Need a good PAYG Sim card for occasional calls and data use & good coverage but no contract

GustyGardenGalaxy

I only occasionally use my smartphone for making calls and going online. Any recommendations of a good Sim card deal please which does NOT tie me into any monthly payments, contracts, etc. Preferably somebody with good customer service too.

savergrant

Hi. It really depends on exactly what you mean by occasionally, and how long your calls are when you make one.
The cheapest payg rate is 1pmobile at 1p per min/sms/mb BUT if you don't topup £10 at least every 120 days they will disconnect you.
For very light users rwg mobile is more suitable as you can topup £5 with no requirement to topup ever again, just to make one call or text every three months (if you don't they might put a restriction on your account which they will remove if you call). Rates are 5p/5p/1p.
Both 1p and rwg run on ee signal.

Otherwise there are a plethora of 30 day plans available where you just pay for a month upfront and can cancel any time. 

maisie_cat

For peace of mind we provide FIL with a giffgaff £8/mth sim in the phone we gave him. 

savergrant

maisie_cat said:

For peace of mind we provide FIL with a giffgaff £8/mth sim in the phone we gave him. 

Wow, you can get unlimited calls and texts with a data allowance for under £5 pm. If it is only for a quick call every couple of months I would suggest you look at rwg (£5 topup could last years)

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

ProDave

savergrant said:

Hi. It really depends on exactly what you mean by occasionally, and how long your calls are when you make one.
The cheapest payg rate is 1pmobile at 1p per min/sms/mb BUT if you don't topup £10 at least every 120 days they will disconnect you.

Whilst you have to "top up" £10 every 120 days with 1pmobile, if you have topped up and not used the credit, they allow you to do your every 120 day top up from your existing credit.  I think someone calculated with light usage you could probably get your annual cost down to about £24

e.g start with a £10 top up to get you going, top up with £10 after 120 days then at 240 days top up by spending £10 of your unused credit.

savergrant

I worked out that if 1pmobile continue to offer customers the option to deduct £10 of credit to prolong their service (which appears to be concessionary as there is no mention of this in t&c's) then it is possible to run down the initial £10 credit and alternately topping up and sacrificing, equating to a charge for providing connection of £1.25 pm after the initial 120 days. The initial £10 will give enough credit for 1000 minutes or 1000 texts. In comparison a £10 topup on rwg would give you 200 minutes or texts but no ongoing charge. So if you used 1000 minutes pa 1pmobile would cost £20, rwg £50. However if you used 100 mins pa 1pmobile would equate to £15 pa, rwg £5 pa. 1pmobile's ideal profile is using 3000 minutes/texts pa for £30.

jimjames

Tesco PAYG does what you want. I topped up £10 nearly 3 years ago and still have £6 left

BUFF

think that it would need to be Tesco Lite though https://www.tescomobile.com/help/payments-and-charges/call-charges/pay-as-you-go-lite

savergrant

jimjames said:

Tesco PAYG does what you want. I topped up £10 nearly 3 years ago and still have £6 left

Is that at their current 25p per minute rate?
Quite tricky to get onto that tariff, by default a topup buys a rocket pack for the month.
Or is it on a tariff which is no longer available to new customers? (I can heartily recommend the rwg free bundles with £5 or £15 topup but you can't get them anymore so it doesn't really help the op).

savergrant

BUFF said:

think that it would need to be Tesco Lite though https://www.tescomobile.com/help/payments-and-charges/call-charges/pay-as-you-go-lite

Thanks. Yes it is available but you need to switch to it from their default tariff BEFORE topping up. Its' rates are 8p/4p/10p and I haven't looked closely at t&c's to see whether there are any topup requirements. To be honest most networks are slack at enforcing requirements but it is best to be safe.