The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

maryb

I pay £7 for unlimited texts and calls plus 2gb of data with Tesco Mobile. They use the O2 network which is the only one round here that gets a signal.  I think it would rise to the dizzy heights of £7.50 but I get a discount because we each have a plan with them

pollyanna_26

maryb said:

I pay £7 for unlimited texts and calls plus 2gb of data with Tesco Mobile. They use the O2 network which is the only one round here that gets a signal.  I think it would rise to the dizzy heights of £7.50 but I get a discount because we each have a plan with them

Thanks for this maryb. I've been on payg with O2 for years. I rarely use what is laughingly referred to as my old biddy phone by the family. A bigger button Doro. just use it if out and need to contact someone. I've been indundated with the Disney offer on an ongoing basis and am fed up deleting the messages. I had a call a few weeks ago from a very forceful female trying to sell me all sorts of extra data etc. I don't text my arthritic fingers can't cope. Tried dds smartphone and I can't swipe either so it's basically just having it with me outdoors.. The woman was persitant to the point of rudeness and I ended the call. Decided to look around for an alternative.and lo and behold I read your post went on the Tesco site and they have a Doro. O2 have been trying to get me on to smartphones for years. According to them only smart phones are available. I even visited the shop and was treated as some sort of Dinosour as they tried to sell me stupidly over priced phones. I'm going to have a good look at the tesco site tomorrow. it's been a pain topping up monthly this year so will look at the Doro 2 year contract. I didn't want to commit to a contract due to the poor customer experience with O2.

polly

Serendipitious

I was on PAYG until 2012 when I had a car problem on the M6 just where it intersects with the M55, a terrible place to have to call for help and all my credit ran out calling the RAC call centre, fortunately the motorway police came and contacted them for me and I got it sorted, still took hours though and I won't go into the drama of it all, it would take too long.

Been on contract with Tesco ever since, it currently costs £7 per month, they knocked 50p month off last time I changed phones, includes 250 mins and 500 texts and data allowance plus the smartphone itself. I am due a new one and will ask for a plan like Mary's next time!

daz378

Free taxis   still being provided...heard rumour might be till end of the month  very pleasantly surprised...especially  as im working next  7 days.....been  using my  money manager  apparently  i spend  an average of   130  150 a month  on groceries   ..surprised   just for myself....still good to know  if need to budget....ie  use my prepps.... stay safe

Serendipitious

daz378 said:

Free taxis   still being provided...heard rumour might be till end of the month  very pleasantly surprised...especially  as im working next  7 days.....been  using my  money manager  apparently  i spend  an average of   130  150 a month  on groceries   ..surprised   just for myself....still good to know  if need to budget....ie  use my prepps.... stay safe

I am so pleased for you, it must be a godsend under the current circumstances and in winter too. It's hard enough doing the job - I was in HSC before retiring and this time last year I was doing 10-12 hour days with 7am starts - so I'm glad you've got transport covered. Take care.

Floss

Just to say, I have a Smarty sim in my phone - £10 a month for 30gb of data, unlimited calls & texts and no contract. I don't use anything like that amount of data but it's the best value sim I've found. They are part of Three, so good 4G coverage too. 

pollyanna_26

Serendipitious said:

I was on PAYG until 2012 when I had a car problem on the M6 just where it intersects with the M55, a terrible place to have to call for help and all my credit ran out calling the RAC call centre, fortunately the motorway police came and contacted them for me and I got it sorted, still took hours though and I won't go into the drama of it all, it would take too long.

Been on contract with Tesco ever since, it currently costs £7 per month, they knocked 50p month off last time I changed phones, includes 250 mins and 500 texts and data allowance plus the smartphone itself. I am due a new one and will ask for a plan like Mary's next time!

Thanks for this. I no longer drive two forms of arthritis and fibro fog meant my concentration and pain levels made it unwise.

I've been paying £10 a month to O2 for calls , data etc  I'm unable to use. Call credit seems to run out after two or three very short calls. I was in town on the first sudden lockdown day. No taxies on the rank, the shops were locking up and pulling down the shutters. Within minutes the high st was deserted apart from some drunken possble drugged youths.

My youngest dd has an app for our reliable and trusted taxi firm so I phoned her knowing the call allowance ran out quickly and the cavalry arrived.

I had a similar experience after nipping into Marks food hall some time later. I was loaded with bags of shopping , another bag with my dds 19 monthly repeat meds in and had a trolley of food from Marks. I'd been though the checkout and walked to the main entrance where i was told I needed to use the side entrance. That involved a long walk to the taxi rank . I rang dd and asked her to send a taxi to the side entrance . No way was I going to walk a very long way to the rank. Anyone mugging me that day would have thought Christmas and birthday had arrived together. A very short call was cut short midway as credit had run out but dd got the idea and I waited instore until the taxi arrived.

I would quite happily just have call credit as I can;t use texts etc. In the current circumstances a good allowance for calls is my priority.

I did have to do the long walk to the rank from Marks when the credit ran out as dd picked up. i had meds ,other shoppng and the marks food in the trolley and have never felt so vulnerable in my life.

I own the phone. I had a nokia but the buttons were too small so I bought a Doro and a sim.so all I'm paying for is calls.

