SIM that will be used only for receiving calls, not making them

missing_string

I suffer pretty badly from insomnia, so I have my phone set to silent when it charges, i.e. I go to bed and charge it and it automatically goes to silent.

I thought it would be a good idea to get a second phone as a backup, give the number to my family and close friends if there's ever an emergency so they can get hold of me.

I, therefore, need to get a sim card for this but I don't intend to ever make a call from it so I ideally want a sim card that never expires. The thing is I'm fairly certain such a thing doesn't exist (wouldn't be in the interest of the mobile operators to allow such a thing), so I'm looking for the next best thing. I'm guessing I would have to make a call from it every "x" months. Or top-up with "y" amount every "z" months.

Any help appreciated in trying to do this with the least cost involved.

Alter_ego

Tesco PAYG. Credit never expires, you need to make a call or text every 6? months.

Mister_G

Both the O2 Classic PAYG and the Three 321 are cheaper.

Check which network gives better coverage where you need it.

esuhl

missing_string wrote: »

I suffer pretty badly from insomnia, so I have my phone set to silent when it charges, i.e. I go to bed and charge it and it automatically goes to silent.

I thought it would be a good idea to get a second phone as a backup, give the number to my family and close friends if there's ever an emergency so they can get hold of me.

I, therefore, need to get a sim card for this but I don't intend to ever make a call from it so I ideally want a sim card that never expires. The thing is I'm fairly certain such a thing doesn't exist (wouldn't be in the interest of the mobile operators to allow such a thing), so I'm looking for the next best thing. I'm guessing I would have to make a call from it every "x" months. Or top-up with "y" amount every "z" months.

Any help appreciated in trying to do this with the least cost involved.

I'm not overly knowledgeable about smartphones, but a friend was telling me about a setting on his phone -- "priority mode" or something...?


Basically, you can set the phone to be silent, except for numbers that you manually exclude. Of course, there's also a "complete silence" mode for when you don't want to be disturbed by anyone.


Might be worth checking for a feature like this on your phone...?

missing_string

esuhl wrote: »

I'm not overly knowledgeable about smartphones, but a friend was telling me about a setting on his phone -- "priority mode" or something...?


Basically, you can set the phone to be silent, except for numbers that you manually exclude. Of course, there's also a "complete silence" mode for when you don't want to be disturbed by anyone.


Might be worth checking for a feature like this on your phone...?

Yeah I'm aware of it. I believe it's 2 calls from the same person within 2 mins. Which wouldn't work because my friend always calls twice, despite the fact I've told him not to do it, because if I'm available I'll pick up and if not, I'll ring him back (really doesn't seem that hard to comprehend, does it?).

Frozen_up_north

On an iPhone there is a setting called "Do no disturb". Basically you set a time when you normally go to bed and another when you wake. Between those times you can configure it so that only calls from your favourite numbers will ring, but other callers, text messages and emails don't disturb you.

Android phones probably have a similar feature.

Frozen_up_north

missing_string wrote: »

Yeah I'm aware of it. I believe it's 2 calls from the same person within 2 mins. Which wouldn't work because my friend always calls twice

I don't know about Android, but you can turn on/off the repeat call function on an iPhone...

missing_string

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

I don't know about Android, but you can turn on/off the repeat call function on an iPhone...

I have an android and this is what I found out after investigating

missing_string

Found this online, not sure how accurate it is as it's 4 months ago, but I'll investigate now.

https://kenstechtips.com/index.php/payg-inactivity-account-termination-and-credit-expiry

stragglebod

More detail on Android Do Not Disturb here
https://www.greenbot.com/article/2995581/android/take-control-of-notifications-with-android-marshmallows-do-not-disturb-feature.html

Seems to do exactly what the OP wants.

its_all_over

missing_string wrote: »

Yeah I'm aware of it. I believe it's 2 calls from the same person within 2 mins. Which wouldn't work because my friend always calls twice, despite the fact I've told him not to do it, because if I'm available I'll pick up and if not, I'll ring him back (really doesn't seem that hard to comprehend, does it?).

I just had a look on my Samsung Android phone, you hav to click on custom and then only can you set for repeat calls to work. In the standard setting no numbers would be set to ring.

You have to use the custom button and then you can choose to allow contacts or favourite contacts to ring (the choices are all, contacts, favourites, none).

On my Android phone it's in settings, sounds and vibration, do not disturb.

This is what the menu looks like on my phone



Hope that helps.