Three PAYG price increase July 2022

dosh37

As far as I can tell there is nothing to stop anyone buying a new Asda PAYG SIM card for 50p every 180 days if the the old one expires.

It would mean transferring your phone number each time.

Geoff_W

It gets worse. Just tried to log in to my My3 account. It then tells me my phone number and password don't match. This is the same number and password I have been using for years. So I attempt to re-register. I enter my phone number and a new password. I repeat the password and it says the passwords don't match! They DO MATCH!! So what the Hell is happening here? Three obviously don't want customers to claim back their money.

flaneurs_lobster

dosh37 said:

As far as I can tell there is nothing to stop anyone buying a new Asda PAYG SIM card for 50p every 180 days if the the old one expires.

It would mean transferring your phone number each time.

The problem there is the number transfer process. You can't port your number directly from Asda --> Asda, you'd need to go via another provider (a "triangular port"). The cost of activating this sacrificial SIM is at least £5 (or is it £10?).

Geoff_W

flaneurs_lobster said:

The minimum amount available to top-up online or by voucher is £5. I've topped-up my ASDA mobile account by £1 using their text service (by registering a payment card). This may be all that is needed to keep the account active. 

Could you please give a bit more detail about the 'text service' you mention. Is this the same as registering a payment card on your online account and then topping up by £1 every 180 days?

sarahTT

I will definitely take the refund and leave 3. They have been really great for six or so years but their replacing the 321 tariff last year had already made me v unhappy. However, my OH is also with 3 and he has dug out an interesting idea (I think) which perhaps can help some people.

We have an account since time immemorial with those 18185.co.uk guys (they give you cheap calls, UK and international, via their own routing) although we have almost completely stopped using them. However... since calls to their 0808 access number are free from any mobile (including those with a 3 sim ) it is perfectly possible to use them from a mobile to call somebody. Currently a UK call has a connection fee of 4p and costs 2p/min landline and 6p/min mobile. While that's not the cheapest it sure beats the 35p/min 3 will soon charge. Just a thought.

flaneurs_lobster

Geoff_W said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

The minimum amount available to top-up online or by voucher is £5. I've topped-up my ASDA mobile account by £1 using their text service (by registering a payment card). This may be all that is needed to keep the account active. 

Could you please give a bit more detail about the 'text service' you mention. Is this the same as registering a payment card on your online account and then topping up by £1 every 180 days?

Essentially, yes. The card was registered online and the top-up is a manual process. The Asda help page for their text service is here https://mobile.asda.com/support/text-service

flaneurs_lobster

Geoff_W said:

It gets worse. Just tried to log in to my My3 account. It then tells me my phone number and password don't match. This is the same number and password I have been using for years. 

I kind of have the opposite problem. I have a second Three Data Reward Sim that I haven't used in a while, thought I'd check it out in light of recent plans to no longer allow new DWSims to be registered. No service shown on phone, call to the number says "cannot be connected". I assume that it has been cancelled because of no use, but I can still log in to My3 for this number, check the (small) credit balance and can see no indication that the number is dead.

mongoose2009

RWG do a sim with 50/50/250 a mth  for free

you just have to pay £5 for the sim card which you dont lose

been with them 7 mths and i got the card for free never paid them a penny

and good CS

https://www.rwgmobile.wales/rates-plans-eng-per/

Geoff_W

sarahTT said:

We have an account since time immemorial with those 18185.co.uk guys (they give you cheap calls, UK and international, via their own routing) although we have almost completely stopped using them. However... since calls to their 0808 access number are free from any mobile (including those with a 3 sim ) it is perfectly possible to use them from a mobile to call somebody. Currently a UK call has a connection fee of 4p and costs 2p/min landline and 6p/min mobile. While that's not the cheapest it sure beats the 35p/min 3 will soon charge. Just a thought.

I've never worked out on my Pixel 4a how to make the 'follow-on' call after connecting to 18185. It's easy on my landline; after connecting I just press the phonebook icon and choose the appropriate contact. But on a mobile, while on a call (to 18185) can I bring up my contacts list without disconnecting the active call?

sarahTT

@Geoff_W I've only ever used them from the landline and there I do the same as you. Never tried that from the mobile but my resident Android wizard (otherwise known as hubby) says that in theory you can have the phone dialing pause by adding commas, with each comma creating a 2 sec pause (so one could dial 0808 1703703,,,01234 567890 or so). There's also the semicolon which seems to create a wait prompt. But I've not tested any of these.