trust from MSE. but watch out for the CPI increase.

Great post wonko, sure enough I signed up for the 12-month Plusnet deal on May 20th and today, just 14 days later, I have received a notification that an annual CPI price rise is being applied to my bill after 30 June (which means it is being applied after just 2 months).
I don't know how mobile providers get away with unfair terms like this: they should not be able to quote a 12-month contract price and then apply an annual inflation increase within a year of starting the contract - to apply it earlier than this is sharp practice and is fundamentally dishonest.  When providers like PlusNet appear to be deliberately timing their offers knowing that they will almost immediately apply an inflation increase, it's worse.  Either providers should apply the increase after 12 months, or if they want to keep their administration simple and only apply the inflation increase to all their customers once a year (June 30th in PlusNet's case), then they should pro-rata the first increase to reflect the number of months you have been on the contract.  So in my case, I would pay 2/12 of the increase.  Of course, the providers know that at an individual level these rises are small and almost all of us will just swallow the increment and continue, but add this up across the whole mobile population and consumers are contributing tens of £ millions.  Martin and the MSE team, something to call out!

JDE-UK

I don't know if anyone's seen, but the £10 Voxi deal has gone from 8GB of data to 12GB, so looking like a better offer now. Runs until 25th June.

badobsession81

Struggling to know whether I can use certain deals with an apple watch plan? On EE at the mo but keen to find out if there's a better SIM only plan that I can use in conjunction with an Apple Watch Cellular plan. Happy to move from EE - signal is actually better on other networks near me.
Thanks

claphambaby

Anyone got any idea of a SIM that includes deals for phoning from the UK India and other outside Europe destinations from the UK? MSE does not make any recommendations on this which seems a bit odd given the large BAME population of the UK. I bought a three deal thinking it would cover me for included calls to USA and New Zealand when my daughter went on work experience only to discover that only inclusive calls were possible from those countries. I was misled and feel diddled and disappointed that MSE does not include any guide to best deal inclusive calls SIM cards to call other countries around the World. The only one I have found so far is Les whatever with 150 minutes calls to Asia and America included per month for a fiver. Nowhere near enough. Need at least 1000 minutes and preferably calls included to those areas in a monthly or annual plan 

brookhouse

claphambaby said:

Anyone got any idea of a SIM that includes deals for phoning from the UK India and other outside Europe destinations from the UK? MSE does not make any recommendations on this which seems a bit odd given the large BAME population of the UK. I bought a three deal thinking it would cover me for included calls to USA and New Zealand when my daughter went on work experience only to discover that only inclusive calls were possible from those countries. I was misled and feel diddled and disappointed that MSE does not include any guide to best deal inclusive calls SIM cards to call other countries around the World. The only one I have found so far is Les whatever with 150 minutes calls to Asia and America included per month for a fiver. Nowhere near enough. Need at least 1000 minutes and preferably calls included to those areas in a monthly or annual plan 

Lebara have an 8GB £15 per month plan that has unlimited international minutes to certain countries. Included India.

DIVA

Hi. Does anyone know if you can carry number to the new Lebara SIM DEAL please? I was looking to sign up as but no options visible. Thanks 

ozwasting

im not seeing the deal provided by this site on the link shown, its a sim only by EE 50gb data unlimited txt/min '£17.78/mth' (2)

(2) You pay £10/mth for the first four months, then £20/mth for remaining 14mths, making it equiv £17.78/mth over the 18mth co

i dont see any 50gb data deals on the EE site

ozwasting

ozwasting said:

im not seeing the deal provided by this site on the link shown, its a sim only by EE 50gb data unlimited txt/min '£17.78/mth' (2)

(2) You pay £10/mth for the first four months, then £20/mth for remaining 14mths, making it equiv £17.78/mth over the 18mth co

i dont see any 50gb data deals on the EE site

i cant post the link but it should be in the sim only deals section

brookhouse

DIVA said:

Hi. Does anyone know if you can carry number to the new Lebara SIM DEAL please? I was looking to sign up as but no options visible. Thanks 

The normal process for most mobile operators is that you order the SIM, activate it when it arrives and then initiate the number porting. I can't see any reason why Lebara would NOT let you bring your number over from your old provider.