SIM only PAYG price comparison

chris_yo

I'm with Tesco PAYG at the moment: 10p/min, £4/MB.

Switching to ASDA (8p/min, 20p/MB) looks like a no brainer. Are there any gotchas with ASDA? It's amazing their data tariff is 20 times cheaper than Tesco!

evenasus

This is worth checking out. http://www.familymobile.co.uk/

I'm considering one of their PAYG sims myself.
At the moment I'm with T Mobile, but Family Mobile (which is linked to IKEA I believe) is much cheaper. They also use the T Mobile network.
The one thing I like about T Mobile, is that I can view my itemised PAYG charges online.
This is how I found I'd been scammed http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1607621

Family Mobile also have the view itemised charges facility online.

chris_yo

Well I have discovered the downside of ASDA Mobile: their systems suck.

Called up last night to register my phone, after giving all my details the lady says "oh, you have a PAM (?) problem. I can't register you." Me: "What's a PAM problem?" Her: "It means the servers down. Try calling back tomorrow." Argh! Whatever happened to redundancy? And why can't I do all this setup on their web site instead of having to pay 25p to talk to an operator?! And why can't I topup via the web site?!? This is 2009, right? Idiots.

Trying to get GPRS working today. I visit a travel route planning web site to be greeted by the message from Vodafone "You are not able to access this service because Content Control is in place. If you're 18 years or over, you can remove Content Control by contacting your mobile service provider's customer support team." !!!!!!? They block an innocuous route planning web site? So I call (again paying 25p for the priviledge of speaking to a human, even though I have no other choice) and first I have to identify myself (even though I'm calling from my ASDA phone), she tells me that the PIN I set up that very morning is wrong. !!!!!!? It turns out the setup last night had partially gone through, enough to setup my PIN, and the second operator I went through with the setup routine had assigned a different PIN and both were accepted without error. Luckily I had noted down the PIN from the failed "PAM problem" setup the previous night otherwise I'd have been screwed.

So I give her my credit card number and details three times in order to prove my age, and she insists that it is not working and that I should call my bank and ask why it isn't working. I've had this card for several years and have never had a problem. I had linked the card with my ASDA mobile account that very morning and bought £20 of credit using it. I ask her how it is possible that 1) I need to give her my name, address, and card details yet again. (I already did this earlier today, when I setup the account and they asked me if I would be using GPRS why didn't they mention that they block normal web sites? What's the point of enabling it if I have to call back to get their stupid content blocker removed?!) and 2) How can you successfully bill my card earlier today, and now you can't, and I'm supposed to call my bank to ask why you are having problems authorising a card that you billed successfully five hours ago? And again, this is 2009, why the hell can't I do this via their web site? Why am I being put on hold and having to repeat myself again and again instead of just typing my details in to a form? Idiots.

And now I can't access the net from my mobile because they put a stupid block in place and then couldn't remove it. Idiots.

chris_yo

So I went into a store as told to, explained my problem to the customer services woman, and she says "We have nothing to do with any of that. You have to sort it out on the phone". Me: "But I was told to come here and that you call them and sort it out after I've shown some ID?" Her: "I don't know anything about that, you have to call up yourself and sort it out." Me: "But I was told when I did call to come to customer services in store and you could sort it out?" Her: "No, we aren't trained to do that."

Argh!!! :mad:

So I just re-called, the girl I speak to enters my credit card details again, then it's "oh dear, my system has crashed, I've lost all the details, can you hold?" Several minutes later... she can't log back into her system, I'm being transferred.. re-enter all details again.. denied.. again .. denied.. again.. success! I am told finally the system accepts my details.

So, one 20+ minutes unsuccessful call, an unsuccessful trip to customer services instore, and finally a 17 minute call to unlock the internet, via a credit card that they should already know is valid because they successfully billed it a week ago. Frustrating!

wallacewilliams

Despite that nightmare tale about ASDA customer service I think I'm going to give their PAYG sim a go. I have just bought a PDA on e-bay and plan to use it for (in this order);

1. Texting - about 5 a day
2. Checking my e-mails - about 5 times a day
3. Occasional surfing - couple of hours a week max
4. phonecalls - one or two a week max

At 8p per min, 4p per text and 20p per MB, none of the other networks seem to come close. ASDA also claim that if your phone is 3g compliant then they will provide mobile internet via this method. It's surprising really, seems like if you want to get GPRS or 3g access on PAYG then you're talking over £20 a month for any of the major suppliers. They all seem to do it as a weird bolt-on.

