Reply With QuoteEddie, as I am out the country a lot , I just use a sim only deal, mine works out at £15 a month, but there are cheaper.
would this work out more economical than losing cash on a top up?
mine is vodaphone if it helps.
mike
I got a mobile for my wife for emergencies and I've loaded the SIM up twice now and both times it's expired with most of the cash unused. Does any company do one which doesn't expire?
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Eddie, as I am out the country a lot , I just use a sim only deal, mine works out at £15 a month, but there are cheaper.
would this work out more economical than losing cash on a top up?
mine is vodaphone if it helps.
mike
I have a PAYG SIM on an old number on O2 and find calling the answerphone once a month (or every other) solves the problem of it expiring.
M
I don't think so - you have to use it or loose it! I had the same problem and now make one short call every now and then, £10 over two years! I'm on O2 and lost my credit and had to start again, was informed that you loose it after 6 months of no use.Originally Posted by swanbourne
There isn't one, they all expire after some period of inactivity and your PAYG credit disappears with it. Most UK SIMs last 6 months but some are shorter. You need to make at least one chargeable call, text or data connection within that period to keep it active. I wonder if there's an app for that?
Okay... I'll try again.
I've got a £1.20pm sim from shebang. 30mins calls and some of those texty things.
https://www.shebang.net/
Last edited by solwisesteve; 10th November 2015 at 11:32.
I keep an old Nokia in the car, switched off, for emergencies. Not a smartphone so the battery actually lasts a good while. It does need to be brought in every few months to be recharged and to send a text to my main mobile to keep the SIM active.
I know it's not PAYG as such but virgin so a rolling on month contract sim only for £5.00 a month
30 day rolling
Monthly cost Minutes Texts Data £5 250 Unlimited 250MB
http://store.virginmedia.com/virgin-media-mobile/sim-only/pay-monthly-sim.html?buspart=uk_ps_a_mobile_google_purchase_B-BRAND-SIM-VIP%25B-BRAND-SIM-VIP%25unlimitedN33505.1282461422613093731im%25virg inAMsySZaeHmA7fACMOpoPEi85M6IAobile&CMP=DFA:188223 0:115985978:289014471:0
Tesco PAYG last 12 months without making a call/text before being disconnected which i think is the longest of any.
I have a Three PAYG which you top up as and when you require. 3p min for calls, 2p per text, 1p per mb. I topped it up with £20 about 6 weeks ago and for casual web browsing I still have just over £14 left. I don't use it for calls as I have a work phone. They also do £10 and £20 packs but they expire after 1 month.
https://www.three.co.uk/Support/Free_SIM/Order
I have one from the 3 network and one from Orange now EE.
Was also going to recommend a cheap £5 a month SIM only contract, definitely the way to go IMO
I had a Virgin PAYG SIM for some time and the credit never seemed to expire. I bought it as they released a phone with an onboard DAB radio; the phone lasted for less than a year but I had the SIM for 3 or 4 years and very rarely topped it up.
I use local SIM’s in different countries and the cure for the ‘use it or lose it’ credit is simply to use it: a single text sent just before the end of the 3rd month of inactivity resets the clock, so to speak.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
I just found my old Tesco payg sim card in my emergency Nokia 100 phone, I bought the phone and sim card about 4 years ago and got a £10 topup when I got the phone. I have just checked I have still got £4.57 credit on the phone and I have never purchased any more credit for the phone.
The Nokia still had 80% battery life and hasn't been turned on for at 3 months.
Slightly off topic, but if you take out a Virgin SIM only deal, give it a few months and then call to cancel, you'll almost certainly be offered an improved deal. I have 2X Virgin SIM only deals - one is unlimited mins/texts/data for £8/month, the other is 600mins/unlimited texts and 1GB data for £7/month. Writing this reminds me that I should call up to cancel the cheaper one to see what I get offered to stay.
You've got to love those old phones... back when a phone WAS a phone.
For the aforementioned £1.20pm plan I needed to get a 3G phone so I got a cheap android phone. Problem is it wants to be a tablet computer instead of a phone. Battery seems to last 1 or 2 days tops! Total waste of time. Now chucked in a kitchen draw and never used.... A phone, especially an emergency phone, is no darn good if the batteries flat! I'm back on my old Nokia now as an emergency phone. Never switched on but if I ever need it I know it'll work!
