PAYG phone cards

[solarman216]

OK peeps my Mrs has a crap old phone, I have two no longer used smart phones that I am sure she will find easier to use, her existing sim card will not fit so need a new one, but does not seem straightforward to select a card, so help needed, she rarely makes calls but gets lots of text's but never replies as I need to read them for her, but I am sure she will be able to do so on a smart phone, if she needs me, calls and hangs up, I call her back that about sums it up other than she needs call availability if needed, I see things like giffgaff but am completely in the dark re this stuff, Rick

[Banshee]

OK peeps my Mrs has a crap old phone, I have two no longer used smart phones that I am sure she will find easier to use, her existing sim card will not fit so need a new one, but does not seem straightforward to select a card, so help needed, she rarely makes calls but gets lots of text's but never replies as I need to read them for her, but I am sure she will be able to do so on a smart phone, if she needs me, calls and hangs up, I call her back that about sums it up other than she needs call availability if needed, I see things like giffgaff but am completely in the dark re this stuff, Rick

GiffGaff sounds like it will be the best for your needs.

Check the tariffs here;
https://www.giffgaff.com/sim-only-plans

[panelbeater]

i had giffgaff it was crap.it still owes me 10 credit

[terranosaurusdoug]

I use Vodafone big bundles, I'm currently on the £15 a month one, I was on the £10 a month one, I think they might do a £5 a month one too, search Vodafone big bundles.
I'm very happy with them and it suits me, the only drawback for you I can think of is that you have to top up once a month regardless of whether you have used your allowance or not!

[D2206]

I think for what it’s worth you may aswell get a cheap sim only contract. Some do a 30 day rolling contract too so you can drop out at any time.

[Goatmaster]

Vodaphone get my vote too as they seem to be the best for quality and coverage. Plenty of rolling 30 day contracts available. Price depends these days on data amount, text and voice calls are free. Personally I am with VOXI a Vodaphone reseller and pay £15 per month for 20 Gb.

Vodafone obviously do the old style PaYG SIM which are great if you truthfully never use it but have the hassle of having to pay a top up every so often to keep it active and pay through the nose if you use it more than a few min a day.

Overall I would say a SIM only data deal from VOXI 8Gb for £10 a month rolling contract free calls free text is well worth considering

[solarman216]

I am sorry but getting so confused, my Mrs only wants to make phone calls and limited texts, that is it no internet or other rubbish, Rick

[panelbeater]

go online rick and serch for the cheapest sim you can get.
i do not know if anyone still does the one where you paid then had to use phone every 6 months or it shut down anymore.
i am on virgin mobile sim 100gb a month rolling over any unused so being as not used data as not out and about data is upto 210 gb.
all for a costly 20 a month.
found coverage good enough to watch stuff on laptop while away.

[scrumpydude]

I can recommend Plusnet mobile. Their SIM only deals are dirt cheap and it's a 30 day rolling contract. The SIMs will fit any phone. They often have deals on. The only issue I have had with them is calling short code numbers like you often find on car parks. It costs them money so they don't allow it.

Plusnet are on the EE network.

These days SIMs are tripping over themselves to pile on free data which isn't what you want. There are comparison sites on the web that should be able to help you find the right SIM deal for you. I'm not sure if true PAYG really exists any more.

[Goatmaster]

I am sorry but getting so confused, my Mrs only wants to make phone calls and limited texts, that is it no internet or other rubbish, Rick

The thing is, the majority of competitively priced bundles come with all that other rubbish. You will pay more these days for a straight PAYG bundle unless you really do just leave the phone in a locked drawer.

A 30 day rolling contract with unlimited talk time is £10 or less per month.

Also be very wary of Virgin mobile as there are massive swathes of the country over which is simply won't work. So make sure you talk to someone local who has it to check quality and coverage. After putting up with their shoddy network for five years I would say most definitely avoid them but the choice is yours and as I said your area may just be OK.

[Lazy-Ferret]

I have trackers fitted in various things, and have found for them, GiffGaff are the best. They use O2's network, so best to check their coverage in your area, but when camping, giff gaff have never let me down. The trackers mainly use text and phone calls, but do use data as well.

