Anyone still doing proper "traditional" PAYG?

PHK

flaneurs_lobster said:

ivinsp said:

I'd encourage you to stay exactly as you are and just set your phone to 2g 😊

I agree.

There's no date yet set for O2 to even start switching off their 2G signal - so it won't be this year nor probably next.

A peruse of the O2 Community site (far more use IMHO for this kind of query than the O2 site itself) suggests that O2 are likely to kill PAYG rather than upgrading the service to allow VoLTE, WiFi Calling etc.

Could be done by just turning it off and saying "Tough" to PAYG customers (and their credit balances) much like Virgin did with their PAYG customers, or maybe a migration to Giffgaff (which they own) which can still be used in PAYG mode and also supports VoLTE. WiFi Calling, 5G & eSIM.

O2 Announced last year that they were migrating customers away from 2G and this has now started. It won't happen quickly but 2G is being reserved for emergency calls, IoT and M2M.

From October it won't be possible to roam onto 2G. Note that's not the same as existing 2G only customers who will be migrated away. 

O2 are also migrating PAYG customers to a new system and this will be complete later in the year allowing VoLTE etc.  Tesco mobile have also started the migration.  

jamesmorgan

I use Three PAYG.  I almost never use it to send texts/make calls, and don't use any data.  I use the phone as a mobile device around the house on wifi and to meet security requirements associated with many websites.  Out and about, there are a number of apps I use with downloaded data (eg Merlin and Google Maps).  The only restriction is that you have to make one chargeable event every 6 months to keep the SIM active, so I keep a diary reminder to send a text.  I've had the phone over 4 years and still have more than £8 credit from my initial £10 top-up.

Charges for PAYG usage are high though, so if I were to become a more active user it would make sense to move to a low cost monthly contract such as Giffgaff.

flaneurs_lobster

PHK said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

ivinsp said:

I'd encourage you to stay exactly as you are and just set your phone to 2g 😊

I agree.

There's no date yet set for O2 to even start switching off their 2G signal - so it won't be this year nor probably next.

A peruse of the O2 Community site (far more use IMHO for this kind of query than the O2 site itself) suggests that O2 are likely to kill PAYG rather than upgrading the service to allow VoLTE, WiFi Calling etc.

Could be done by just turning it off and saying "Tough" to PAYG customers (and their credit balances) much like Virgin did with their PAYG customers, or maybe a migration to Giffgaff (which they own) which can still be used in PAYG mode and also supports VoLTE. WiFi Calling, 5G & eSIM.

O2 Announced last year that they were migrating customers away from 2G and this has now started. It won't happen quickly but 2G is being reserved for emergency calls, IoT and M2M.

From October it won't be possible to roam onto 2G. Note that's not the same as existing 2G only customers who will be migrated away. 

O2 are also migrating PAYG customers to a new system and this will be complete later in the year allowing VoLTE etc.  Tesco mobile have also started the migration.  

Define "migrating customers".

Sending them emails saying "you must get a new phone/SIM that works on 4G because we're turning off 3G"?

Try and find a single O2 announcement that says "your 2G phone will stop working", you won't. There's a lot of "we intend to...." and "at some point..." but that 2G phone signal is good for at least the next couple of years.

Of more relevance to the OP is the continuance of PAYG on O2, that is probably going to go.

B0bbyEwing

jamesmorgan said:

I use Three PAYG.  I almost never use it to send texts/make calls, and don't use any data.  I use the phone as a mobile device around the house on wifi and to meet security requirements associated with many websites.  Out and about, there are a number of apps I use with downloaded data (eg Merlin and Google Maps).  The only restriction is that you have to make one chargeable event every 6 months to keep the SIM active, so I keep a diary reminder to send a text.  I've had the phone over 4 years and still have more than £8 credit from my initial £10 top-up.

Charges for PAYG usage are high though, so if I were to become a more active user it would make sense to move to a low cost monthly contract such as Giffgaff.

Reassuring. 
I don't mind doing that (sending a half yearly text to myself). What I want to avoid is this £5/month charge. Or even £1/month, because I simply wont use it that frequently. Last year for example I would've maybe had to have made 2 calls all year & would've received 0 calls.
This year I'd be at 2 calls already unfortunately & received 1 call.

tawmjk

I'm using 1p mobile and it is almost a traditional PAYG, you load up some credit and you spend it at 1p per minute calls, 1p per text and 1p per MB of data.  The stinger is that they require you to spend at least £10 every quarter and if you don't then they deduct the difference anyway.  I rarely spend £5 each quarter (I have mobile data switched on all the time too) so I am losing about £20 a year unspent.

I keep it for the cheap EU data plan.

But to me, this is PAYG, I am not paying £5 / £10 for a monthly plan with a misleading name.  I may look into EE again as they did have a real PAYG yet I saw that the rates were higher.

Phones4Chris

Frozen_up_north said:

Phones4Chris said:

You are the one missing the point. For anyone who only needs to make/receive the very occasional odd call or text, it IS a waste of money. Especially for example to anyone on a tight budget or basic state pension!

The real issue for anyone expecting to top up a phone once a year (or less often), is that they expect their network to provide a service for almost free, hence why few networks continue to offer "traditional" PAYG.,

Where did you get that ridiculous idea from, I doubt most "expect" it to be provide for free, whilst "most" would want the best deal available that suits their needs, after all this is a money saving website! Someone else made a similar daft comment - ah this -

Emmia said:

The network you use to receive texts and potentially make a call on costs money to run and maintain, what you're essentially asking for is for other customers to subside your use... 

£1 a week isn't an unreasonable cost for what you get.

Total nonsense in my view. It's the same signals as contract, and they are only used when you switch your phone on, and even then resources are not being used until you start a call, text or use data, which you then pay for.
If one took that argument to it's logical extreme, you could start to say well 12/18month contracts are being subsidised by others, so we'll only have 24 month contracts. Utter bull.

At the end of the day all MNOs offer PAYG, it's simply a matter of what they charge for it. Most current tariffs are in the 35p/min per call bracket etc. except Vodafone's PAYG1 (sorry typo - PAYG2  )   All require a chargeable event every 180days/6 months, see individual Ts&Cs.
Many VMNOs also offer some PAYG but quite a lot have different conditions for the usage (and charges that go with it).
The reason that prices are as they are is the hope that it might entice more to move to a contract - so they can screw more money out of a customer, that's effectively what Vodafone have done with PAYG1/2 but at the end of the day they have OUR money (the credit) in their bank account.
All of this is to keep the greedy bean counters happy, nothing to do with "network costs" !

flaneurs_lobster

Phones4Chris said:

It's the same signals as contract, and they are only used when you switch your phone on, and even then resources are not being used until you start a call, text or use data, which you then pay for.

Agree with a lot of what you say apart from the resource being used when the phone's on - the network needs to "register" a switched-on phone onto its network, and will continue to do so to allow calls (and billing data) to be routed correctly. Will also hand-over to another "cell" if the phone is mobile (in the moving sense).