This is just me getting something off my chest, but I'm open to advice as well.
At the mo I'm with Asda Mobile on a true pay-as-you-go - in other words, when I started with them I had bought a basic phone, they sent me a (free) SIM and I linked my credit card to my account so I could top up as and when. No monthly fee, no expiry on the credit, and a good rate for calls and texts. I use the phone only for the occasional text - maybe one a day on average - and the even rarer call - maybe once a month, and it's usually me that gets called. The amount I spend each month on average is very small - maybe a couple of quid, if that. It is nice to know that, if exceptional circumstances arise, I will not be penalised for using the phone more than usual.
Now that's ending. Asda, I guess, has determined that people like me are not worth their while. They want me to transfer to a contract whereby I pay £10 a month for a package, or bundle, or whatever they call it, from which I shall never see my money's worth. Other providers of so-called PAYG seem much the same. Sometimes they call the monthly fee a line rental, and charge calls etc. are on top, or sometimes it's a bundle. In every case I would be quids out. Pay-as-you-go, indeed!
So I'm looking for a SIM-only low-cost PAYG provider that's as close as possible to what I now have. The best I can find is Shebang or Mobile Phones Direct, who both offer 30 mins + 30 texts per month for £2.25. There is no roll-over. Both are coy on their websites about what happens if you go above your allowance.
If anyone out there knows of anything else suitable I'd like to hear.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 3 Mar 14 at 12:22
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Look at Ovivo. Freedom 0 has a cost of nothing per month, the flip side being that when you use a browser on your phone you have to watch the occasional ad.
If you're like us you'll never use a browser on your phone anyway, so it really is free. Used it for a few months now, light use, not paid a penny yet other than the initial sim purchase.
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SWMBO and I are with Orange (or EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE) and O2 respectively.
SWMBO uses around a fiver a month, where I use less than that a year. I do have to remember to do something such as checking my balance occasionally to prevent credit expiring, but the one time it did O2 returned it with a 'phone call.
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T Mobile for me.. no issues at all. PAYG with top up card.
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Virgin for me. You can top up via their website so a deaf person like myself who can only send and receive text messages is fine.
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Any idea whether Ovivo works with a Nokia 6310i?!
Orange seem to have removed my PAYG credit...
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It's Vodafone underneath I think. They do provide different sim sizes so ought to be fine if your phone is unlocked. Got mine in an old iPhone, no issues.
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GiffGaff (O2 backing) rates are very reasonable I find. Can buy "goody bags" (which include data allowance) or just top up when and if needed.
Last edited by: NIL on Mon 3 Mar 14 at 14:11
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SWMBO & I are both on GiffGaff. Free calls, GiffGaff to GiffGaff, as long as one tops up a tenner every 3 months.(I haven't topped up since we started with them about 9 months ago!)
Other call rates are good, too.
If you recommend others to them and that results in a new subscriber they give (or gave) you a fiver in call credit.
giffgaff.com/
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>> SWMBO & I are both on GiffGaff. Free calls, GiffGaff to GiffGaff, as long as
>> one tops up a tenner every 3 months.(I haven't topped up since we started with
>> them about 9 months ago!)
Does not compute...
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>> >> SWMBO & I are both on GiffGaff. Free calls, GiffGaff to GiffGaff, as long
>> as
>> >> one tops up a tenner every 3 months.(I haven't topped up since we started
>> with
>> >> them about 9 months ago!)
>>
>> Does not compute...
Correction on start date :- April 2013
Does compute!
Initial payment of a tenner (April 2013 -not a "top-up" by definition!) + a fiver for introducing SWMBO (December 2013) = £15 total credited to account
No top-ups in the interim.
Current balance £5.18.
Cheap, innit?
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>> Cheap, innit?
