SIM only PAYG advice sought

Dear uk.telecom.mobile

I seek the newsgroups advice on the best tariff/network to suit my needs!

I previously had a company supplied phone and paid the company back for any
personal calls. I have now recently retired and I'm looking for a SIM only,
PAYG deal (I have bought a Nokia 6021 phone off e Bay that fits to my
ex-company car kit).

I only use the phone for a couple or three calls per week and a similar
number of texts.

I do also use my mobile occasionally when overseas on holiday - Europe/USA
and occasionally the Far East and Australasia - mainly a text every few days
to keep in touch, and the very occasional phone call.

Having looked around on the Internet I've come up with the following that I
think would suit my needs:

Tesco Standard - 20p/min calls, 10p/text with half price to three favourite
numbers

T mobile Everyone - 15p/min calls, 10p/text

I would welcome the groups opinions on these and welcome any suggestions on
alternatives that I may have overlooked.

Thanks in advance.

Nigel.

---

› See More: SIM only PAYG advice sought

Nigel wrote:
> Dear uk.telecom.mobile
>
> I seek the newsgroups advice on the best tariff/network to suit my needs!
>
> I previously had a company supplied phone and paid the company back for any
> personal calls. I have now recently retired and I'm looking for a SIM only,
> PAYG deal (I have bought a Nokia 6021 phone off e Bay that fits to my
> ex-company car kit).
>
> I only use the phone for a couple or three calls per week and a similar
> number of texts.
>
> I do also use my mobile occasionally when overseas on holiday - Europe/USA
> and occasionally the Far East and Australasia - mainly a text every few days
> to keep in touch, and the very occasional phone call.
>
> Having looked around on the Internet I've come up with the following that I
> think would suit my needs:
>
> Tesco Standard - 20p/min calls, 10p/text with half price to three favourite
> numbers
>
> T mobile Everyone - 15p/min calls, 10p/text
>
> I would welcome the groups opinions on these and welcome any suggestions on
> alternatives that I may have overlooked.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Nigel.
>
>

The Tesco tariffs are good value and you can swap between them easily
enough. If you only want voice and texts you could use the value tariff
most of the time and swap to the standard tariff to go abroad then swap
back when you come home.

The Asda tariff is also good value. Calls are 16p for the first 3
minutes per day then 8p. Texts are 10p for the first 3 then 5p for the
rest of the day.

"majogh" <none@any.con> wrote in message
news:KvmdnSs6v7o0HajVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@posted.plusnet...
> Nigel wrote:
>> Dear uk.telecom.mobile
>>
>> I seek the newsgroups advice on the best tariff/network to suit my needs!
>>
>> I previously had a company supplied phone and paid the company back for
>> any
>> personal calls. I have now recently retired and I'm looking for a SIM
>> only,
>> PAYG deal (I have bought a Nokia 6021 phone off e Bay that fits to my
>> ex-company car kit).
>>
>> I only use the phone for a couple or three calls per week and a similar
>> number of texts.
>>
>> I do also use my mobile occasionally when overseas on holiday -
>> Europe/USA
>> and occasionally the Far East and Australasia - mainly a text every few
>> days
>> to keep in touch, and the very occasional phone call.
>>
>> Having looked around on the Internet I've come up with the following that
>> I
>> think would suit my needs:
>>
>> Tesco Standard - 20p/min calls, 10p/text with half price to three
>> favourite
>> numbers
>>
>> T mobile Everyone - 15p/min calls, 10p/text
>>
>> I would welcome the groups opinions on these and welcome any suggestions
>> on
>> alternatives that I may have overlooked.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Nigel.
>>
>>
>
> The Tesco tariffs are good value and you can swap between them easily
> enough. If you only want voice and texts you could use the value tariff
> most of the time and swap to the standard tariff to go abroad then swap
> back when you come home.
>
> The Asda tariff is also good value. Calls are 16p for the first 3 minutes
> per day then 8p. Texts are 10p for the first 3 then 5p for the rest of the
> day.
>
Virgin is cheaper and SIM cards re often given away free - I have used 4 and
have another 5 all with £5 credit on them.

