Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Chatting => Chatting on the Plot => Topic started by: Goosegirl on May 04, 2021, 10:39

Title: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Goosegirl on May 04, 2021, 10:39
I have a little mobile phone just for emergencies and last used it well before the last festive season so the O2 credit didn't disappear. Unfortunately I forgot all about it until the other day so I tried to make a call and got an" invalid sim" message. On giggling for info I discovered 02 ( and one or two other firms) have stopped doing PAYG unless you have used it within their time period; if not then you can't get one now - bum. >:( After more guggling I've now ordered a free sim from Tesco mobile as they're still operating the PAYG system. It's not on to stop this system for those like me who rarely need to make calls outside the home, and it's well worth checking to see if your sim still works.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: mumofstig on May 04, 2021, 10:55
You just needed to remember to send a text or 2 every month to keep the account active, GG. My O2 PAYG is still working and very, very, rarely use it to actually make phone calls, or need to top it up.
Like most things, if you don't use it you lose it .....
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: JayG on May 04, 2021, 11:25
Didn't want to be left out, so I bought a smartphone to replace my PAYG dumb phone when my family and friends started to keep in touch via Whatsapp.

I rarely use many of the texts, mobile data, or even the talk minutes, although with landline charges so extortionate these days they do come in handy when phoning call centres with long queues.

For £5.32 per month (SIM only) it seems pretty cheap considering what I pay out for heating, electricity and the other utility bills.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: mrs bouquet on May 04, 2021, 11:36
I only have a very old flip-top mobile for emergencies.   I payg, with Vodaphone, it tells me when I need to top up, which is about every 5 years  :D   Mrs Bouquet
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: sunnywillow on May 04, 2021, 11:50
I had a mobile phone in the 1980's for emergency use only. Still got it, but updated to a more modern one in the 1990's.
Yesterday I received a text from O2 to update to having a 'bundle' which I consider to be a bullying tactic from these providers to try & get us PAYG users to change to having contracts. I personally will not pay £... each month for the pleasure of having 500mins of text & chat time......life is getting too short for that!!
So I will now send a text each month or so as mumofstig advises and keep paying the PAYG online.
My current phone is very much NOT smart (like its' owner) and I cannot even load What3Words on it!
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: jaydig on May 04, 2021, 16:00
I only carry a mobile for emergencies. It's never switched on unless I need to use it myself, and it doesn't even take photos.  All it does is make calls.  I'd be lost without it, and I don't want an all-singing all-dancing phone that will cost a fortune to run. Unfortunately, although there must be thousands of us, nobody ever seems to think about what WE need.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Christine on May 04, 2021, 16:08
I've had a mobile for years as I travelled a lot for work so was rarely near the home landline. It's only the last few years since retirement that I've been settled enough to keep the same landline number. However I find that texts are the way to go. It's not the minutes that count but the texts. I've found that the landline is far too expensive to use.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: AlaninCarlisle on May 04, 2021, 16:29
I was probably one of the first in Cumbria to get a mobile phone (car phone) in the early 1980s. If I ever get one, I'll probably be the last to get a smart phone
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: snowdrops on May 05, 2021, 08:24
After my mum died 4+ years ago, we did away with the landline. The children only have mobiles so we just rely on our mobiles (both iPhones) we both have a £6 a month giffgaff contract which suits us well, unlimited minutes & texts & 500g (?) internet.
Smart phones are great, I just love being able to take a photo anywhere anytime. I use it all the time in shops for price comparison etc.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Growster... on May 05, 2021, 08:43
I'm with O2, on a pay-as-you-go card, and just use it for emergencies as well!

One annoyance is that the signal is pretty poor around here, so when Paypal or others want to send me some sort of text to verify a transaction, it doesn't get here in time!

Mrs Growster has had a similar card in one of my old work phones for fifteen or so years, and still has most of the tenner she put in at the start!

I suppose I'll have to make a couple of calls from my Samsung now...

:o(
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: grinling on May 05, 2021, 16:59
contact your phone company and they should reinstate the card.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: jezza on May 06, 2021, 09:13
Hello I have an old phone on pay and go it only for emergencies,I get a top up notice every month on O2 ,if you can get into an O2 shop see if they can get you back on  to your old sim,ad long as it's not over 3 months   jezza
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Yorkie on May 08, 2021, 11:24
I've been with Three on a PAYG SIM for many years now.  It used to be an amazing tariff but they rocketed the prices of it a few months ago now.

My signal is dismal, but I'd put up with it because of the tariff.  Now that the tariff is more similar to other firms', I'll be moving to a different firm which has a decent signal in my area. 

But as others have said, they really don't want people on the original style PAYG these days.  They'd far rather you paid them more per month and waste credit when you don't use it to the maximum of that monthly sum.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Growster... on May 08, 2021, 14:13
Interesting, Yorkie...

I was in Tesco this morning, and saw their sim cards stuck around the till for varying prices!

I suppose you can buy one for - whatever, and use it until the money runs out, then buy another one!

I'm sure chums here know how they work, but as of yesterday, my old Samsung Fiddly-Fat-Finger Thing still seems to do something or other, I'm not sure as I don't tweetett, or use bookface......

...well, in a way...
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Yorkie on May 08, 2021, 15:31
Good suggestion Growster - the trouble is finding the network with a sufficient signal both indoors and outdoors.  I think Tesco's network isn't very strong. But will look into it!
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Christine on May 08, 2021, 18:26
When I moved here I consulted the search engine of my choice to look at coverage of the mobile (along with the experience of the outdoor rangers in the local national park). If I go the other side of Hadrian's Wall I need a different network. Mind - it does depend. Daughter a few miles up the road does badly with my network at home but does well with the one from the other side of Hadrian's Wall. Said wall is a very long way from both of us.  :lol:
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: perris on May 09, 2021, 06:50
I faced a similar issue a while back, being leaned on by the provider to shift to a monthly sub when I rarely use my very old (11 yrs and counting) but wholly reliable dumb mobile phone. Looking for an alternative provider, as I refuse for pay for a data bundle that I couldn't even use, I had real trouble understanding these companies' websites pages (the vocab they use means nothing to me) to find one that does an old school payg scheme, for text and talk rather than a computer in my pocket, so my daughter did some hunting and discovered Asda do one, which I duly switched to, and have been very happy with these past 2 years - good service coverage and very easy to top up as the stores are everywhere. I think I'm still running on the original £10, and if I should leave it on, the battery lasts about a fortnight  :lol:
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Goosegirl on May 13, 2021, 14:43
Perris, funny you should say that as I thought I'd ordered one from the Tesco site by following a link but it's actually Asda. I'm just waiting for an email to say I've successfully registered with their mobile site then I'll get the rest done. Only thing is I'm struggling to get my old SIM card out of the phone. It doesn't have a little pull-out tray so there must be a way to do it.
Title: Re: Pay as you go and Sim cards.
Post by: Welsh Merf on June 05, 2021, 08:59
I've always been with Vodafone. Can't find anybody cheaper, and with the same coverage. Very rarely do I not get a signal, and I travel from the Romney Marsh in the south of Kent to Snowdonia, North East/West England, and into Scotland.