Missing features on PAYG

Pat38493

I'm probably not the first to ask this but I didn't find it in the search.

I am currently on PAYG with O2, and considering switch to pay monthly as I will be stopping work in the next couple of years and this will become my only phone.

However looking into it, on a pure cost point of view it doesn't make sense - I am currently paying £10 per month for more than I need, and the cheapest Pay Monthly is £12 a month and locks me in to an frankly outrageous price increase of RPI+3.9%

Therefore the only reason to do this would be on missing features.  I am aware of a few but is there a list anywhere?

- Wifi calling - seems like most UK networks don't offer wifi calling on PAYG and this might be the clincher as the signal is not great in my house.  Do any UK networks offer wifi calling on PAYG?
- Call forwarding - not available on PAYG but not sure if I need it anyway.
- Ability to add apple watch mobile on the side (again don't really need this at the moment).
- Other?

flaneurs_lobster

Sounds like your current PAYG option is just fine for your usage. PAYG can get expensive if you have a need to make additional calls or use data above your usual pattern. 

Three and EE have wi-fi calling on PAYG tariffs (along with some of their MVNOs eg 1p, Smarty (1 mth contracts) (with all the usual caveats about your particular phone being able to use them).

Pat38493

flaneurs_lobster said:

Sounds like your current PAYG option is just fine for your usage. PAYG can get expensive if you have a need to make additional calls or use data above your usual pattern. 

Three and EE have wi-fi calling on PAYG tariffs (along with some of their MVNOs eg 1p, Smarty (1 mth contracts) (with all the usual caveats about your particular phone being able to use them).

Thanks that’s helpful.  I had googled about the Wi-Fi calling and I stumbled upon a page that said EE do not have Wi-Fi calling on PAYG, but when I go directly to their website it says that all customers get Wi-Fi calling so I guess the first page I looked at must have been an obsolete link.

I guess I can just port my current PAYG O2 number to EE then.

flaneurs_lobster

Again, take those assurances about wi-fi calling being "available" to mean it might work on your phone.

Don't know enough about your call/data usage to make direct comparisons but you might look at 1p mobile (uses EE network). 

ProDave

Personal experience.  O2 and Sky Mobile (uses the O2 network) could never get wifi calling to work on my phone (Samsung Galaxy A3)  They said it was enabled, and the phone should support it, but the menu option to even turn it on was missing (which suggests in spite of what they say it was not enabled on the sim)  This was with pay monthly.

Switching to 1P Mobile (EE network) on PAYG and immediately the wifi calling option appeared in the phones menu and it works.

Also both Sky mobile and O2 directly offered unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 2GB data per month for £6.  I would have stayed with either if only they had got wifi calling to work for me.

Pat38493

ProDave said:

Personal experience.  O2 and Sky Mobile (uses the O2 network) could never get wifi calling to work on my phone (Samsung Galaxy A3)  They said it was enabled, and the phone should support it, but the menu option to even turn it on was missing (which suggests in spite of what they say it was not enabled on the sim)  This was with pay monthly.

Switching to 1P Mobile (EE network) on PAYG and immediately the wifi calling option appeared in the phones menu and it works.

Also both Sky mobile and O2 directly offered unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 2GB data per month for £6.  I would have stayed with either if only they had got wifi calling to work for me.

I've seen in the past that this can also be influenced by router setups - with my old home router I could never get wifi calling working on Iphones (calls kept cutting out after a minute or so) but worked fine for people with some Android phones.  Latest Sky router seems to work fine on Wifi calling with both iphone and Android (at least with the models that any of us in this house has).

savergrant

It does look as though the 1pmobile 10gb for £10pm is the best option for you right now, same price as you are paying for more data (I'm guessing you are on the 7gb plan currently advertised) and the smart features you were looking for. Check your postcode for ee coverage though.

A little bit concerning though that they talk about autotopup as if it is compulsory, so you would need to keep your balance above £2 to stop them taking £10 off your payment card.

simax

O2 is the only network from the “Big 4” not to offer Wi-Fi Calling to PAYG customers. MVNO’s will of course differ.