contract tends to be a bad deal for me, should I avoid it always?

darto150

I got a contract a while ago I think it's maybe 5GB 3 years  £10 a month.. But then my experience has been that after 2 years or so, you can get 10GB £10 a month, PAYG.
No new phone with it 'cos I don't want to pay over £10 a month.
So is contract always a bad deal eg if not getting a new phone with it as is the case with me?

oldernonethewiser

It depends.

Some of the rolling 30 day deals offer good value.

I try never to have any contract over 12 months.

Current is £8 per month for 40GB (12 month contract)

J_B

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

Neil_Jones

darto150 said:

I got a contract a while ago I think it's maybe 5GB 3 years  £10 a month.. But then my experience has been that after 2 years or so, you can get 10GB £10 a month, PAYG.
No new phone with it 'cos I don't want to pay over £10 a month.
So is contract always a bad deal eg if not getting a new phone with it as is the case with me?

Depends how much you use your phone.

If you're on it all day every day and burn through calls/texts/data like there's no tomorrow its a no brainer.

If you only use it on occasion for one call/text a month then you might as well just pour £10 down the drain, as  PAYG is cheaper in that situation.

zagfles

It's not just how much you use but whether your usage varies through the year. I usually use very little as can use wifi at home, work, friends & relatives houses etc, but when on holiday I use a lot more. So a fixed xGB per month would be useless for me. 

So I use PAYG and buy bundles when I expect my usage to be high. That's the main advantage of PAYG, you can vary how much you're buying every month rather than commit to a fixed amount of data, calls and texts for a whole year.

Murmansk

I recommend 1pMobile as you can buy bundles, which they call boosts, when you need more data or you can just eat away at your balance at 1p per minute, mb or text when you don't need much. Their website is very well organised and clear. They use the EE network and do wi-fi calling. Read about them on the SIM Sherpa website https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/1p-mobile/review-and-guide?src=nav

Neil_Jones

The only issue with 1pMobile is that you need to top up at an average of every 120 days with a minimum of £10, though the more you shove on it the further that gets kicked down the line according to their website:

Top up by £10 and your next top-up won't be due for another 120 days
Top up by £15 and your next top-up won't be due for another 180 days
Top up by £20 and your next top-up won't be due for another 240 days
...
Top up by £50 and your next top-up won't be due for another 600 days

This effectively makes it £2.50 per month, whether you use it or not; its not a true PAYG provider to my mind where you just shove £10 on it and that lasts as long as you're an active user/chargeable activity...

zagfles

Neil_Jones said:

The only issue with 1pMobile is that you need to top up at an average of every 120 days with a minimum of £10, though the more you shove on it the further that gets kicked down the line according to their website:

Top up by £10 and your next top-up won't be due for another 120 days
Top up by £15 and your next top-up won't be due for another 180 days
Top up by £20 and your next top-up won't be due for another 240 days
...
Top up by £50 and your next top-up won't be due for another 600 days

This effectively makes it £2.50 per month, whether you use it or not; its not a true PAYG provider to my mind where you just shove £10 on it and that lasts as long as you're an active user/chargeable activity...

I think all PAYG requires some chargeable usage even if it's just 10p every 6 months, so all require topups at some interval even it's once every 10 years, so there are no "true" PAYG providers in that sense!

But yes for very low users there are better options than 1pmobile, but for anyone who tends to spend at least £2.50 a month they are one of the better providers, and they include free EU roaming.

savergrant

zagfles said:

Neil_Jones said:

The only issue with 1pMobile is that you need to top up at an average of every 120 days with a minimum of £10, though the more you shove on it the further that gets kicked down the line according to their website:

Top up by £10 and your next top-up won't be due for another 120 days
Top up by £15 and your next top-up won't be due for another 180 days
Top up by £20 and your next top-up won't be due for another 240 days
...
Top up by £50 and your next top-up won't be due for another 600 days

This effectively makes it £2.50 per month, whether you use it or not; its not a true PAYG provider to my mind where you just shove £10 on it and that lasts as long as you're an active user/chargeable activity...

I think all PAYG requires some chargeable usage even if it's just 10p every 6 months, so all require topups at some interval even it's once every 10 years, so there are no "true" PAYG providers in that sense!

But yes for very low users there are better options than 1pmobile, but for anyone who tends to spend at least £2.50 a month they are one of the better providers, and they include free EU roaming.

From another thread on here tesco lite tariff considers a prank call to be a qualifying outgoing call, so if you wanted a number for incoming calls and extremely rare emergency usage that would be ideal (the poster also managed to get a complimentary £10 topup although may have paid £1 for a regular tesco sim instore).

savergrant

Neil_Jones said:

The only issue with 1pMobile is that you need to top up at an average of every 120 days with a minimum of £10, though the more you shove on it the further that gets kicked down the line according to their website:

Top up by £10 and your next top-up won't be due for another 120 days
Top up by £15 and your next top-up won't be due for another 180 days
Top up by £20 and your next top-up won't be due for another 240 days
...
Top up by £50 and your next top-up won't be due for another 600 days

This effectively makes it £2.50 per month, whether you use it or not; its not a true PAYG provider to my mind where you just shove £10 on it and that lasts as long as you're an active user/chargeable activity...

The point is that there are many users on 1pmobile who built up large credit balances and then found themselves disconnected. Most networks apply restrictions which their customer services can lift whereas 1p go straight for disconnection. But you pay your money you take your choice.

zagfles

savergrant said:

Neil_Jones said:

The only issue with 1pMobile is that you need to top up at an average of every 120 days with a minimum of £10, though the more you shove on it the further that gets kicked down the line according to their website:

Top up by £10 and your next top-up won't be due for another 120 days
Top up by £15 and your next top-up won't be due for another 180 days
Top up by £20 and your next top-up won't be due for another 240 days
...
Top up by £50 and your next top-up won't be due for another 600 days

This effectively makes it £2.50 per month, whether you use it or not; its not a true PAYG provider to my mind where you just shove £10 on it and that lasts as long as you're an active user/chargeable activity...

The point is that there are many users on 1pmobile who built up large credit balances and then found themselves disconnected. Most networks apply restrictions which their customer services can lift whereas 1p go straight for disconnection. But you pay your money you take your choice.

Then they chose the wrong provider. As already mentioned, 1pmobile aren't suited to very low users, ie those who use it just for emergencies or a few calls a year. But OP uses about 5GB so isn't in that category.