Disappearing money.

Chucksmum

My son has a phone which he very rarely uses, never for data and  only to make emergency calls. He has been a pay as you go vodaphone customer for years. As he doesn't use his phone they keep taking his credit off him. Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to have access to a network paying as little as possible for not using it please?

Mark_d

If you order a free PAYG SIM from Asda Mobile:
"As long as you use some mobile data or make a chargeable call or text once every 180 days, your credit won’t expire."

mebu60

Send an SMS every 180 days. Perhaps aim to do every 4 months. 

He should be receiving an SMS from Vodaphone after 90 days of non use as a warning. 

HaroldWhistler

Chucksmum said:

My son has a phone which he very rarely uses, never for data and  only to make emergency calls. He has been a pay as you go vodaphone customer for years. As he doesn't use his phone they keep taking his credit off him. Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to have access to a network paying as little as possible for not using it please?

Usually the main networks require someone to use a phone at least every 6 months or so (depending on the network) to keep the SIM "active." That can mean sending a text or making a phone call. Or alternatively, simply ringing the number from another phone (receiving a call) just to keep it active. So it would probably still be cheaper to simply ring the number (so it doesn't actually charge the Pay as you Go credit as the phone is receiving a call) within whatever the time period for Vodafone is.

The alternative would be to seek the cheapest possible monthly contract on a rolling 30 day basis. Then the SIM is always active and you aren't required to make calls. You'd be paying a monthly fee and auto renewing it until you wanted to switch network or cancel. Usually that is more expensive, but sometimes you can get MSE deals with Lebara (which uses the Vodafone network signal) for a low price. Right now, doing a search, I saw there's a 5GB Unlimited Mins and Texts plan for £1.55 a month (for 6 months) on a 30 day plan (cancel at any time) which goes up to £4.90 a month after that. You could just use a PAC code to move the number to another network and then Port back to a new MSE deal with Lebara again after that.

At that price, Pay as you Go would still likely be cheaper, but sometimes, there have been Lebara MSE deals for 1p a month. As in £0.01. For the same 6 month offer period. That would be cheaper than Pay as you Go. And since it's a monthly plan, you don't have to keep making calls to keep it active. 

It all depends on the offers at the time.

Neil_Jones

Chucksmum said:

My son has a phone which he very rarely uses, never for data and  only to make emergency calls. He has been a pay as you go vodaphone customer for years. As he doesn't use his phone they keep taking his credit off him. Can anyone tell me the cheapest way to have access to a network paying as little as possible for not using it please?

Yeah, that's what you agree to unfortunately, you have to make a chargeable action every 180 days or you lose the credit.  Data would almost certainly count, maybe just turn data on for some chatter?

Alternatively find another network; Vodafone isn't exactly cheap:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mobiles/best-pay-as-you-go-sim-cards/

eDicky

Perhaps everyone is mistakenly talking about losing the credit when there's no chargeable activity within a certain period, when this failure (usually) results in complete loss of service and phone number, not only credit.

As he doesn't use his phone they keep taking his credit off him.

To me it sounds more like he is signed up to monthly bundles which expire, the solution being to revert to 'pure' PAYG if possible on Vodafone, or another network if not.

Neil_Jones

But on PAYG when you buy a bundle it comes out of your credit.  You can't buy it if you don't have enough credit in the first place.  Bundles are primarily aimed at bumping the amount of data available to you.

Looking at Vodafone website every bundle gives you at least 20Gb data, which the OP says they don't even use, unlimited calls/texts.

PHK

eDicky said:

Perhaps everyone is mistakenly talking about losing the credit when there's no chargeable activity within a certain period, when this failure (usually) results in complete loss of service and phone number, not only credit.

As he doesn't use his phone they keep taking his credit off him.

To me it sounds more like he is signed up to monthly bundles which expire, the solution being to revert to 'pure' PAYG if possible on Vodafone, or another network if not.

I don't think this is right. 

When you don't use a phone the credit balance is removed and the account suspended. If you don't contact the provider then the account is closed. If you do contact the provider then the account is re-instated some will return the credit balance others won't. 

The only other reason would be if there is a minimum spend, in which case the credit would decrease every month/quarter If not used. 

brianposter

I frequently fail to use my EE PAYG phone for about 7 months. When the account is reinstated the relevant credit also seems to appear.

eDicky

PHK said:

eDicky said:

Perhaps everyone is mistakenly talking about losing the credit when there's no chargeable activity within a certain period, when this failure (usually) results in complete loss of service and phone number, not only credit.

As he doesn't use his phone they keep taking his credit off him.

To me it sounds more like he is signed up to monthly bundles which expire, the solution being to revert to 'pure' PAYG if possible on Vodafone, or another network if not.

I don't think this is right. 

When you don't use a phone the credit balance is removed and the account suspended. If you don't contact the provider then the account is closed. If you do contact the provider then the account is re-instated some will return the credit balance others won't.

In that case I'm the one who's mistaken, I didn't realise UK networks (all?) allow a PAYG account to be reinstated in that way. Elsewhere it's usually irretrievable, although I was able to reinstate a Dutch Lebara number a couple of times, including credit.

The OP might clarify exactly how her son's credit was 'taken'...

Murmansk

I have a relative who had a Vodafone pay as you go SIM and it was in a smartphone so each day, being a smartphone, it used a bit of data even when not really used for data by the relative, and this was enough to trigger a daily charge which made the balance on the account go down at the rate of about £30 per month. 

My relative went to a Vodafone shop and got connected to (I think) Smarty or whichever virtual operator uses the Vodafone network.