Rob wrote:
> "majogh" <none@any.con> wrote in message
> news:KvmdnSs6v7o0HajVnZ2dneKdnZydnZ2d@posted.plusnet...
>> Nigel wrote:
>>> Dear uk.telecom.mobile
>>>
>>> I seek the newsgroups advice on the best tariff/network to suit my needs!
>>>
>>> I previously had a company supplied phone and paid the company back for
>>> any
>>> personal calls. I have now recently retired and I'm looking for a SIM
>>> only,
>>> PAYG deal (I have bought a Nokia 6021 phone off e Bay that fits to my
>>> ex-company car kit).
>>>
>>> I only use the phone for a couple or three calls per week and a similar
>>> number of texts.
>>>
>>> I do also use my mobile occasionally when overseas on holiday -
>>> Europe/USA
>>> and occasionally the Far East and Australasia - mainly a text every few
>>> days
>>> to keep in touch, and the very occasional phone call.
>>>
>>> Having looked around on the Internet I've come up with the following that
>>> I
>>> think would suit my needs:
>>>
>>> Tesco Standard - 20p/min calls, 10p/text with half price to three
>>> favourite
>>> numbers
>>>
>>> T mobile Everyone - 15p/min calls, 10p/text
>>>
>>> I would welcome the groups opinions on these and welcome any suggestions
>>> on
>>> alternatives that I may have overlooked.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>> Nigel.
>>>
>>>
>> The Tesco tariffs are good value and you can swap between them easily
>> enough. If you only want voice and texts you could use the value tariff
>> most of the time and swap to the standard tariff to go abroad then swap
>> back when you come home.
>>
>> The Asda tariff is also good value. Calls are 16p for the first 3 minutes
>> per day then 8p. Texts are 10p for the first 3 then 5p for the rest of the
>> day.
>>
> Virgin is cheaper and SIM cards re often given away free - I have used 4 and
> have another 5 all with £5 credit on them.
>
>
The cheapest depends very much on your usage pattern. From the networks
mentioned if you only make short calls to a few numbers Tesco standard
with favourites could be cheapest. Virgin could be cheaper for a wider
range of numbers up to about 15 minutes in a day, anything more than 15
minutes cross network then Asda is cheaper.

To be honest for occasional low use the difference is is fairly small,
much more important to find a network that works where you need it to.

> To be honest for occasional low use the difference is is fairly small,
> much more important to find a network that works where you need it to.

Thanks to the newsgroup for the advice so far.

The Tesco network runs on O2 vs. T Mobile - any significant difference
between the two?

I'm erring towards Tesco at the moment as I rarely call more than three
different numbers so I think that this would work out the cheapest for me.

Nigel.

"Nigel" <nigel@REMOVEnigelowen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:69mg77F33p6r9U1@mid.individual.net...
>> To be honest for occasional low use the difference is is fairly small,
>> much more important to find a network that works where you need it to.
>
> Thanks to the newsgroup for the advice so far.
>
> The Tesco network runs on O2 vs. T Mobile - any significant difference
> between the two?

As the message you replied to says .... <<much more important to find a
network that works where you need it to>>


--
J B

J B wrote:

> As the message you replied to says .... <<much more important to find a
> network that works where you need it to>>

The network websites will show you a coverage map, but you can look
up who has the nearest base stations to you on the Ofcom site, here:

http://www.sitefinder.ofcom.org.uk/

regards, Ian

">> Virgin is cheaper and SIM cards re often given away free - I have used 4
and
>> have another 5 all with £5 credit on them.
>>

Virgin voicemail retrieval is free.

"Nigel" <nigel@REMOVEnigelowen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:69mg77F33p6r9U1@mid.individual.net...
> > To be honest for occasional low use the difference is is fairly
small,
> > much more important to find a network that works where you need it
to.
>
> Thanks to the newsgroup for the advice so far.
>
> The Tesco network runs on O2 vs. T Mobile - any significant
difference
> between the two?
>
> I'm erring towards Tesco at the moment as I rarely call more than
three
> different numbers so I think that this would work out the cheapest
for me.

There are various "family" or "mates" tariffs which give you discounts
on a small calling circle. May be worth looking into, but like others
said for low usage probably won't a lot of difference who you choose.

Nobody ever seems to recommend Vodafone on this group - but for
off-peak and roaming PAYG they are hard to beat (although they are
putting their min charge up to 15p - so if you make lots of short
calls they aren't so good).

My wife's a low user but probably 80% of her spend is while abroad
(since there's no landline to gas on!), and nothing that I'm aware of
can touch Vodafone Passport. Eg 10 min call from Australia £1.75 - try
looking into what the others charge!

--
Andy

Andy Pandy wrote:

> Nobody ever seems to recommend Vodafone on this group

That's because they are so expensive.

> - but for
> off-peak

off-peak is off-peak becasue that's when most people don't want to use
it ;-)

Though that's not always true, of course.

IME Vodafone is the network most likely to give NETWORK BUSY errors in
the daytime. No idea why.

> and roaming PAYG they are hard to beat

Roaming PAYG may matter to some people, but for the vast majority, it
doesn't.

> (although they are
> putting their min charge up to 15p - so if you make lots of short
> calls they aren't so good).

Most mobile calls are very short.

> My wife's a low user but probably 80% of her spend is while abroad
> (since there's no landline to gas on!), and nothing that I'm aware of
> can touch Vodafone Passport. Eg 10 min call from Australia £1.75 - try
> looking into what the others charge!

Er, if you factor in the cost of getting to Australia the cost is very
different.