Opening accounts

JoeWebber

It seems to be impossible these days to open an online financial account without a mobile, so it looks as though I’m going to have to bite the bullet.

I have a mobile but have never needed the phone function. Since I am only going to use it to receive texts from banks etc, what is the absolute cheapest way to achieve this.

missile

Lebara @ £1.48/month seems a good option for you? SIM Only Deals: Compare our best in November 2024 - Uswitch

lr1277

Be careful of Lebara. Whilst I have never had an account with them, opinions on this board are not favourable towards customer service nor leaving the service should you wish. Do a search for Lebara on this board and then make you mind up.

@missile are you the same person who started a thread a couple of threads down (at the time of writing) slamming Lebara?

Edited to add: I realise you didn't have a problem with text messages but did have poor customer service. For me poor customer service would be a reason to not sign up for a service.

badmemory

Do you have to have a monthly one.  I don't, I just have one that I hardly ever use myself but gets the passcodes that they insist on sending.  I just top it up every couple of years with £10.

EssexExile

badmemory said:

Do you have to have a monthly one.  I don't, I just have one that I hardly ever use myself but gets the passcodes that they insist on sending.  I just top it up every couple of years with £10.

You normally have to top up more often than that to keep them connected, check if you go for Pay as You Go. I put £10 on about twice a year.

JoeWebber

badmemory, that sounds like just what I need. Can you please give me the details of what you use? Many thanks.

JoeWebber

badmemory said:

Do you have to have a monthly one.  I don't, I just have one that I hardly ever use myself but gets the passcodes that they insist on sending.  I just top it up every couple of years with £10.

badmemory, that sounds like just what I need. Can you please give me the details of what you use? Many thanks.

badmemory

It is just a Tesco one I have had for years.  I keep expecting them to withdraw it but they never have.  The charges to other tesco ones are also discounted which helps as my son has one also but he has online stuff included too so it is more expensive.

etienneg

There's no need for a monthly contract. Several suppliers have PAYG that requires one chargeable use every so often (60/90/120/180 days) to keep the number, but does not require topping up. So, this costs only the price of a text every so often - just pence. Ones I use are RWG, ASDA and Three, but I've also heard that Tesco Lite works similarly (though more difficult to find in the first place).

savergrant

etienneg said:

There's no need for a monthly contract. Several suppliers have PAYG that requires one chargeable use every so often (60/90/120/180 days) to keep the number, but does not require topping up. So, this costs only the price of a text every so often - just pence. Ones I use are RWG, ASDA and Three, but I've also heard that Tesco Lite works similarly (though more difficult to find in the first place).

Tesco lite is harder to get onto as you need to opt out of their rocket pack option and then switch to the lite tariff. Unlikely to be worth it unless you absolutely depend on an o2 based provider. Rwg offer a sim with £1 credit for £1 and you need to make an outgoing call or text (charged at 5p pm/text) every 90 days or your account will be restricted to incoming only. You then have another 90 days to contact them to restore service and use it or you will be disconnected after 180 days without chargeable usage. Runs on ee but doesn't have full ee signal so may not be suitable for some rural areas. I have used asda without any topup in the past, their sims will work for about 12 months before you need to port away or change your number, and you may find them having rather fastidious security checks if you've never topped up before they will issue a pac (this is the experience of some people who have used asda to port out and back to get a new customer deal from lebara). They run on vodafone. For me rwg is the pick of the bunch but it might not suit everyone.

JoeWebber

Many thanks for your input. Very helpful.