That is exactly what I did with my daughters phone, she got an Iphone and when I phoned up to cancel and move to a good iphone package theySlightly off topic, but if you take out a Virgin SIM only deal, give it a few months and then call to cancel, you'll almost certainly be offered an improved deal. I have 2X Virgin SIM only deals - one is unlimited mins/texts/data for £8/month, the other is 600mins/unlimited texts and 1GB data for £7/month. Writing this reminds me that I should call up to cancel the cheaper one to see what I get offered to stay.
offered such a goo deal I stayed - 1000mins/unlimited texts and 102GB data for £10/month
I had a sim only last year from 3G.
It is a PAYG and does not expired at the end of the month.
It is used mainly as a stand by for emergencies and has had £10 on it for about 8 months and still has that amount.
It was on the 3-2-1 offer which is still available.
http://www.three.co.uk/Store/Pay_As_...=1396&aidset=1
102GB of data! Is that a typo? Even though I have "unlimited" data, I think there's a fair use policy of 3.5GB?
Exactly the same as myself. Old Samsung D900i just left in the car and battery always seems to stay charged so put a message on my calendar on the iphone to usethe Samsung every 5 months. Call the house answerphone and job done.
the 12 month expiry one from Tesco sounds good.
Three:
Top-ups
Where a Top-up is bought in-store and a 16-digit code provided, the Top-up needs to be activated within 90 days of buying it. Once activated, Top-ups have no expiry date, unless there is no activity at all on an account for 180 days as Three reserves the right to terminate or suspend unused accounts.
http://www.three.co.uk/Privacy_Cooki...=1214305745843
yes sorry should be 2gb
even so - that shoots my 'best offer ' from vodaphone - which is the same deal - but l'm locked into a 12month contract @ 15pounds/month until November next year - darn it..
Not sure exactly what you’re aiming for but giffgaff might be one to consider (piggybacks the O2 network).
If you use a CC to top up, then you can set it such that it automatically tops up each month.
The cheapest is a £5 goodybag (bundle) which gives 100 minutes, 300 text, and 20MB Data.
If another person is on giffgaff, you can call them for free, and even for 2 months after the goodybag expires – so theoretically, you could call them for 3 months for 60 minutes at a time, all for a fiver. Same with texts, so you only use them and your minutes if you phone/text someone on another network or their landline.
A recurring goodybag means she’ll always have minutes/texts to get in touch with someone other than yourself (if you switched over too) and emergency services.
I think, but check to confirm, that freephone numbers are also free of charge (but possibly only able to connect whilst a goodybag is active).
Hi Eddie.
Further to PJS message above - GiffGaff may offer an even simpler solution for an infrequent user.
You don't need to buy the "Goody Bag" monthly deals - there is a "top-up" whenever you like alternative, which costs in for low uesrs and doesn't expire (as far as I can tell)
I subscribed to GiffGaff over a year ago - and just "loaded" £30 rather than choosing said "GoodyBag" - and I haven't exhausted that credit yet. It appears to roll on indefinitely.
The free calls to other GiffGaff users expires after three months without a top-up - so one would need to add £10 each three months if one wanted to use that facility.
As PJS says - this means that if you both have GiffGaff you can make calls for "free" to each other, as long as you do the quarterly £10 top-up.
Hope this helps, and many thanks for the forum.
Good luck.
Yes but GG will still delete your number and credit if you don't use the phone in 6 months. Found this out the hard way with an ipad SIM, which I rarely use on 3G and missed the 'we will delete your account in 2 days' email, as it went straight into the Spam folder.
There is a new provider called freedompop. they are a US company that have set up in the uk. The Sim will cost £8 upfront but then it is free from then on. for this it includes 200mb , 200 mins and 200 text. they use the 3 network as their back bone but only offer 3g (rather than 4g) but by the sounds of it you only need it for emergency calls. one thing to note is all of the calls are over VOIP, rather than the traditional network so would need to check your 3 coverage before opting for one. you can purchase as an extra the normal voice connection but this does increase the price from the free.
I have no affiliation with the company but I have a sim in a phone I use as a satnav and it has been good so far although I have not used it for phone calls only data.
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