Ideas for next switch please

mark9

Hi,

I switched (and ported) from Giffgaff to Lebara on a 1p per month for 6 months and am now paying the £4.90. Pretty much seamless experience and quite happy with them.

I'm very keen not to lose "my number" but the best deals at the moment seem to be with Lyca which seems not to have the best reputation if things go wrong.

I'm a low user both in minutes/text/data and have a phone capable of housing 2 physical SIMs.

I've looked at the RWG deals and not sure if the number of mins/text/data (250/250/750Mb) would be quite enough for the occasional busier month.

Given the above, I'd be interested in any ideas about where to go next/how best to utilise the 2 SIM slots/stay where I am.

Many thanks.

BaldusCattus

It may be the offer you referred to but Lyca was featured on This Morning today with a similar 1p per month / 6 months deal. 
I couldn't find it in their normal offers but you can get to it from itv's site (I can't post links yet but look up This Morning on the ITV site and go to "Chloe Carmichael's weekly deals")

What I was wary of is that it's not clear from the T&Cs whether the unlimited calls/texts and 3GB data allowance renews each month, or is only good for the first 30 days. Anyone else looked at this and have any thoughts?

Stuart_W

mark9 said:

Hi,

I've looked at the RWG deals and not sure if the number of mins/text/data (250/250/750Mb) would be quite enough for the occasional busier month.

Depending how "occassional" occassional is, you can as a one-off on RWG text ukrwg5 to 669 to get an extra 5GB of data for £5 lasting 30 days, or text ukrwg2 to 669 to get 1000 minutes/1000 texts for £3 for 30 days. Handy if these are very occassional add-ons and the £1.46/month sim (24 month deal) otherwise covers your usage. I've recently used the data one when away instead of paying for wifi access at a hotel to hotspot, it worked well. A good alternative to paying for a bundle you don't use 90% of the time.

adindas

mark9 said:

Hi,

I switched (and ported) from Giffgaff to Lebara on a 1p per month for 6 months and am now paying the £4.90. Pretty much seamless experience and quite happy with them.

I'm very keen not to lose "my number" but the best deals at the moment seem to be with Lyca which seems not to have the best reputation if things go wrong.

I'm a low user both in minutes/text/data and have a phone capable of housing 2 physical SIMs.

I've looked at the RWG deals and not sure if the number of mins/text/data (250/250/750Mb) would be quite enough for the occasional busier month.

Given the above, I'd be interested in any ideas about where to go next/how best to utilise the 2 SIM slots/stay where I am.

Many thanks.

I think the problem here is that you are using the Lebara/Lyca deal like this it as your main number. Once you switch you will be depending on them.Keep in mind switch is not always going smooth and you might lose your phone number.

I have the same deal with you and I have been paying 1p and I have benefited it for almost one year, but I never switch my main number to the deal like this,

For my main number I am using O2 321 PAYG and 1p Mobile. It will not be a problem as I hardly used it to make a phone call from this number, just for receiving. I remember RWG allowance use to be lifetime allowance by paying £5 (?) I was considering to use this but now the rate has changed.

For calling and Mobile internet that is why I am benefiting this Lebara/Lyca 1p.

I have two mobile phone with dual sim, one is from a well known brand and one is cheap Chinese phone where I put this Lebara/Lyca and use it as mobile hotspot while on the way, not in the office or home.

I am open for critics and discussion if there is a better way of reducing the phone bill.

savergrant

"I'm very keen not to lose "my number" but the best deals at the moment seem to be with Lyca which seems not to have the best reputation if things go wrong.

I'm a low user both in minutes/text/data and have a phone capable of housing 2 physical SIMs."

I would suggest that having 2 sim slots you are very well-placed.  I would go with rwg as your main number and then get a cheap deal for the second slot as a backup. Although to be fair rwg are pretty reasonably priced for payg if you do go over occasionally.

datz

adindas said:

I think the problem here is that you are using the Lebara/Lyca deal like this it as your main number. Once you switch you will be depending on them.Keep in mind switch is not always going smooth and you might lose your phone number.

I have the same deal with you and I have been paying 1p and I have benefited it for almost one year, but I never switch my main number to the deal like this,

For my main number I am using O2 321 PAYG and 1p Mobile. It will not be a problem as I hardly used it to make a phone call from this number, just for receiving. I remember RWG allowance use to be lifetime allowance by paying £5 (?) I was considering to use this but now the rate has changed.

For calling and Mobile internet that is why I am benefiting this Lebara/Lyca 1p.

I have two mobile phone with dual sim, one is from a well known brand and one is cheap Chinese phone where I put this Lebara/Lyca and use it as mobile hotspot while on the way, not in the office or home.

