Parents on 3G Tesco PAYG. Advice needed

Jt1975

My elderly parents are both on Tesco PAYG and have been for over 10 years.  My mum might top up £20 per year and my dad about £10 per year. They don’t use their phones much mainly to make calls to me and to use in emergency.
 3G is getting turned off and now I have to look for a decent plan each (maybe a family plan) and 4g phones. They both have Doro clamshell phones now but my mum wants a smart phone next for taking photos.
 Any decent plans out there ? Thanks 

lr1277

When you say decent plan do you mean:

1) phone comes as part of the plan

2) you buy the phone outright and get a SIM only plan

Tesco is on the O2 network. Do your parents live in an area with good reception for some or all networks? Or are they limited to the O2 netword? You (and they) need to consider where the phone will be used. Again, where do they use their phone: home, town, shopping etc. These answers might determine which network is best and therefore lead to the better/best plans.

PHK

Any phone you buy now will need some sort of data allowance even if small. 

Generally phone calls and texts are so cheap that the cost is driven by how much data. 

The answer here is what you mother is going to do with the photos. (eg send them to people, store them online, upload to a laptop etc) and if they will be able to operate on WiFi only at home.  

Jt1975

I prefer to buy a sim only deal and get phone separately.
 I call them every day on their landline but they go out for a meal 3 times a week so I call them at the pub or they might call me from there. My dad will use his phone when he’s at the supermarket to ask my mum something, and that’s it for phone calls. So that’s basically the calls they make.

my mum will take a photo maybe once a year so it won’t be uploaded anywhere, she doesn’t want to be left out when others are taking photos.

you see the problem I have !

PHK

For your mum, I would go for a plan that includes a small amount of data in case she turns anything on or does an update away from the WiFi at home. Something like RWGs SIM at £45 a year. This will give her all the calls, texts she needs and enough data to allow for mishaps out of home. 

For your dad, it doesn't seem to matter much what he goes for as his usage is so low. He might as well stay on Tesco. 

lr1277

RWG is on the EE network.

For a long time I thought the EE network had better coverage than the O2 network based on personal experience. I was on Virgin which was on the EE network, however when O2 and Virgin merged, I am now on the O2 network.

So near the centre of Leeds I couldn't get data (don't know about calls) on the O2 network. Whereas my friend on EE got reception.

However out in East Yorkshire, I had reception on O2 whereas my friend on EE did not.

Basically O2 might not be bad.

I agree with @PHK for your dad. As O2 seems to work for him in the places he uses the phone, he could stay on the O2 network with Tesco. Also GiffGaff I understand uses the O2 network but as I am not a customer, I don't know if they have good plans. 2nd edit: I understand for customer support, other Giffgaff customers somehow provide the support. I don't know how that compares to Tesco support. But if there is a mobile store in Tesco, your parent could always go there for support.

And if your mum gets a plan based on the EE network, between them your parents will have better coverage and more technical reslience with 2 networks than both being tied to the same network. Edited to add: that is assuming both your parents take their phones with them when out. If they both go out together, does your mum leave her phone at home as your dad has his phone? And as you sometimes call them, would you call the other parent if technical difficulties prevented you getting through to the 1st parent you called?

savergrant

Firstly 3g being turned off won't stop them being able to make calls unless I am very much mistaken. 3g is a data network not calls and 2g is not being turned off yet;
From which
'For most phone users, nothing will need to change provided your phone supports 4G services. However, some older phones, including simple phones, will no longer be able to connect to a network to use data. '
Secondly if your parents (one or both) wish to upgrade their phone to use data tescomobile should be able to send out a replacement sim to use on the same deal as before.
For your dad's current level of spending the only possibly cheaper option is rwg, their call rates are slightly cheaper than tesco and to keep the sim active you just need to make one call or text every 90 days. Most other providers require a £10 topup at least every six months.
You can try a sim from rwg for £1 to see what service is like.
For your mum it may be worth considering lebara, who do competitive deals with good value introductory prices. That said it's still going to be a hike in price from £20 a year so only do it if she wants to use her phone more. They run on vodafone and you can test the vodafone signal (for receiving) by getting a free sim from mobile.asda 

lr1277

In terms of support, my dad bought his phone from Tesco but was on a Virgin plan. However Tesco mobile staff helped him with support queries. In fact they changed his Yahoo so that if you were accessing his email on any device but his phone, a confirmation would be sent to the phone to agree to let you use the other device. But it meant no password to get into Yahoo. This was annoying whilst dad was alive. But very useful once dad passed to put the yahoo email on a different phone.

Talking of EE, my friend gets some of deal for using EE because he is BT home phone customer. However my friend is on the phone for much of the day so I don't know if his usage profile would match your mother's usage profile. I don't know if any deal will be as cheap as you want but perhaps someting to explore if your parents' are on BT?

PHK

savergrant said:

Firstly 3g being turned off won't stop them being able to make calls unless I am very much mistaken. 3g is a data network not calls and 2g is not being turned off yet;
From which
'For most phone users, nothing will need to change provided your phone supports 4G services. However, some older phones, including simple phones, will no longer be able to connect to a network to use data. '
Secondly if your parents (one or both) wish to upgrade their phone to use data tescomobile should be able to send out a replacement sim to use on the same deal as before.
For your dad's current level of spending the only possibly cheaper option is rwg, their call rates are slightly cheaper than tesco and to keep the sim active you just need to make one call or text every 90 days. Most other providers require a £10 topup at least every six months.
You can try a sim from rwg for £1 to see what service is like.
For your mum it may be worth considering lebara, who do competitive deals with good value introductory prices. That said it's still going to be a hike in price from £20 a year so only do it if she wants to use her phone more. They run on vodafone and you can test the vodafone signal (for receiving) by getting a free sim from mobile.asda 

3G is not just data it's calls as well. As for 2G, whilst it's not being switched off users are being migrated away from 2G so that it is available for IoT and M2M. O2, for example will not allow roaming onto 2G from October 2025. 

matelodave

Jt1975 said:

I prefer to buy a sim only deal and get phone separately.
 I call them every day on their landline but they go out for a meal 3 times a week so I call them at the pub or they might call me from there. My dad will use his phone when he’s at the supermarket to ask my mum something, and that’s it for phone calls. So that’s basically the calls they make.

my mum will take a photo maybe once a year so it won’t be uploaded anywhere, she doesn’t want to be left out when others are taking photos.

you see the problem I have !

Do you know how irritating that is when sitting in a pub or restaurant when someone has inconsiderately decided to initiate or receive a phone call and the spend the next ten minutes shouting down the phone

I see your problem but to you see ours

TheLeader123

If you want a cheap phone, go for the Moto E14. If you are wanting a high end phone, go with Samsung A53 5G or something