Does not compute, according to your rules there should have been at least a £10 top up in Aug 2013
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 4 Mar 14 at 01:38
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SQ
>> Does not compute, according to your rules there should have been at least a £10
>> top up in Aug 2013
>>
No top-ups. That means I no longer have free GiffGaff to GiffGaff calls, not that my credit has expired thru' non-use.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 4 Mar 14 at 01:37
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>> No top-ups. That means I no longer have free GiffGaff to GiffGaff calls, not that
>> my credit has expired thru' non-use.
Right so we have established your "free" gift gaff to gift gaff calls are in fact not free, they cost 40 pounds per annum.
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>>
>> >> No top-ups. That means I no longer have free GiffGaff to GiffGaff calls, not
>> that
>> >> my credit has expired thru' non-use.
>>
>> Right so we have established your "free" gift gaff to gift gaff calls are in
>> fact not free, they cost 40 pounds per annum.
What part of this:-
"Free calls, GiffGaff to GiffGaff, as long as one tops up a tenner every 3 months" do you fail to comprehend?
I would have thought that was quite clear: that if top ups are not made, as specified, the free element no longer applies.
I made no statement that this type of call was free without conditions.
Tiresome.
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More like what part of the word FREE do you not understand
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>> More like what part of the word FREE do you not understand
Seems pretty clear to me. You don't need to be a student texting all day to spend £10/month on a mobile account. If you do internetwork calls are free.
If you don't you top up as/when and pay the going rate for those calls - still a good deal.
By time you get to £10/month a contract might be cheaper but won't suit everybody.
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Giffgaff for me as well. 6p per text. Spent 18p last month!
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I shall return to letter writing now that I have won the lottery and have more time.
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Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to respond. I haven't time to trawl through all the providers mentioned (I seem to remember some are currently offering only bundles or whatever), but Giffgaff and Three seem to do real PAYG.
From their websites: Giffgaff - Calls 10p/min, Texts 6p ea, Data (up to 20MB) 20p/day
Three - Calls 3p/min, Texts 2p ea, Data 1p/MB
I might go for Three.
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I've used Ovivo for about a year. No idea why more people don't as it really is free and it piggybacks vodafone so the coverage is good.
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Mikey - I'm seriously considering shifting to these from Vodafone - not a heavy user. However I do browse often, can I ask how frequent their ads are and how annoying? Does it affect if you are browsing on Wifi on the phone too?
EDIT - also how does non browsing data eg apps and sat nav use affect the ads?
Last edited by: nice but dim on Mon 3 Mar 14 at 21:09
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(Two)FaceBook have just bought WhatsApp for 19 Bn.
It seems that eventually, maybe soon, that calls will be able to be made across this platform for free. The major providers are already experiencing a loss of revenue from texting and are apparently concerned. Whilst the world moves on (not necessarily forward) I struggle to get youngsters to understand ratios etc. when mixing mortar. I kid you not. There are two distinct worlds now.
Returning to Tech' if you haven't tried WhatsApp then do. Nothing to regret.
As another slight diversion I have installed 'Battery Docter' from KS mobile and it has TRANSFORMED my 'phone's battery performance. Being running for two weeks now and has been faultless. It should be compulsory. 11/10
Cheers my Dears.......MD
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I've got two Ovivo sims - one in my ipad and one in the boys mobile.
The boy has never seen an add as he dosent surf on his phone - he uses his ipad for that.
On my ipad I use it mainly on wifi (no adds on wifi, only when you are on their network), however, its difficult to quantify the adds as the time-scales are different i.e. I may browse for 20 minutes and see none, however, another time I could see 4 or 5 in the same period. The adds are always the same - its just an advert for their service and a counter in the corner that counts down from 5 before you can click it to remove the add.
For the amount of time I use data to browse then I can live with the adds, however, if I was a heavy user then it may be enough to persuade me to pay.
If you just want the minutes and texts (300 of each free every month) then its a no brainer
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If you buy a £10 PAYG Goodybag from GiffGaff, you get 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data (latter used to be unlimited, now an extra £2); with so many wi-fi hotspots now, mobile data is not as important as it was. Free calls to other GG subscribers.
