Recommendation for pay as you go sims please

sc123_2

Hi,I want to buy a sim card for my daughters (one card between them) purely for use in emergencies when they are away on contact visits. It would hardly be used. I know that there are a lot of pay as you go sims available but most have at least a minimum £10 top up. I doubt very much whether £10 a month would be used. Has anyone got any ideas of the best sim to get, preferably O2 as that is what I am on. Also what happens if you don't top up £10 a month. Is there such a thing as a pay as you go without having to top up monthly.Thanks in advance.

webtalk

I have Vodafone and tend to top up about three times a year.

mobilejunkie

You can buy a Vodafone sim for £2 with £2 ccredit on-line. To keep it alive you need to make one call every 6 months. Orange are also currently offering a free sim. Virgin did recenlly (with £5 free credit). I'm pretty sure you can still get a free O2 sim (or maybe two) as well. Shops charge about £10 for a PAYT sim and may not have much (if any) credit on them as far as I'm aware. It's cheap and easy to keep them alive if you are organised. I have tons of minutes and texts on contracts BUT like to hold them in reserve in case I can't get those free later.

redux

sc123 wrote: »

Is there such a thing as a pay as you go without having to top up monthly.

None of them actually oblige you to top up monthly; it's just that some bonus packages depend on it.

Most SIMs require you to make or receive a call every 180 days, though Vodafone and the Carphone Warehouse brands fresh and Mobile World require outgoing and more often like 60 or 90 days. Virgin tends to be longer still, possibly over a year.

Although there are several tariff options on each, 15 pence a minute to other mobiles seems fairly common but not universal. If there won't be much use, there isn't a lot to choose between them

On the other hand, if the calls could actually be quite long when you do make them, you could look at packages like Vodafone Family or Stop-the-clock, or favourite number options on O2, or Mates Rates on T-mobile, some of which would work better if you get another SIM on the same network

NewbieMoneySaver**

I think you will find somewhere on here that you can get free sim cards sent to you.I have started doing this a few weeks ago from another post on here and now have a collection of 10-15 all with credit on them.Just take a look at the this, its there somewhere: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=37

random456

Virgin let you top up by 5 pounds and i dont think there' s a usage limit, if there is, it wont be less than 6 months. Virgin to virgin calls are very cheap and texts are 3p (loyal customer for 4 years, switched from tmobile)

random456

also my local post office is selling sims for £1.99 if you don't want to wait for one to get posted.

diamonds

vodafone...get 3 sims ( one for you ) top up £10 on your sim & for £4 a month and you 3 can all talk to each other unlimited with
Vodafone Family

Edinburghlass_2

Personally with a family and the usage you require I'd go for an Orange sim as you can then get the 2 for 1 offer at the cinema on Orange Wednesdays.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/freesimcard?WT.mc_id=ConFreGeAdd_0978

You only need to text or make a call something like once every six months/year to keep the sim active and there is no need to top up every month.

ariba10

A pity you do not live closer.

Virgin has sent me a free P A Y G sim with £5 of credit on it.

mobilejunkie

Register it on-line and they'll give you another £2.