Low cost SIM card rental..

Does anyone know of a supplier of a SIM card that you pay a very small
rental for but full whack for calls etc. We need some to put in remote
alarm systems that use GSM. Chances are they might only make a call
every so often, or hopefully never

Of course you could use a PAYG card but unless I'm very much mistaken
these all seem to need a "keep alive" call making from them once every
60 or 90 days.

Wouldn't be a problem in some locations, but as most of these units are
way out in the sticks its not practical to drive out just for a test
call!..


TIA...
--
Tony Sayer

---

› See More: Low cost SIM card rental..

"tony sayer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Does anyone know of a supplier of a SIM card that you pay a very small
> rental for but full whack for calls etc. We need some to put in remote
> alarm systems that use GSM. Chances are they might only make a call
> every so often, or hopefully never
>
> Of course you could use a PAYG card but unless I'm very much mistaken
> these all seem to need a "keep alive" call making from them once every
> 60 or 90 days.
>
> Wouldn't be a problem in some locations, but as most of these units are
> way out in the sticks its not practical to drive out just for a test
> call!..
> TIA...
> Tony Sayer
>
>
Orange OVP Virgin zero monthly contract, free IB, no unuse period.
Ask on uk.adverts.t.m for one for transfer

Or of PAYG i've not know of anyone on Virgin Mobile get disconnected
in under a year of unuse.

Steve Terry

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
>
> Does anyone know of a supplier of a SIM card that you pay a very small
> rental for but full whack for calls etc. We need some to put in remote
> alarm systems that use GSM. Chances are they might only make a call
> every so often, or hopefully never

If you don't require voice calls, i.e. your system uses text messaging
then you could purchase a data donlge on orange's pay-as-you-consume
tariff. This will provide you with a SIM card on a contract basis but no
loine rental. Texts are 10p each, 3Gb GPRS is included but voice calls
are not possible.

> Of course you could use a PAYG card but unless I'm very much mistaken
> these all seem to need a "keep alive" call making from them once every
> 60 or 90 days.

180 days for most, and it needn't be a call, a chargeable text would do
the trick.
--
Regards
Jon

In uk.telecom Steve Terry <[email protected]> wrote:
> Orange OVP Virgin zero monthly contract, free IB, no unuse period.
> Ask on uk.adverts.t.m for one for transfer
>
> Or of PAYG i've not know of anyone on Virgin Mobile get disconnected
> in under a year of unuse.

Or get a Virgin PAYG SIM and put it on direct debit - then it won't expire.

This is precisely what the OP asked for. It's an O2 0-pounds-per-month
contract which doesn't expire with expensive calls and texts:
http://www.mobalrental.com/gsm/sim.asp
I wouldn't use it for this problem though!

Theo

"andy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:3f78d751-80aa-405f-9f3a-cb5dffd32ef5@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
On 11 Sep, 19:51, tony sayer <[email protected]> wrote:
<snip>
>On Virgin, I think you can still have the option of the payg rates on
>a contract with a DD to cover it.
>
Yes adding DD to a Virgin Sim account, effectively make it a zero
rate contract and so endless.
>
>And for payg, I don't think that a 3 SIM expires at all. At the end of
>the contract I asked for it to become payg. I first topped it up about
>2 years later.
>
That could be the case for any Contract converted to PAYG,
but the network could cancel if they could be bothered.

The thing to look for is a sim that will Not be disconnected for unuse

Steve Terry

"Mark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:21:07 +0100, "Steve Terry" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>>"andy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:3f78d751-80aa-405f-9f3a-cb5dffd32ef5@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
>>On 11 Sep, 19:51, tony sayer <[email protected]> wrote:
>><snip>
>>>On Virgin, I think you can still have the option of the payg rates on
>>>a contract with a DD to cover it.
>>>
>>Yes adding DD to a Virgin Sim account, effectively make it a zero
>>rate contract and so endless.
>
> Are you sure?
> I have a Virgin DD SIM that was eventually disconnected after about 2
> years of non-use.
> [snip]
>
Why, if you still had DD post pay?

Oh well, then is only Orange OVP Virgin that doesn't,
and maybe O2 PUFFL?

Steve Terry

On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:52:57 +0100, "Steve Terry" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>"Mark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> On Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:21:07 +0100, "Steve Terry" <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>>"andy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>news:3f78d751-80aa-405f-9f3a-cb5dffd32ef5@y38g2000hsy.googlegroups.com...
>>>On 11 Sep, 19:51, tony sayer <[email protected]> wrote:
>>><snip>
>>>>On Virgin, I think you can still have the option of the payg rates on
>>>>a contract with a DD to cover it.
>>>>
>>>Yes adding DD to a Virgin Sim account, effectively make it a zero
>>>rate contract and so endless.
>>
>> Are you sure?
>> I have a Virgin DD SIM that was eventually disconnected after about 2
>> years of non-use.
>> [snip]
>>
>Why, if you still had DD post pay?

If there had been no call charges for two years then the direct debit
mandate would have expired. They normally expire automatically if not
used for 13 months.

Chris

Don't think O2 require a keep-alive call. But in any event, wouldn't
that be a good part of the alarm design anyway,
to ensure the equipment is in good order? If I were designing it, I
would have the remote unit ring a master number
say every 30 days which didn't answer but logged the 'missed call'
meaning no charges were incurred.


On Sep 11, 7:51*pm, tony sayer <[email protected]> wrote:
> Does anyone know of a supplier of a SIM card that you pay a very small
> rental for but full whack for calls etc. We need some to put in remote
> alarm systems that use GSM. Chances are they might only make a call
> every so often, or hopefully never
>
> Of course you could use a PAYG card but unless I'm very much mistaken
> these all seem to need a "keep alive" call making from them once every
> 60 or 90 days.
>
> Wouldn't be a problem in some locations, but as most of these *units are
> way out in the sticks its not practical to drive out just for a test
> call!..
>
> TIA...
> --
> Tony Sayer

In article <[email protected]
..com>, DA, Manchester <[email protected]> scribeth thus
>Don't think O2 require a keep-alive call. But in any event, wouldn't
>that be a good part of the alarm design anyway,

Yes it would but this is really a simple autodialler arrangement where
you could ring it and ask it to reply by closing a pair of alarm
contacts, but we rather need those contacts as it were!..

>to ensure the equipment is in good order? If I were designing it, I
>would have the remote unit ring a master number
>say every 30 days which didn't answer but logged the 'missed call'
>meaning no charges were incurred.

OK noted..
>
>
>On Sep 11, 7:51*pm, tony sayer <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Does anyone know of a supplier of a SIM card that you pay a very small
>> rental for but full whack for calls etc. We need some to put in remote
>> alarm systems that use GSM. Chances are they might only make a call
>> every so often, or hopefully never
>>
>> Of course you could use a PAYG card but unless I'm very much mistaken
>> these all seem to need a "keep alive" call making from them once every
>> 60 or 90 days.
>>
>> Wouldn't be a problem in some locations, but as most of these *units are
>> way out in the sticks its not practical to drive out just for a test
>> call!..
>>
>> TIA...
>> --
>> Tony Sayer
>

--
Tony Sayer