Renewed automatically by direct debit if you wish. You can port your current mobile phone number if you wish. See:
www.giffgaff.com (scroll down to Goodybag deals).
Last edited by: Stuartli on Mon 3 Mar 14 at 23:39
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+1 for Ovivo, been using it since November. Now offering 300 minutes a month for a one off £20 for the SIM. Superb value.
Adverts are every other page on internet surfing but if you don't surf on the phone you will never see them.
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I use Ovivo and Virgin.
Ovivocan be a little slow on data, but not problems with the text and calls. I've been with them for a year now, and it genuinely is free.
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>> +1 for Ovivo, been using it since November. Now offering 300 minutes a month for
>> a one off £20 for the SIM. Superb value.
Don't forget you pay £20 for the sim, but they then give you £15 back straight away as call credit.
The only issue for us is that as they give us more minutes than we need for free each month anyway, we've not yet used any of that £15...
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Does anyone know (before I ask my provider) if I can port my number to another network and have a temporary number on the pay monthly contract until the end of term. All line rentals will be paid every month until the end of the contract end date (July). Current network is Vodafone.
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Just a quick update on the mobile switch to Ovivo. Well nothing different really, the switch was easy including number transfer and I have now £18 of credit which is unlikely to be touched but handy for calling non-geos which isn't included in the generous free allowance. Signal seems to be the same, considering I've effectively stayed on the same network.
So for a £20 spend for the Sim, I got £18 of credit and £5.25 cashback and free calls to boot!
Early to say but I recommend this network.
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I have Ovivo on one of my spare phones.
When my contract with O2 on my iphone expires I am considering swapping it to Ovivo. Can I do that? I think Ovivo uses Vodafone, will the iphone accept a sim from another provider?
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>> I have Ovivo on one of my spare phones.
>>
>> When my contract with O2 on my iphone expires I am considering swapping it to
>> Ovivo. Can I do that? I think Ovivo uses Vodafone, will the iphone accept a
>> sim from another provider?
Yes, when the contract is up you request the unlock code from O2, they send it to your phone and its now available to accept the sim from any provider. And you can port your number at the same time.
Remember tho you will need to use a provider that is cheap on Data as well as Txts and Voice. Don't forget you can forgoe the phone upgrade and drop down to a simplicity phone rate with O2.
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One for Ovivo Mobile users - they have gone bust. I realized I couldn't text and tried to make a call. Nothing
Go on say "I told you so", so annoyed money down the drain. I can still recieve calls and texts but not make. If you go on their website, you can request a PAC code but I dont know how successful that will be.
Lesson learnt.
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Fair to say you wish to revise this statement?
>>Early to say but I recommend this network.
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Yes - i can hear you sniggering from here!
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Not at all! Well only a bit.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovivo
I guess its fair to say, with the full toolbox of hindsight spanners, that this was a financial model doomed to fail, and the fact it could only get started with funding by crowdsourcing should have been a warning beacon.
I'll certainly check that out for anything new.
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I'm just glad I wasn't the only sucker on here to fall for it.
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I guess you're likely to have lost your number if they have gone bust? Or being a virtual network on Vodafone might that help the situation?
You certainly didn't have time to use up your £18 credit :-)
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That's such a pain.
Looks like our choice now is either get some sort of contract that gives you data (never had such a thing before) or ditch the older iPhone and go back to the simple pay as you go phone that just has calls and texts, but no data to worry about. Hmm.
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>> That's such a pain.
Your fault
>>Used it for a few months now, light use, not paid a penny yet other than the initial sim >>purchase.
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How is it my fault to use a system that offers such a thing?
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you were supposed to use the browser! That was their only source of income!
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 19 Mar 14 at 21:26
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And it's my fault they set it up they way they did apparently. Yes, ok.
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So, intending to use this service for nothing, No money paid, no advertising watched, how long exactly did you expect free mobile phone to last?
