Best contract for travelling parents

Badger_Lady

Hia,

I look after phone contracts for my lovely Mum, but I'm a bit stuck about the best thing to do this year.

They've been with Orange for a long time (as have I), but Orange have decided not to retain their business this year. They were on a 12-month contract at £25 a month with a free phone that we sold on eBay to cover the cost of the contract period. We now want to pay much less.

Their situation

Live in France Sep-Mar - have a home phone and a French mobile out there, so don't want to receive phonecalls on their UK mobile which would cost a bomb. So they divert the UK mobile to their French landline. There's no mobile signal in the house.

Travel between France and the UK Apr-Aug - need this UK mobile for while they're here, and set up divert to French mobile when they're there.

Their needs

• Virtually no inclusive minutes or messages - they've used 23 minutes in the last 6 months, and no text messages.
• Must be contract (not PAYG) because they can't set up a divert from a PAYG phone.
• No need for a handset - Mum's more than happy with her old Nokia.

What I've come up with so far

Orange - £15 a month SIM only (they wouldn't negotiate and just cancelled when I asked them to)

O2 - £15 a month (24 month tie-in),
free Blackberry Pink / Samsung G600 Pink / Samsung Solid,
£35 Quidco cashback.

Virgin - £10 a month SIM only,
£5 Quidco cashback,
Some dodgy cashback that we’ll ignore.

I really want a simple SIM only deal for £5-£9 a month at the most but they're not looking good. I also looked at "TravelSim", but again you can't divert from them.

Any better ideas?

mchale

Hi, have a look at o2's "my europe extra" i travel a lot and find this the best option ie no roaming charges

billsavings

Virgin do not offer call divert Contract or Payg.

If its any help they could get a Free UK Geographical Number from someone like www.orbtalk.co.uk and divert it to a UK Mobile ( Contract or PAYG) ,and to a French Landline etc etc.

Badger_Lady

Success! Maybe.

O2 will do a divert from their PAYG SIM cards - woohoo!

They also have a tariff called "Your Country", which allows you to "Enjoy up to 200 free minutes to any international mobile or landline from the UK"

What I can't figure out yet is what this means - a one-off gift of 200 minutes? Hmm...

agsnu

Badger_Lady wrote: »

What I can't figure out yet is what this means - a one-off gift of 200 minutes? Hmm...

No.... http://www.o2.co.uk/mobilestariffs/tariffs/paygo/yourcountry

Badger_Lady

Thanks - that seems perfect... so, during the winter months they top up £10 a month, which they don't use, but they get 50 international minutes per month meaning that the divert is free.

Then in the summer there's no need to top up because they've already got £60 credit to spend.

Perfect!

Badger_Lady

Errrr... thanks, but as per my original post they've already got a phone! It's just the SIM card I'm after...

lovelynikki

just think the roming charging will be too high & it may be posible that as ur mother going outside so the mobile will be locked ?
well i send a sim-free mobile to my brother in INDIA but unfortunetly the mobiles softwere are not responding so my brother did unlock first & after that he is able to use it
that's why i m telling you

Badger_Lady

Yeah - the phone's unlocked, it's been rotated around most of my family in its time!

They won't be roaming often - just using it whilst in the UK, setting a divert when they're in France.

redux

I'm really surprised what you say about call divert on O2 payg, as they say they don't support this. What's more, I've tried this and it doesn't work.

O2's My Europe Extra can be attractive for £10 a month when in France, to get free incoming calls, but if their use is as modest there as here I don't think it's worthwhile.

I think one of the global SIMs is cheaper, as most of the cost stays as credit, and they need only either a call every 9 months or so, or some maybe a small annual fee for low users to stay valid.

And for you calling them, an Isle of Man numbered roaming SIM like Easyroam, ekit or Geosim would come from your Orange inclusive minutes. Also for people with O2 and Virgin contracts, though O2 may be lining up some changes for September.

Or maybe billsavings' suggestion of a VoIP account with a UK landline number forwarded, so maybe no other SIM needed at all. And the forwarding can be altered between their mobiles and the landline, or it should be possible to find accounts will which ring both

So that just leaves chosing a UK SIM to use here. They're all pretty similar rates. I'd get Virgin, as it stays valid longer if not used, so they wouldn't be getting marginal on 6 months away. And the free SIM offers often have £5 included

billsavings

To the best of my knowledge O2 do not offer Call Divert on Payg,and nor does any other UK PAYG Supplier come to that.This is because the reciever of the call has to pay for the diverted leg of the call, and their is no way of charging for it if you run out of credit.