no data - sim only deals

wallofbeans

Hi All,

I'm looking for a good deal on unlimited minutes and texts, but don't need any data at all.

This is for my dad, and one of his stipulations is that he doesn't want it coming out as a direct debit. I'm hoping to persuade him otherwise... I've found £6 per month with Vodafone but assume they'll want DD payment, and wondered if there are other cheaper options than that, or if there is anything similar with pay as you go so he doesn't have to have a contract?

Any ideas?

Thanks all!

mchale

Smarty mobile

ValiantSon

Smarty may well be a good option. You pay using your credit card, rather than direct debit, so that box is ticked. They offer three packages, all of which include unlimited minutes and texts. The cheapest is £7.50 per month. It does come with 2GB of data, but they refund you for unused data, so if your father doesn't ever use any data then he will be refunded £2.50 each month (£1.25 per gigabyte). This would make his monthly cost £5.

They run on Three's network (in fact they are Three, but under a different brand name).

https://smarty.co.uk/

eDicky

ValiantSon wrote: »

They run on Three's network (in fact they are Three, but under a different brand name

Which means that a Smarty SIM will not work in a non-3G type handset, which it sounds likely the father might want to use.

ValiantSon

eDicky wrote: »

Which means that a Smarty SIM will not work in a non-3G type handset, which it sounds likely the father might want to use.

There is nothing in the OP's question that tells us what sort of handset his father may have. You are assuming that because he doesn't use data he doesn't have a 3G phone, but that is not necessarily the case. He could easily have a 3G phone, but just never use mobile data. Even if he doesn't have a 3G handset then one can be picked up fairly cheaply. The Alcatel U3 can be picked up for £45 SIM-free, or the Nokia 3310 can be picked up for under £40 SIM-free.

wallofbeans

eDicky wrote: »

Which means that a Smarty SIM will not work in a non-3G type handset, which it sounds likely the father might want to use.

Is there such a thing as a non-3G handset nowadays? I'm not sure what he has, it's a brand I've never heard of and he's currently got a Vodafone PAYG SIM, but I can't imagine it's not 3G... It's probably not 4G though...

I will check this out... but otherwise, Smarty sounds like a solid bet.

Thanks!

ValiantSon

wallofbeans wrote: »

Is there such a thing as a non-3G handset nowadays? I'm not sure what he has, it's a brand I've never heard of and he's currently got a Vodafone PAYG SIM, but I can't imagine it's not 3G... It's probably not 4G though...

I will check this out... but otherwise, Smarty sounds like a solid bet.

Thanks!

It is still possible to get 2G only handsets, but they are pretty uncommon and feature in the absolute bargain basement lines. I don't think that any of the networks are offering 2G only handsets, so if the current one is from Vodafone PAYG then it will probably be 3G. What model is it?

If he goes for Smarty then you will need to get the handset unlocked. Go to this page to do so: https://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/forms/unlock-code-request/

The other thing to do is to check that Three's signal is strong enough in the locations he is most likely to use the phone. Ofcom's maps are a bit more accurate than the networks'. Go here: https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/mobile-coverage