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As long as it already had and more. Why not? Who knew what their business model was?
Youre right, though, you're very good with your hindsight spanners.
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I can tell you are feeling guilty about it, you have gone all defensive and hostile.
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You're right. Very hostile, but not just with you, don't take it personally. Sorry.
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Anybody got the balls to admit they gave Zero the scowly face?
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>>Anybody got the balls
Patricia?
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And Maude said, "Oh Lord, I'm so terribly bored. I really can't stand it anymore"
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>>
>> And Maude said, "Oh Lord, I'm so terribly bored. I really can't stand it anymore"
>>
Not sure I want to see her strip......
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>> >>Anybody got the balls
>>
>> Patricia?
>
To be fair, she would take great pleasure in owning up to providing scowly faces.
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Everything in here has been given a scowly face!
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Not feeling "special" any more?
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NO! someone devalued my special award!
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I wish it was not anonymous, as per "Likes" on Facebook.
Either that or get rid of it all together; I cannot believe its worth anything.
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Just seen them and it wasn't me...I didn't do the thumbs up either but it is obviously someone who can't make up their mind as everyone has a baddie and a goodie this morning!
Pat
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>> but it is obviously someone who can't make up their mind
Or just someone pratting about.
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But you've the power to know who, I guess.
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>> But you've the power to know who, I guess.
I've never got to grasps with the ratings system in the admin database. SK might know how to check.
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I've just received my PAC by email from OVIVO, having requested it last night.
Now I need to decide what to do with it. I only really took the OVIVO sim (less than 2 weeks ago!) to hang on to a number I have had since Orange launched in 1994, which I still get the odd call to even though it hasn't been my main phone for 10 years.
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Recieved mine too, off to 3 I think 1-2-3
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I haven't bothered with a PAC - I guess you only need that to keep your number? Don't need to do that so I'll just get a new sim elsewhere when I can find the time to decide who with.
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>> One for Ovivo Mobile users - they have gone bust.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26659929
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But is Giigaff cheaper than, say, Tesco Lite, or the Carphone Warehouse Talkmobile?
I simply want a cheap tariff for my spare phones. Which is cheapest?
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For what it's worth, I'm probably intending to go for the Three offering at £6.90 a month, which gives us more than we need but I can't find anything cheaper. If the package is big enough, as it were, then costs outside that package aren't relevant to me.
Edit PAYG isn't really suitable for an iPhone for the purposes we use it for.
Last edited by: Crankcase on Fri 21 Mar 14 at 17:34
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Mmmm. Lost 2 sims through Ovivo. Neither are that critical, one in the ipad for the odd times we use it away from home,and the other is in my sons phone.
Will try to keep his number, and think that the three 123 offer looks OK.
Always wondered how sustainable this model was..............now I know!
Think I did ok though, never paid anything other than the cost of the sim. The ipad sim was over a year old, and the boys must be 8 months old.
Assume Vodafone pulled the plug on them
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Ok, picked Three in the end, but went for the PAYG tenner deal. That buys me calls at 3p each, texts at 2p each and of course, data at 1p per Mb.
You also get 150Mb data in that up front, and another 150Mb each time you top up with a tenner.
As I think the data use will in fact be about 150Mb per month just from smart phone dribblings really, I'm anticipating that tenner will last me about four to six months.
We'll see...
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>> Ok, picked Three in the end, but went for the PAYG tenner deal.
Is the credit everlasting then?
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Yes, I asked that. It is, unlike some others which expire monthly.
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Sounds like the one for me then. I just need a cheap smartphone now. I had the Ovivo SIM in a 6310i, Three requires 3G.
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Just noticed Three doesn't allow tethering on PAYG. How annoying. I used to have a mifi I used when I was on holiday but I've lost it, and I wnat to avoid buying another.
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I think they do offer tethering, but not at that price. You have buy an add on or a different product for that.
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PAYG mobile provider - Crankcase