Basically, you have package options, some of which give you free giff gaff to giff gaff calls and texts, but you can go for a basic package for £10, and as far as I know it lasts as long as it does, you just have to make a call, or send a text every 6 months.

I switched to them several years ago, and now have all the phones, trackers and tablets on them. Only possibly downside I can think of, is everything is done online although I prefer it that way.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[macabethiel]

I use GiffGaff I have 4 phones an emergency Nokia 6310 in each Jeep, we have SIM only deals with Auto Top up enabled on our two main phones. They use the O2 network as do Tesco Mobile if you have a good O2 signal either will do. I bought a brand new Huawei P Smart 2019 model earlier this year they were on offer for £99.00 to customers they sell new & refurbished.

Only downside for some is they are Internet Only no phone support etc.

[solarman216]

Thank you so much for all your advice, result of which is that she will stay with her current set up, it is an old phone but battery lasts weeks and is on the old style set up where £10 top up last her over a month some times two and then just top up again, the only hassle is when topping up each number entered requires two key presses, but I can manage that, Rick

[macabethiel]

Thank you so much for all your advice, result of which is that she will stay with her current set up, it is an old phone but battery lasts weeks and is on the old style set up where £10 top up last her over a month some times two and then just top up again, the only hassle is when topping up each number entered requires two key presses, but I can manage that, Rick

I don't know who your phone provider is but most will allow you to have auto top up or can be topped up online. With auto top up you do not need to press anything, with GiffGaff you can easily enable or disable all the options.

We pay £6 pcm for Goodbag top up on one phone had to go up to £8 pcm on my phone due to surfing when waiting in the car during shopping strips. When Covid is over I will go back to £6.

Our old Nokias I top up manually costs me around £20 a year each as I do use them to keep them active. The £8 pcm Goodybag gives me unlimited Minutes & Texts plus 2 GB of data.

[panelbeater]

every one has there choice.
when i was at ricks for a prolonged stay virgin was my saviour as used it for everything as weather so bad run out of leccy in batt in van,i will add rick kindly offered to feed me a hook up but knowing he is off grid i declined but a really nice offer,so works well there as i was watching phone tv and netflix.
the many places i go in van it has been fine as its on ee.
giffgaff kept letting me down with no signal.
i had the same with 3 so dumpt them.
at least rick is sorted now as he has decided to stay with his provider.

[Wallace]

We went over to Tesco a couple of years back and have renewed since, £20 a month for both with a silly amount of minutes, text and a fair bit of data. Tesco have been the one phone company we have not had any problems with from day 1 and the sim only renewal was done in minutes during a normal shopping trip.

[macabethiel]

every one has there choice.
when i was at ricks for a prolonged stay virgin was my saviour as used it for everything as weather so bad run out of leccy in batt in van,i will add rick kindly offered to feed me a hook up but knowing he is off grid i declined but a really nice offer,so works well there as i was watching phone tv and netflix.
the many places i go in van it has been fine as its on ee.
giffgaff kept letting me down with no signal.
i had the same with 3 so dumpt them.
at least rick is sorted now as he has decided to stay with his provider.

As you say we all have different needs I was with Virgin for three years as they did a good deal if you have TV etc. Trouble is we get no phone signal with Virgin or Vodaphone (was my work phone) its due to us being in a slight dip only O2 works as we can almost see the O2 mast ! When OTP codes came in with internet banking I obviously had to change!

[macabethiel]

We went over to Tesco a couple of years back and have renewed since, £20 a month for both with a silly amount of minutes, text and a fair bit of data. Tesco have been the one phone company we have not had any problems with from day 1 and the sim only renewal was done in minutes during a normal shopping trip.

As Tesco use the O2 network it was 50/50 between Tesco & GiffGaff - as a mate who was with GiffGaff recommended us we split the incentive they gave him!

If I had any issues with GiffGaff I would go with Tesco they were cheaper than O2 themselves when I last looked - its an ever changing market place.