Best Sim-only Deals guide Discussion

flaneurs_lobster

SIMO PAYM deals at Three via TopCashback seem to give cashback equal to the annual cost

30GB/£7 mth £84 cashback
120GB/£10 mth £120 cashback

https://www.topcashback.co.uk/3-mobile/

Usual caution regarding cashback never being guaranteed etc.

Three's coverage is dreadful in my location so of no use to me personally.

allegro120

I haven't changed my mobile provider for about 2 decades, so not in the loop and have no idea how it all works these days.  I had Virgin SIM only which later morphed into O2.  It was all good until now, my bill increased to £9.41p/m which is very uncompetitive. (probably great for 100GB deal but I've never used more than 3.5GB per month, my average usage is 2.34GB). So I've decided to switch to Lebara, used SME link and purchased SIM card today. 

My question is - because it's not technically a switch, will I need to manually cancel O2 or will it be automatically done after I give Lebara my PAC? 

flaneurs_lobster

When the PAC is actioned it ends your contract and service with O2. No need for notification.

Don't action the PAC until after the Bank Holiday w/end.

Assume you are not under any minimum terms so next O2 bill (or possibly the one after because timing) will show a part-month credit. Don't cancel any direct debit - allows refund.

allegro120

flaneurs_lobster said:

When the PAC is actioned it ends your contract and service with O2. No need for notification.

Don't action the PAC until after the Bank Holiday w/end.

Assume you are not under any minimum terms so next O2 bill (or possibly the one after because timing) will show a part-month credit. Don't cancel any direct debit - allows refund.

That's good news, thank you!

I've received order confirmation e-mail. 

"If you would like to move your existing number to Lebara, please complete an online request after you receive your new SIM in the post.".  I'm sure my SIM won't arrive in the next couple of days. When I requested PAC I got text message saying "your early termination charge will be £0.00".  So it looks like this switch won't cost me anything.

el_guiri_verdadero

Hi guys

My (out of contract) monthly O2 went from 7.64 to 9.44 GBP, over 23% increase due to the fixed 1.80 GBP increase that O2 introduced across the board. The MSE sim only deal on O2 at 8 GBP is for new customers only. I called O2 to "haggle" to see if they would give me the same, and they referred me straight away to uswitch, which also has an 8 GBP offer which existing customers can also access (it takes you straight to the O2 billing portal to do the contract). Fair play to O2! Can MSE get their offers for existing customers as well?

Frozen_up_north

The offers are mostly to tempt customers away from other networks. While you get a lot of data and good EU roaming (including Channel Islands), on the £10/month 70 GB data plan, but beware they are 12 month contracts with a £1.80 price rise each April. You can get the same, but with 50 GB data, and no contract, on a 30 day rolling basis, from 1p Mobile.
Forgot to add, 1p use the EE network and have more 5G coverage than O2.

JSmithy45AD

el_guiri_verdadero said:

Hi guys

My (out of contract) monthly O2 went from 7.64 to 9.44 GBP, over 23% increase due to the fixed 1.80 GBP increase that O2 introduced across the board. The MSE sim only deal on O2 at 8 GBP is for new customers only. I called O2 to "haggle" to see if they would give me the same, and they referred me straight away to uswitch, which also has an 8 GBP offer which existing customers can also access (it takes you straight to the O2 billing portal to do the contract). Fair play to O2! Can MSE get their offers for existing customers as well?

I've only just realised that mine went up 33% a month back, I started off at £5 from the MSE link 2 years ago at £5 a month, went upto £5.44 when they were using percentage increases but have fallen afoul of the £1.80 set price increase this time around so it's £7.24 now for 10GB (doubled to 20 GB through Volte).

Given I only use around 500MB I guess I'll have to start looking again.

flaneurs_lobster

JSmithy45AD said:

el_guiri_verdadero said:

Hi guys

My (out of contract) monthly O2 went from 7.64 to 9.44 GBP, over 23% increase due to the fixed 1.80 GBP increase that O2 introduced across the board. The MSE sim only deal on O2 at 8 GBP is for new customers only. I called O2 to "haggle" to see if they would give me the same, and they referred me straight away to uswitch, which also has an 8 GBP offer which existing customers can also access (it takes you straight to the O2 billing portal to do the contract). Fair play to O2! Can MSE get their offers for existing customers as well?

I've only just realised that mine went up 33% a month back, I started off at £5 from the MSE link 2 years ago at £5 a month, went upto £5.44 when they were using percentage increases but have fallen afoul of the £1.80 set price increase this time around so it's £7.24 now for 10GB (doubled to 20 GB through Volte).

Given I only use around 500MB I guess I'll have to start looking again.

For a deal with O2 (with the Volt deal for VM broadband and the Priority extras if you use them) that £7.24 is as good as it gets.

If you're happy with the service I wouldn't look too hard for an alternative - there's cheaper but not much and the service is unlikely to offer any more.

JSmithy45AD

flaneurs_lobster said:

JSmithy45AD said:

el_guiri_verdadero said:

Hi guys

My (out of contract) monthly O2 went from 7.64 to 9.44 GBP, over 23% increase due to the fixed 1.80 GBP increase that O2 introduced across the board. The MSE sim only deal on O2 at 8 GBP is for new customers only. I called O2 to "haggle" to see if they would give me the same, and they referred me straight away to uswitch, which also has an 8 GBP offer which existing customers can also access (it takes you straight to the O2 billing portal to do the contract). Fair play to O2! Can MSE get their offers for existing customers as well?

I've only just realised that mine went up 33% a month back, I started off at £5 from the MSE link 2 years ago at £5 a month, went upto £5.44 when they were using percentage increases but have fallen afoul of the £1.80 set price increase this time around so it's £7.24 now for 10GB (doubled to 20 GB through Volte).

Given I only use around 500MB I guess I'll have to start looking again.

For a deal with O2 (with the Volt deal for VM broadband and the Priority extras if you use them) that £7.24 is as good as it gets.

If you're happy with the service I wouldn't look too hard for an alternative - there's cheaper but not much and the service is unlikely to offer any more.

Damn, I forgot the BB part of it. Mind you, 350 or 500 DL speed isn't making much difference to us and the BB has crept up over the last couple of years as well so I might be looking at going back to FTTP later in the year anyway. Sky will need looking at later on as well, I used to enjoy the challenge but I must be getting old as I dread it now.

Edit: My fault for falling for the 'upgrade your speed' texts, the BB is set until the middle of next year

MouldyOldDough

Talkmobile 60Gb for £7.95 - Vodafone network - never had any issue with them....