So I'm going to risk it with ASDA and will let you all know how I get on.

Step one... I've got my PAC code...

Why do I have the feeling I'm in for a bumpy ride with this one?

Stompa

wallacewilliams wrote: »

So I'm going to risk it with ASDA and will let you all know how I get on.

Step one... I've got my PAC code...

Why do I have the feeling I'm in for a bumpy ride with this one?

I don't think you will. I've been using them for quite a while now and have had no problems whatsoever. Porting my number across to them was handled very efficiently.

wallacewilliams

Thanks for this stompa.

btw just contacted familymobile and found out they charge; 9p per minute, 6p per text, and 80p per MB (which explains why the last figure is not on their website)

ASDA wins again...

wallacewilliams

Thought I'd let you know how I got on with moving over to ASDA mobile. This might be useful for people who are specifically interested in using ASDA mobile for PAYG internet access.

- Bought a SIM from ASDA for 43p. Bargain.

- Successfully unlocked my phone (HTC Tytn II) using instructions on the xda developers forum. It won't let me link it unfortunately. Just replace (dot) with a "."

forum(dot)xda-developers(dot)com/showthread(dot)php?t=361039

- Called orange to get my PAC code so I could transfer my number over. Orange gave me the PAC code straight away, ASDA took 2 days to transfer it over but apparently that's standard.

- At 11am today my phone stopped working, so I just took the SIM and battery out and put them back in and my old Orange number had been transferred over to my new ASDA SIM

- Rang them straight away to put some credit on the phone. They answered straight away which is more than can be said for Orange customer service. They told me to call back at 2pm as it takes a while for them to register the new number

(Strangely for the next couple of hours I could call my new 'ASDA' mobile, using my old phone with the Orange SIM in it. Even though they both were using the same number. Weird.)

- Rang back at 2pm. Again they answered straight away. They took my card details and topped my phone up. They asked me if I needed my internet settings transferred over, I said I wasn't sure. They didn't have a HTC Tytn II on their list, so said they'd e-mail me the details, and this this could take a couple of days.

-I asked if there was a connection fee for getting on to the internet. There is, but it's only 1p every time you connect. However, if you have some sort of automated e-mail checker running, or if you're an obsessive-compulsive, then it's worth bearing in mind that 100 connects per day would translate into £30 a month before you count the time you're online.

- I couldn't be bothered waiting for the internet settings so just used the "ASDA mobile GPRS settings (Web)"settings from here (sorry again I can't put in a link);

www(dot)asda-mobile(dot)com/?node id=1.10

- Got on to the internet straight away with asda mobile (HSDPA) - which I have been told is one of the fastest mobile internet connections you can get.

So all in all I have been very impressed with ASDA mobile. Their customer service has been excellent and their staff knowledgeable and happy to help with my queries. I'd highly recommend them if you're thinking of a bit of light PAYG internet usage on a PDA, pocket PC or smartphone. My mate has a contract (£35 a month) she uses the internet on her phone a fair bit and she only gets through anout 40Mb per month - which with this package translates to just £8 per month for internet access.

Astrophysicist

I've been with ASDA for two years now having ended two uneconomic contracts with Orange (what a game that was...trouble with porting numbers, unlocking phones and just being held on the line).

ASDA's tariff is transparent (50p for the sim card, 10p per minute and 6p per text...OK, it has crept up from 8p and 4p in the last year); if you don't use it you don't pay for it. There doesn't seem to be a minimum usage problem and no pre-conditional tariffs oriented to heavy use. The only problem I have heard about concerns use abroad where the tariff is high I gather. The solution is always to buy unlocked phones (everyone should boycott locked phones if they can) and find the best PAYG deal for the purpose. The sim card can be ordered online but today, at ASDA in Bristol, I couldn't buy one without a handset as well, a departure to previous practice.

For me, living in rural Wales, there was an additional advantage. Since ASDA uses Vodafone's network I can actually get a signal at home. Other providers' signals are non-existent where I am.

I recently received a text message from ASDA about new data tariffs on the way. Whether that is a good sign or not I don't know.

One other attraction for ASDA PAYG; enquiries are answered in good time and by a UK call centre. To keep it this way, don't encourage too many new users! ;-)

veganline

The last link to this site I posted has moved here:

http://petef.22web.org/payg.html
It's a table of PAYG rates that might help someone as they're sim-only with no monthly fee and the table includes plenty of providers