I appreciate this is not a landline based service, to which this site is primarily aimed, however it is a way of saving money on phone calls. So it does fit the criteria

Just been shopping, and spotted this offer. I'll give you a brief of it, but to make sure, you really ought to read the details here
http://www.tescomobile.com/valuesim.aspx?pc=22&us=1&h=1

THIS IS AN ONLINE DEAL

MAKE SURE YOU LOOK AT THE DETAILS FOR THE VALUE SIM, NOT THE NORMAL ONE.

Basically, Tesco are operating on the O2 network
It is Pay As You Go
You buy the sim for £1.73 (at the moment, special offer)
You pay for £5 credit at the same time. £6.73 total inc FREE delivery
They credit your account with another £5 (now £10 total credit) FREE
Despite reading, and asking the staff, it appears there is no time limit on the credit.
You cannot make international calls, or take it out of the country.
Calls to landlines and mobiles are 15p per minute
Texts are 5p each

This is the same call price as my contract phone, and I have to pay for 200 mins up front. And it's half the price for texts. It's worth having a couple to throw in the glovebox for emergency use, or to give to any foreign guests when they visit to help them keep in touch with you.

BE QUICK - THE OFFER ENDS 01 FEBRUARY

Max 2 per order and 4 per household - But I'm sure you know some friends

In the shop, there is no deal for the half price airtime, nor no mention of the web offer. But the offer of £1.73 for the sim currently stands..
Either way, you still get points on your card for the purchase, and on selected top-ups.

Enjoy while it lasts.


A.V.N.M.

You cant text abroad either.
Does not support MMS or GPRS.
Cant top up it at your local top up point.(does not support e.top up)
Cant top it up at ATM.
If you dont use it for 6 months you will be cut off.

Would you not be better off with a Free O2 sim card.Which gives you £2.50p free credit,when you register.

Which when you top it up by £10 gives you 100 inclusive x-net  minutes,or 300 texts which you must use in first month. But allows to you to keep the £10 to use at your leisure.(Must make one call or text every 6 months).But when you top it up again by £10 gives you another 100 x-net minutes etc,to use and so on!!!

Which gives you 10% of your top ups back every three months ( up to £ 50 i believe).

Which you can use to call/text  abroad and supports mms and gprs.(You get 1 mb a month of GPRS free via wap/i mode)

Which also gives you a free bolt on for 3 months as a joining treat.

You can also use the O2 sim abroad and they give you one short free call ,and one free text every week you are roaming outside UK.

If you would like up to four FREE O2  sims ,apply here :  http://mates.o2.co.uk/Index.aspx

Obviously if people look around, there will always be a better deal. I understood this to be a basic service, that is why it is under the "Value" brand of Tesco. Even the sim cover is blue and white.

I've been contract for the last 12 years with same number, so I've had no need to investigate the pay as you go option. Have to admit that one of the main things that bugs me with the owners of P.A.Y.G. phones has always been the whine of "I can't, I'm out of credit" So I've always avoided it.
However, this looked a good deal at the time. Perhaps it will spark a few people into letting us know who is offering the better deal. Which dealers and which network.

With regards to no support for MMS or GPRS, does it really matter? Invariably the cost of the service is too high, and I have a fast connection at home. Sometimes people want too much from a phone.

Well it does pay to read the print carefully. Have to admit I must have glossed over this bit.
5.4 If you do not use your Mobile Phone for six months we will disconnect you and you will lose your Credits and Mobile Phone number. If your Mobile Phone is disconnected and you would like to reconnect it, you must call Customer Care. If we agree to reconnect you, you must pay a reconnection fee. Details of the current reconnection fee are available by calling Customer Care.

Which means that it can go straight back as it was sold on the basis it wouldn't run out.
Why do shops put assistants in positions for which they are useless? They were specifically asked if it was subject to time control, to which the answer was no. The leaflet had no information on the subject, and neither does the packaging.
Surely that must come under the cover of Trading Standards. After all, if the information is not given, then after the 6 months they would be liable to maintain the credit?

OK I'm going off subject. As I said, it looked a good deal, and the idea was to promote the ideal of getting the costs of phone calls down.

If other members know of better services, then please share the info. That's the basis of this site, so please keep it going.

Thank you

A.V.N.M.

I be surprised if anyone can top the 02 deal at the moment for a regular/high user.The other thing i forgot to mention with O2 payg bolt on and inclusive minutes you can call ngn 0844/0845/0870 and 07744 numbers out of your minutes,which other payg networks will charge you for.

The other Payg Sim to consider is the Tesco normal one.Which has all the normal  features.You can get  calls for 10p a minute to any landline or UK Mobile ,and texts for 5p to 3 nominated numbers so it might be more suitable to a low user. Otherwise their 20p and  10p respectively.

However their is a little loophole you can exploit which benefits regular callers Theirs nothing to stop you nominating an 07744 dial through  number as your best friend.Which means you can call as many  01/02 numbers as you like for 10p a minute,plus 0845/0870 and numerous intl destinations.Also i believe some 07744 numbers allow you to dial through to UK Mobile Numbers at certain times. So you could get all  your Mobile Calls down to 10p a minute.

What is an 07744 dial through number

Its like a 0844/0845/0870/0871 International  cheap call dial through number ,except it uses the mobile Prefix 07744,and some networks allow you to call it out of your cross network minutes.Others charge big time.

The majority of these numbers emulate from the company Simply-Fone and its agents.Have a look at their site www.simply-fone.com for details.

reggie wrote on Jan 20^th, 2006 at 11:36am:

What is an 07744 dial through number

bigjohn wrote on Jan 21^st, 2006 at 12:35am:

Its like a 0844/0845/0870/0871 International  cheap call dial through number ,except it uses the mobile Prefix 07744,and some networks allow you to call it out of your cross network minutes.Others charge big time. The majority of these numbers emulate from the company Simply-Fone and its agents.Have a look at their site www.simply-fone.com for details.

I'm confused!  The Simply-Fone home page quotes an 07744 number, but if you look at their "how to use" section, it lists only 08 & 09 numbers, even for mobile use.

OK, at the top of their "directory" page, it does say "Call FREE from your Orange & O2 mobile on 07744 97 4404" - but if it's free, how do they make any money?

Anyway, if you can use an 07744 number, does this mean that this is effectively yet another Ofcom-allowed mis-use of revenue sharing on a non-09 number?