question aboout free sims

duncans_mum

Do the free sims that I see mentioned on forums have a 'use by' date? Its just that we are coming to UK on holidays soon and thought about getting a couple to put in our mobiles while we are there, especially as some of them have a free 10 quid credit on them.:T

billsavings

duncans_mum wrote: »

Do the free sims that I see mentioned on forums have a 'use by' date? Its just that we are coming to UK on holidays soon and thought about getting a couple to put in our mobiles while we are there, especially as some of them have a free 10 quid credit on them.:T

Some have a use by date EG O2.

Be interested to know what payg sim has ever come with £10 free credit on them.

chocs_away

Sims don't have a sell by date as such. But the networks do have a tendency to deactivate them if they haven't been used for a couple of years. If your looking for cheap sims ebay is your place.

Edinburghlass_2

Free is better than cheap so check this thread...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=575213&page=4

Generally the most credit you'll get on a free sim is £5 from Virgin and yes 02 will have a use by date on.

billsavings

chocs_away wrote: »

Sims don't have a sell by date as such.

Not true as i already pointed out.;)

The o2 ones i have in front of me have a use by date on.

Cavey

The O2 sims I was playing with had an "activate by" date around a year from when they were produced and had the phone number you could expect on the outside of the packaging (which I guess is why it has an activate date). Once activated, you just have to keep using it (once every six months?) for it to stay active. If you want to make international calls, their International Caller bolt-on to make it cheaper is £4.99 and if you top up by £30 you can get 200 minutes free in the following month (which may not help you).

The Orange and T-Mobile SIMs I have played with didn't mention an "activate by" date, but they didn't mention what number you would get. They also had the same sort of expiry system, so guess it is quite standard.

As you mention that you are coming to the UK and I'll assume you might want to make phone calls to another country, I therefore feel I must mention "Mobile World" SIM cards which are operated by Carphone Warehouse. When I got mine it cost £10 with £10 credit included (ie you just pay for the credit), but now appears online (I got mine in-store) to be more like £15 with £10 credit (which is about the same as a free O2 SIM when you add in the international bolt on) and called TalkTalkMobile. The cheap international service wasn't 100% reliable (occasionally got a busy tone, perhaps due to it reaching capacity), but it does make calling abroad significantly cheaper (8p vs £1+ for South Africa) while being competitive for UK calls (15p per minute, 7p per text). Expires in 90 days of inactivity and takes any remaining credit with it (I "lost" abut £10 ). I'd probably go for the O2 option if the country is on their list as the call quality will probably be better (ie worth the extra 2p for South Africa), but for somewhere like El Salvador it's 12.5p on TTM vs 60p on O2.

There are no doubt more options (Skype etc...), but I haven't used them to call abroad.

I hope this useful to someone.

deano27_2

billsavings wrote: »

Not true as i already pointed out.;)

The o2 ones i have in front of me have a use by date on.

yep I think this is because the sims that are sent out are already activated?? and will therefore get taken off the network if there not used ...

billsavings

If you want to make Cheap Intl Calls the Orange Camel Tariff is also worth
considering.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/payasyougo

Free Sim here http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/simevent/drivensimoffer?WT.mc_id=ConAprHoFre_1248

You can also pick up a Free Payg Sim at any Orange Shop.