Virgin PAYG Tariff changes

dosh37

Just received this email from Virgin Media:-

From 18th November 2019, your Pay As You Go mobile plan will work a bit differently. This will affect how much you pay for your calls and texts.

We’ll be moving you to the "Daily Plan" where; every day, the first 200 minutes of calls you make will cost £2 total, and then 1p a minute after that. This includes calls to landlines including calls to the Channel Islands and Isle of Man (starting 01, 02 or 03), Virgin Mobile phones and other UK networks. It means even if you make a 5-minute call a day or a couple of calls up to 199 minutes total a day, you’ll still pay the same £2.

It’s the same for the first 200 texts you send. They’ll cost £2 total, and then 1p a text after that. It means even if you send 1 text a day or 199 texts a day, you’ll still pay the same £2.

Your data will still cost the same. That’s £2 total for the first 200MB of data you use every day, and then £2 for the next 200MB after that.

As someone who only rarely uses a mobile phone, this seems like a very bad deal.
If I've understood it correctly, it means if I send just one text message or make one short phone call a day, it will cost me £2 every time.

Methinks it's time to switch to O2.

Inner_Zone

Or Asda mobile if you want to stay on EE's signal.

dosh37

O2 PAYG apears to be a lot cheaper:-

O2:-
Calls - 3p a min
Texts - 2p a text
Data - 1p a MB

ASDA:-
Calls - 8p a min
Texts - 4p a text
Data - 5p a MB

Inner_Zone

Yes if use choose Classic, but if you need EE's signal, an O2 SIM will be no good. Or if you don't need EE and have a 3G capable phone, 3 PAYG is the same as O2 Classic so an possible alternative, and you can get 200Mb of data per month free with a suitable SIM.

AndyPK

What were you paying before?

50p min to mobiles?

Maclocklin

My usage of Virgin PAYG is minimal, possibly 5-10 calls per month. This means that PAYG will cost me £10-£20.
This is very expensive - I don't think this should be called PAYG but a bundle!

bubieyehyeh

There is also 1p mobile who use ee network, but it requires a £10 top-up every 4 months (so £30pa), but rates are better than o2/three, ie. 1p/min/text/Mb.

PixelPound

There's a cost to keep a number active, and some low users who use it mainly for incoming calls so this is a way to either get more or get rid of them as currently uneconomical.

Can't see who the new tariff would appeal to, where there aren't better deals.

Rich2808

So in theory you could just send one text a day and pay £62 a month? And I assume the calls on top - so one call and one text a day and you could pay £124 a month? Seriously?

Virgin do a contract sim for £7 a month which includes 1500 mins, unlimited texts and 1GB of data.

Hopefully they will reverse this decision. Even loan sharks offer more generous rates!