Tesco Mobile pay-as-you-go customer? Be prepared: it may push you to buy a bundle

croaking_goat

Forgot to mention that I have read that the Tesco Mobile online account portal is being pulled and also the plastic topping up cards, so it would not be possible to top up via the online account if the app will be replacing the portal.

MindEcho

I think most people being moved to this from classic PAYG won't use data or have access to an app.

So it seems that when you move over, you'll need to actively disable auto-renew

When your number is moved, we’ll give you a free 30-day bundle based on your average usage from the previous three months.
By default, this bundle will automatically renew after 30 days as long as your top-up balance is high enough. However, you can change to a different bundle or turn off auto-renewal altogether by updating your account settings. You can do this using the Tesco Mobile app or by calling 4488 from your phone.

Then a subsequent top-up will be applied to the phone's credit.

On pay as you go Essentials, you can still use your top-up balance for calls, texts, and data, charged at our standard rates.
To do this, just make sure you’ve turned off auto-renewal. You can easily do this using the Tesco Mobile app or by calling 4488 from your phone. Once your active bundle finishes, your top-up balance will be charged when you use your phone, like a standard pay as you go tariff.

FrugaiMacDugal

Tesco Essentials.

Ways to top up

By Tesco Mobile app

• You can top up with a credit/debit card and check your balance at any time in our Tesco Mobile app.

By phone

To top-up with a voucher

• Call 4488 free from your Tesco Mobile phone.
• Call 0330 333 7755 from a landline.
  

In Tesco stores

You can buy a top-up voucher from any Tesco store, including Tesco Mobile Phone Shops. The voucher is a paper receipt with a 16-digit voucher number on it.

There is also an e-voucher option,

MindEcho

Thanks, yes I get that bit. What isn't entirely clear is how the voucher is applied to the credit/bundles - perhaps there are options if you call the number, which admittedly I haven't done yet.

So take  £10 voucher. That could either be:

• £10 credit
• £5 credit with a £5 bundle
• £10 bundle

PHK

croaking_goat said:

So this morning we received the text alerts regarding the migration to the Essentials tariff for our two oldest phones.

These Nokia 113 PAYG phones were bought from Tesco in 2013 and run on GPRS. They are evidently not 3G phones, although we were sent texts in June to say that these phones would need to be replaced with 4G/5G phones to stay connected.

"General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), also called 2.5G, is a mobile data standard that is part of the 2G cellular communication network Global System for Mobile"."

I was expecting today's text to set out the options for those who still have phones running on 3G, 2.5G or 2G. But today's text is the same wording as the notifications we have already received for our 4G phones, offering the same free 30 day bundle then the option of a £2.50 a month bundle (which gives very little mobile data) or staying on the (increased price) standard tariff. For these phones the migration date will be between 10 November and 5 December.

There is no information about whether the numbers and balances of 3G, GPRS (2.5G) or 2G phones can be ported to existing or to new 4G PAYG phones or whether lower than 3G phones will still work for calls and texts or are actually capable of being migrated to the Essentials tariff. 

We don't really need these old phones but we live in a village where some roads have very poor 4G signal and we can often get a signal on these old phones when 4G is not strong enough to receive/send a text or make a call on any of our newer phones. Also, I've got nearly £30 credit left on these two old phones which I would quite like to keep.

Just to say you have a little misunderstanding, your number and balance are not stored on the SIM. A SIM can be taken out of a phone and placed in another phone. 

If for some reason your SIM wouldn't work in a 4G VoLTE compatible phone, then your provider (Tesco in this case) will send you a new SIM. They'll associate the SIM with your account and so you won't lose credit or number.

lib21by

At 82 I don't pretend to know how these payment plans work. I  have a BT landline on which I make two or three calls per week, and a 4g Tesco mobile phone for emergencies for which one £10 lasts about a year. What should I do now ?

PHK

lib21by said:

At 82 I don't pretend to know how these payment plans work. I  have a BT landline on which I make two or three calls per week, and a 4g Tesco mobile phone for emergencies for which one £10 lasts about a year. What should I do now ?

Your landline is a waste of money at that level of calls. 

You'd be better off getting an unlimited talk and text plan for your mobile at about £4 a month (or £5 if you want some data) and getting rid of the landline.  

MindEcho

I guess it depends what else is supported by the landline.

With regard to the mobile, you'll be moved the Essentials tariff, your credit will carry over and you'll be given a token 30 day bundle free, which I'm told won't auto renew.
After that you can top up the phone credit and carry on as you do, albeit at an unattractive cost, so your £10 might not last a year.
You need to use the phone in a chargeable way at least once every 6 months to keep it active.

The other difference with this tariff is that you can now purchase a bundle which lasts 30 days. This is paid for from the phone's credit (assuming sufficient funds exist).  You can do this in the app (which I doubt anyone on PAYG has and no doubt consumes data) or by calling 4488 for free.

Once the bundle is applied it'll last for 30 days or until you use it up. If you do use it up, you'll be charged out of your phone credit.
I did confirm that each element will continue to work, e.g. if you had a bundle with 5GB data and unlimited texts, then if you used up the data you'd be charged for that from the phone credit but still have the unlimited texts.

The catch is that the bundle auto-renews by default, so if you buy one you need to call 4488 to actively cancel that, if you don't want payment to be taken out of your phone credit for another month of that bundle when it expires. 

whattochoose

I have a cheap Nokia phone I've had some years, with a Tesco simcard. Use (used) the lite tariff which was ideal for the usage of this, my second phone. I'm not too happy about the changes that will be taking place.
My phone is 2G, so I assume I'll still be able to use if for a while (if it had been 3G I know this signal is about to be switched off)
Tesco advise if you ring 4488 you can tell them whether or not you require to buy a bundle (they've offered me the £2.50 bundle), or decline, continuing with the new increased (very!) charges.
However, when I ring 4488 I'm told my number is not recognised. Any advice about this please? Should I just pop into one of the bigger Tesco's selling mobiles and get them to sort the problem out?
The last time I added credit was about 18 months ago, and the phone and tariff was ideal for my usage. But without reading every post in this thread, is it safe to assume the days of a "lite" like tariff where one (potentially) can keep credit on one's phone indefinitely and make very cheap calls are now over?
Thank you.
PS. No data has been needed with my Nokia.

MindEcho

Yes, the "lite" tariff is over in that the costs will no longer be cheap. You can still keep credit on your phone indefinitely though as long as you make a chargeable action every 6 months to keep it active.

If you have a 2G SIM you can't be switched to Essentials and will be "contacted in due course". However, it sounds like you've been given notice of switching and advised about the £2.50 bundle, in which case the 4488 should work, unless it's a number for Essentials and your number isn't recognised because you're not yet on that tariff..

Your best way of getting any sort of information from Tesco is by making a complaint. Cunningly they seem to have hidden PAYG complaint page on their website, but happily still exists.

https://www.tescomobile.com/contact-us/pay-as-you-go/pay-as-you-go-complaints