Anyway I will be waving good bye to O2 and their constant disney deal messages . Thank you to those who have posted. i was considering asking elsewhere on the forums but I'm not very techie and don't understand a lot of the terms used. Thank goodness for OS.

I hope the taxies keep going as long as you need them Daz. I'm spending less on food and other shopping . Dd is shielding still at her boyfriends so by the time I've collected her meds, checked they're all there and picked up anything she needs I just grab what I really need and get out of Dodge as fast as possible. She always has a strong brew ready when I fall in the door. We're a bubble of three socially distancing although the cats have forgotten that now and run to my bags for thei treats.

Take care

pollyx

pollyanna_26

Floss said:

Just to say, I have a Smarty sim in my phone - £10 a month for 30gb of data, unlimited calls & texts and no contract. I don't use anything like that amount of data but it's the best value sim I've found. They are part of Three, so good 4G coverage too. 

Sorry Floss I missed your post. Daz was the most recent poster when I started my long reply . A couple of lines in I decided to make a hot chocolate. You're a bit further up the coast from me but have probably had the awful weather too.

It took me a while to remember I had started a post so I'd missed two after Daz posted .

The Smarty sim sounds interesting. I looked at the message from O2 after the last top up on Jan 3rd.

 1000 texts.250 miins and 500MB of data to use before 3rd feb. It's the big bundle. I can honestly say I'm lucky to get 30 mins of call time a month.

You've mentioned unlimited calls which is what I need. I've had one of those not sleeping nights which happen often with no normal structure in daily life. We've gone from 2 or 3 appts a week to nowhere to be . Only the meds pickups and dropping the repeat slips at the surgery and doing a quick shop are what I need to do. Can't remember when I last needed to set the alarm.

I'm going to hand over looking at both the Tesco deal and the Smarty sim to dd and her BF who are very tech savvy. if the Smarty really is unlimited that's what I need.

my current phone is fine.bought online and an O2 sim added. No idea if it would need unlocking but they'll know all about that.

It's a   long time since I've noticed a post from you. I hope all is well and work isn't too stressful.

Take care

pollyx

maryb

I hope that I haven’t raised too many expectations- I don’t think my deal is still available.  But I have always found Tesco Mobile to be the cheapest available so still worth looking at as it would probably have more than enough texts and minutes unless you use your mobile instead of a landline

mothernerd

I also use Tesco and a Doro. DS3 and a sales person talked me into a second hand smart phone ages ago (I was trying to expand my business and they said a smart phone would work out cheaper than a phone and a separate digital camera) but I never really got along with it, swiping was a bit hit and miss.

When it died I gleefully skipped off on my own and got my Doro. Sales assistant did all the setting up and linking it to my clubcard etc. I think I lost that in a taxi last January whilst making an emergency dash to mum's. I went back to Tesco and picked my new Doro. Should have been £50 but only £40 if you committed to the £10 a month calls. The £10 gets tripled to £30 but the £20 of free calls expires after a month. I mainly use it for calling taxis to get us back to mum's after her appointments or to get me plus shopping to mum's/ home if it's heavy or awkward (garden stuff, freezer stuff, too big to fit on the seat of the walker plus bag on each handle). £10 credit lasts me 3 or 4 months and they've never asked for the £10 off back.

Some time in April I charged it up and couldn't find it later (no appointments etc so really not using it). I have 'done' the bedroom twice (including dismantling and upending the bed to squeeze  a set of shelves and a fridge freezer in the room) but not found it. I found the charger where I thought I'd left it in the preparations for the festivities but still no phone. I have spent most of the year deliberating on whether to splash out on a new one (maybe the flashy red one I decided wasn't 'me') just in case we return to a time when we physically attend appointments or if one of us had to be hospitalised.

Saw this yesterday
First trip booked for 2021
Hopefully off to Iceland in February
If that goes well, probably looking at Asda in March and Tesco in April.

I actually fumed when I read the Iceland line but my very black sense of humour has got me through a lot of disasters and chaos. However bleak the situation, if I can find a way to turn it into a funny story, I will.

On prepping. I asked mum if there was anything urgently needed on Thursday (still had time to amend the order to be delivered Friday). She handed me a list - gulp (I needed to take something off the order for every item I added). However some of the items (denture tablets, tinfoil, plasters and air freshener - aka poison clouds that make me choke) were all in my stores (mostly one of the two wardrobes in my room) and some items (bread, marg for spreading and for baking) were already on the order. Not sure she understands urgent - she had put lard down, but admitted the newly finished one had been in the fridge for months.

When adjusting the order (hot chocolate for me - I only have it occasionally but had two of my cup a soups the day before, feeling very poorly and ensconced on the couch with an extra hoodie and a blanket) I noticed that several items were marked as maximum allowed - carrots, onions, potatoes and I had had to put celery sticks on as whole celery were unavailable. I was allowed the 2 packs of carrots (Chantenay and bog standard) and onions (bag each of red and brown) I had put down but it looks like a further step in 'rationing' (which I approve of)

However it looks as though on the whole my system is working.  Any snags have been caused by mum. Mum has now switched from insisting we don't need any more food and parcels arriving (although she's jealous when the two neighbours facing us get deliveries) to complaining that she doesn't know what I've got stashed away. I think she's only happy when she has something to moan about. Ah well, as my adopted brother used to say - if they're talking about/ laughing at me, they aren't calling someone else.