I am open for critics and discussion if there is a better way of reducing the phone bill.

That's actually pretty similar to my approach.

Since I posted this in another thread recently, I'll just take the lazy option and copy/paste, instead of rewriting it.

datz said:

I have not been PACing my numbers around for a while now. Too much of a headache when it goes wrong, as you discovered, and there is a (small) risk of losing the number due to incompetence along the way. And some providers really do have some terrible customer service.

I just leave my numbers on a cheap (traditional) pay as you go sim (atm O2 Classic is probably the best attainable one from the big 4 providers, and can still be had new on ebay - certainly more options if you do look beyond the big 4, but I trust them less). Just make sure you do whatever is needed to keep it active (e.g. chargeable event/call every x days).

Then I will get whatever cheap sim-only deal I can get and run it as a (dual) second sim - using that second sim for data and outgoing calls/texts (disabling/changing caller ID on that sim so people don't see my temporary number).

If you have dual (physical) sim slots in your phone, then you have a lot more options open to you. I've been using the Lyca 1p offer for 6 months in those of my devices that do have two physical sim slots. I don't trust Lyca, so I set up a multi-use virtual card on Revolut specifically for them, and set a ~5p / month spending limit on it. At least I don't have to worry about erroneous payments or my offer mysteriously disappearing and getting charged the higher amount. Then just discard and grab new sims as necessary.

If your dual SIM phone uses eSIM in place of the second physical slot, then your options are more limited (as only EE, O2, Vodafone offer eSIM options - 3 should be offering them again soon) - correction: now Lyca offer them too but it is a little more convoluted to transfer a MSE offer to an eSIM. In this case, I usually just pick up a cheap deal from one of them with enough data and stack cashback offers on it (from Quidco or Topcashback). Currently on Vodafone Basics 40gb for the equivalent of £5.60/month for that device.

mark9

Thanks for the comments and the clear explanations.

I'll give the options some more thought.

Cheers.

MiserlyMartin

datz said:

correction: now Lyca offer them too but it is a little more convoluted to transfer a MSE offer to an eSIM.

Convoluted it may be, but its worth it to get the MSE deal on an esim. How do you do it? Let me guess, sign up for a esim first with Lyca, then take the MSE sim deal,  then somehow port your MSE deal number to the esim one?

savergrant

Activated in your account it would seem;
"How to swap physical SIM with eSIM

To swap a physical SIM with an eSIM, you can follow these steps:

1. Check if your device is compatible with eSIM.
2. Login to my account section; make a request to swap your physical SIM with an eSIM.
3. You will provided with a QR code that you can scan using the device you want to install the eSIM on. The QR code will be displayed in my account section or sent to you via email.
4. On your device, go to the settings and select "Mobile Data" or "Cellular Data".
5. Look for the option to add a new plan or scan a QR code to activate an eSIM.
6. Scan the QR code provided by your carrier using your device's camera.
7. Follow the instructions to activate the eSIM.
8. Once the eSIM is activated, your current plan will be transferred to the eSIM and your physical SIM will be deactivated."

datz

MiserlyMartin said:

datz said:

correction: now Lyca offer them too but it is a little more convoluted to transfer a MSE offer to an eSIM.

Convoluted it may be, but its worth it to get the MSE deal on an esim. How do you do it? Let me guess, sign up for a esim first with Lyca, then take the MSE sim deal,  then somehow port your MSE deal number to the esim one?

@MiserlyMartin - That's not too far off...

• Order physical sim via MSE deal and wait for it to arrive (physical currently being the only option for MSE deals)
  
• Create account with the phone and puk numbers
• Order another payg sim directly from the Lyca website, this time choosing the available eSIM option
  
• Remove the £5 credit they automatically apply to it
• Complete the (now free) purchase
• Wait for the email containing the new eSIM details
• You need the eSIM puk code and iccid numbers from that email so make a note of these
  
• Log back into the original account you created and request a SIM swap via the form there
• Then follow the eSIM process on your device (as usual) and scan the QR code you were given.

At least this was the process I had to run through for a relative at the start of April (btw thanks to those here for letting me know eSIM was a new option on Lyca). Anyway, hopefully this is something that they will streamline in the future (or since we are talking about Lyca, probably not? /cynicism).

jimjames

mark9 said:

Hi,

I switched (and ported) from Giffgaff to Lebara on a 1p per month for 6 months and am now paying the £4.90. Pretty much seamless experience and quite happy with them.

It might be a controversial view on MSE but if it's working and you're happy with them is there any reason to switch? It's still a decent price, I'm sticking with Lebara for my main number now the deal has expired. I still only pay £6.90 a month which is less than I was paying and gives roaming too.