Pay for what you use plans?

eggsbenedict_2

Does anyone know of a pay for what you use plan? i.e. a monthly line rental where you pay a low unit rate for minutes and texts.

I dont always use my minutes and texts on my plan, and other months I plough through loads and get billed at a higher rate when I go over my allowance.

Most of the line rental is paying for the handset anyway - and I have a peerfectly good one that I have looked after pretty well (and dont care about replacing it with a flashy one if the obselecense comes around as planned).

These used to be about when mobiles first got big and I heard T-Mobile were doing something like this recently, but I cant find anything like that.

HELP!

Sid_Harper

T-mobile used to do U-fix. But what you describe is, er, Pay As You Go, surely?!

PAYG is really quite reasonable these days, particularly ones which have stepped rates like Virgin where if you are on the phone for more than 5 minutes the minute rate goes down.

[slight aside, going back to contracts, a nice thing about the Virgin 6-month £15 contract recently was that they roll over minutes... a rarety these days]

anonymousie

I think most contracts run exactly the the way you have mentioned- You buy the contracted amout and get stung if you go over!

Can you give the wise peeps on here any idea of you "baseline" and max useage, as if it is 5 mins month baseline and several hundreds a month just 1 or 2 months that is different to 100mins most months and 300 4 or 5 months.

How about virgin P+G where you can load on "bundles" so if you anticipate high use you can buy what you need at a better rate than "baseline"?

anonymousie

Sid_Harper wrote: »

T-mobile used to do U-fix. But what you describe is, er, Pay As You Go, surely?!

PAYG is really quite reasonable these days, particularly ones which have stepped rates like Virgin where if you are on the phone for more than 5 minutes the minute rate goes down.

[slight aside, going back to contracts, a nice thing about the Virgin 6-month £15 contract recently was that they roll over minutes... a rarety these days]

Virgin bundles roll over as long as you renew, but you can choose how much (or little) to renew by- the cheapst being £7.50 we do this for DD1 who is 14.

Not a great fan of the Ufix thing here- good idea in theory- fixed contract wit top up after if you go over mins, but it cost a lot for the privelidge (sp!) of that arrangement. OK for teen that you don't trust not to go mad (or worse still loose the blooming thing) but for adults and appropriate contract seems best.

eggsbenedict_2

thanks for the replies guys - appreciate it!

see, I was thinking of something that operates like your home phone bill - no bundles. have a set unit rate (or varies slightly day/night/network), use your phone, and get a bill for what you use at the end of the month. I've heard you can get these sort of services on the continent and perhaps that some business tariffs work like that.

This must be a better alternative to:
- paying all that monthly money for minutes - wasting them if you dont use them (even carrying over is a waste because you pay in advance and lose anything at the end if you switch)
- paying for the mp3 playing 5megapixel camera phone handset
- getting stung with a rediculous unit rate for using your phone more than you predicted (this is one of the only services i know that bills you more per unit the more you use it!)

something like this must exist?!?!

custardy

virgin used to do something like this.
like PAYG so no monthly fee but billed monthly for usage
i know as orange used ot offer the same when your contract was up but they stopped it a few years ago.
handy for putting in a back up phone

ZootHornRollo

o2 does a SIM only pack where you don't get a new handset, only a sim on a monthly rolling contract (no 12 month tie in, only 30 days notice of cancellation), from only £15 per month.

thesaint

custardy wrote: »

virgin used to do something like this.
like PAYG so no monthly fee but billed monthly for usage
i know as orange used ot offer the same when your contract was up but they stopped it a few years ago.
handy for putting in a back up phone

I thought that Virgin still did this? It is no better than PAYG pricewise?

What I would ask the OP is:

"What's in it for the networks"?

If it's "nothing", then that's why it's not available. :A

Stuart_W

The Phone Co-op offer Pay-As-You-Use, which is probably the closest thing to what you're asking about

free SIM card
line rental is £2 a month
there are no free/inclusive minutes
calls are 7p/min charged by the second, min charge 1.175p

http://www.thephone.coop/residential/payu

EDIT:
Sorry - only just noticed this thread is three years old. Not sure how that happened. Sorry.

Guys_Dad

custardy wrote: »

i know as orange used ot offer the same when your contract was up but they stopped it a few years ago.
handy for putting in a back up phone

Yes they did and I still have an active one I occasionally use for Orange Wednesdays when 4 of us want to go. I get a 2nd phone call charge on my monthly bill and pay by DD.

Individual calls are pretty expensive, but good for emergencies, texting and receiving calls is free.