SIM credit that does not expire

marlot

Redrado said:

The deals I have with RWG are no longer available but their current offerings all offer good value. Order a free SIM and top it up with a fiver.

Thank you. The 2 year SIM deal seems OK, as it works out to £1.45 a month and gives 250 mins, 250 sms and 2G data.
But I'll order the free SIM and then top up as you suggest once the SIM arrives, and then see how it goes with them before going further.

Their charges for non bundle calls/sms are high at 50p per min/50p per text, but this means that (if I've read their info right), it will cost me £1 per year to keep my phone number which I am fine with.

If you're putting £5 on a PAYG sim, you'll get the PAYG prices.

VOICE: 5p min UK landline/mobile 

SMS: 5p/SMS 

DATA: 1p/MB 

Redrado

marlot said:

If you're putting £5 on a PAYG sim, you'll get the PAYG prices.

VOICE: 5p min UK landline/mobile 

SMS: 5p/SMS 

DATA: 1p/MB 

But are those rates only for calls/text made while in the UK?

savergrant

"I am overseas a lot and so I don't have a UK mobile. But I need a UK mobile number to receive bank texts (OTP) in order to access my UK bank account online. I have used the bank's mobile app so far but some things can't be done that way.
So I need a UK SIM card which doesn't put demands on me to use for making outgoing calls or texts, and any credit doesn't expire. I may use the phone for an occasional call or text but its unlikely."

How often do you return to the UK?
It may be possible to get a cheap for six months deal then port your number to a new sim and new deal before the cheap deal ends. But you would need to be in the UK to request and use the pac.

savergrant

"Their charges for non bundle calls/sms are high at 50p per min/50p per text, but this means that (if I've read their info right), it will cost me £1 per year to keep my phone number which I am fine with."

I think those are the prices for North Korea. Most countries are around the 15p per min or text mark.

BUT I am not sure how long you can maintain a UK mobile number if you are not using it to make calls or texts while in the UK.

Redrado

savergrant said:

I think those are the prices for North Korea. Most countries are around the 15p per min or text mark.

BUT I am not sure how long you can maintain a UK mobile number if you are not using it to make calls or texts while in the UK.

What they say near the bottom of their Rates & Plans page of their website is not clear to me.

RWG don't actually show a cost for calling from the EU/outside the EU into the UK.
The prices they show (by selecting a country from a dropdown menu) seems only to be for calling/texting non UK numbers from the UK, not calling/texting the UK when you are outside the UK, or calling/texting other countries than the country where you are currently located.
I am not likely to make any calls/texts outside of the EU, except perhaps the USA if other options are not available.
I do have a couple of VOIP numbers but one is a UK landline number so it cannot receive texts. It has no limits otherwise. The other is an USA number.

Your second point is not one I have considered. Perhaps someone can give an answer to this.
I did not notice anything in their terms about losing a number if I do not use it within the UK.

eDicky

Redrado said:

savergrant said:

I think those are the prices for North Korea. Most countries are around the 15p per min or text mark.

BUT I am not sure how long you can maintain a UK mobile number if you are not using it to make calls or texts while in the UK.

Your second point is not one I have considered. Perhaps someone can give an answer to this.

I did not notice anything in their terms about losing a number if I do not use it within the UK.

Exceeding a network's fair usage time limit for inclusive European roaming causes (in theory but not in practice in my experience) a reversion to roaming charges, but not a loss of service or phone number.

prowla

I've got an RWG SIM and a non-expiring limited-minutes Sky one which came with my phone.

I just have a routine where on a particular day each month I gift (EE) data to my sons phones and do a ping call on each of my mobiles.

savergrant

My thinking was whether you had to make a call or text from within the UK to meet this condition;
"You must make an outbound call or text in any 90-day period for your SIM to remain active. If you don't do this, the SIM will enter a restricted state which means you will only be able to receive inbound calls and texts..."

In that if you are outside the UK when you call you are not actually using the nowmobile network to make your call. It is a peculiarity of rwg that they distinguish between "a chargeable event" and "an outbound call or text" in that using data doesn't qualify. A restricted state in itself might not be a problem but it is a precursor to termination.
As to call charges from abroad, I understand they are reciprocal, so between the UK and another country, in that it costs the same to call the uk from the country as to make a call to it from the UK.  Worst case scenario I would expect you to have to add the cost for the country you are calling from to the cost for the country you are calling to. I would imagine a much cheaper option would be to use a local sim for these calls (local to either the country you are calling from or calling to).

Redrado

savergrant said:

I would imagine a much cheaper option would be to use a local sim for these calls (local to either the country you are calling from or calling to).

Cheaper yes, but having a local SIM defeats the purpose of what I am seeking, which is to receive OTP texts (mainly) from the UK. An overseas mobile number, which I already have, isn't acceptable to banks.
The point about calls/texts back to the UK when I am out of the UK, is in order to keep the number active, which I will be required to do. If its £1-2 or similar a small amount per year, that is no problem. I just wanted to find out what it would be.
I'll ask RWG.

mrcamp

Majority of payg sim cards just require a chargeable (outgoing text, incoming/outgoing calls) activity every 6 months. It does not matter where that chargeable activity occurs. I have had sim cards from other countries for years. If I am not visiting the country within the required 6 months, I just send an outgoing text to reset the 6 months.