Which sim only deals support short codes

sempernova73

I have one of my children on a smarty data sim, but it does not support texts to short codes. He sometime struggles with mental health issues and has wanted to reach out to the mental harm chat services in the middle of the night but the sim won’t allow it. I now want to switch his sim to a provider who will support short codes, Do any of the monthly data sims do this, in this case cost is second to a service that could potentially save a life so if I have to go on a contract I will, but thought I would ask the forum. BTW smarty is near impossible to contact to complain about this issue.

flaneurs_lobster

Do you really mean a data-only SIM? Data-only means no texts (to short codes or any other numbers) and no calls.

Regardless of this Smarty, as you say, does not support texts to short codes.

Someone may know of a comprehensive list of operators that do (or do not) support short codes but in the meantime people can 
confirm their own service(s) that do:

PAYM Vodafone
1p Mobile
PAYM O2
giffgaff

JSmithy45AD

sempernova73 said:

I have one of my children on a smarty data sim, but it does not support texts to short codes. He sometime struggles with mental health issues and has wanted to reach out to the mental harm chat services in the middle of the night but the sim won’t allow it. I now want to switch his sim to a provider who will support short codes, Do any of the monthly data sims do this, in this case cost is second to a service that could potentially save a life so if I have to go on a contract I will, but thought I would ask the forum. BTW smarty is near impossible to contact to complain about this issue.

From a quick look I found the Shout website which states:-

"What mobile phone networks can I text Shout from?

You can text Shout 85258 free and anonymously from all major UK networks. It is free and confidential to text our service from the following major networks: EE, O2, Three and Vodafone. These include – BT Mobile, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Mobile, iD Mobile, Sky, Telecom Plus, Lebara and GiffGaff.

If you are contacting us from a network listed above, and the service does not appear to be working for you, please reply with your mobile phone number and network provider at info@giveusashout.org. We need this information to be able to investigate the circumstances.

Some Android phones, including the Samsung Galaxy handset, issue a warning that you will be charged for texting us. Provided you are on one of the networks listed here, this warning is incorrect and you will not be charged."

https://giveusashout.org/about-us/faq/

Note that I've no experience of them and other services may well charge. Do check with the provider to make sure the above list is up to date.

sempernova73

Thanks guys, sorry for the confusing I meant sim only ( calls, data and text). 

Shout was the text he was trying to send to.
I have now gone for a 30 day 30gb contract with ID so hopefully that should work, and if it doesn’t I can cancel. 

RosieCM

Hi there, I'm a newbie, first post.

I'm looking to join a 'piggyback' phone provider.   Looking for 5G, EU Roaming included, Wifi calling and short code messaging.  Is there a provider which offers all this? I nearly went for SMARTY but they don't do the short codes and I often donate to charity.   Desperate to leave Vodafone as so expensive and every time I phone I get a message that my data has run out, when I have about 8 G unused!. Any advice welcome. 

flaneurs_lobster

WhatRosieCM said:

Hi there, I'm a newbie, first post.

I'm looking to join a 'piggyback' phone provider.   Looking for 5G, EU Roaming included, Wifi calling and short code messaging.  Is there a provider which offers all this? I nearly went for SMARTY but they don't do the short codes and I often donate to charity.   Desperate to leave Vodafone as so expensive and every time I phone I get a message that my data has run out, when I have about 8 G unused!. Any advice welcome. 

What's your budget? How much data needed? Why only MVNOs? 

How about o2. £6 for 10GB via Uswitch - meets all your listed criteria (might even be a tenner cashback).

JSmithy45AD

I was going to suggest O2 myself (they're on MSE's website too for the same deal), there's also 3 on MSE's own comparison site at £8 for 30GB plus £85 gift card for a 2 year contract which has 5G and WiFi calling, no free roaming for either though.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/

JSmithy45AD

JSmithy45AD said:

I was going to suggest O2 myself (they're on MSE's website too for the same deal), there's also 3 on MSE's own comparison site at £8 for 30GB plus £85 gift card for a 2 year contract which has 5G and WiFi calling, no free roaming for either though.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/

Ahh, there is a Free Roaming option at the bottom of the filters on MSE's site, just put a checkmark in it along with 5G and WiFi calling plus whatever data you need. There's lot's of options there. You'll need to check shortcode capability separately.

mafield

I don’t understand why short codes don’t work with SMARTY when they are part of, and use the THREE network. Is there a way around this?