Hi BJ,

Is Tesco Lite the cheapest payg tariff (ie 8p any network calls)?

I'm looking for the cheapst payg tariff for my mother.  She makes the occasional call but it can be xnet but mostly to Orange I think.

The tariff she is on now is upto 100mins for topping up by £10 with o2.  She even gets the £10 to spend as she likes which is mostly just for calls after 100mins has been used.  This o2 tariff is no longer available anymore.

Thanks

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 5:22pm:

The tariff she is on now is upto 100mins for topping up by £10 with o2.  She even gets the £10 to spend as she likes which is mostly just for calls after 100mins has been used.  This o2 tariff is no longer available anymore.

Three's pay as you go is 3ppm to landlines and mobiles, 2p texts and data at 1p/MB. Discussion thread here.

White Mobile do 3ppm to landlines and 6ppm to mobiles. It uses the EE network and requires an outgoing call every 60 days, although by the sound of it that won't be an issue. Discussion thread here.

Hi.bbb.uk

Quite a few to choose from !

Apart from  the ones  David has mentioned  Asda operating on EE offer a £5 bundle which includes 100 minutes plus other allowances.So it works out at roughly 5p a minute.
https://mobile.asda.com/ follow on rate 8p a minute.

Virgin offer 120 mobile minutes ,and unlimited  01/02/03 calls for £10 a month and you get to keep the £10 to use,and unlimited calls to Virgin Mobiles if your a VM Customer.
http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=payasyougo.tariff.howdoi.sm286 follow on rate not clear.

http://www.togglemobile.co.uk/tariffs/en discussed in this thread http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1369215834/2#2  charge 3p a minute.Requires big top up.

Then last but not least this unique deal on www.ovivo.com On Voda Network. Pay a one-off £20 for an Ovivo Sim (runs over Vodafone's network), then EVERY month you get 250 minutes, 300 texts and 500MB data.

Plus in addition to that  you get a one-off £15 credit towards charges above your allowance, and until Thu 20 Mar you'll also get a 'free' standard Cineworld ticket.

Catch is you have to watch ads for a short while. :)
See this thread here : http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1344308883/0

Thanks Dave/BJ.

I'm liking three's 321 tariff.

Which network do three fall back on if you can't get a 3g signal (ie for 2g) as 3g around mum's can be really bad despite network coverage indicator saying good lol.

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 7:26pm:

Which network do three fall back on if you can't get a 3g signal (ie for 2g) as 3g around mum's can be really bad despite network coverage indicator saying good lol.

I believe it is EE. However, I'm not sure on what the situation is with roaming in respect of whether preference "must" be given to the 3 network.

One other point, if a 4G handset were to be used then 3's 4G coverage might be better if the local base station uses the 800MHz spectrum (as against 2,100MHz for the 3G service, which doesn't carry particularly well). I say "might" because clearly the building of 4G networks will take time.

Thanks.

I can switch the phone to just GSM to ensure 2g is used.

4G networks can only handle data, phones switch to 3g for calls.

I have just ordered a free sim for her and I can try it for coverage before I arrange for number to be ported.

Thanks again  :)

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 7:53pm:

4G networks can only handle data, phones switch to 3g for calls.

Thanks bbb_uk, I didn't realise that. Do you know if this is by design or by application?

Dave wrote on Feb 27^th, 2014 at 8:03pm:

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 27th, 2014 at 7:53pm: 4G networks can only handle data, phones switch to 3g for calls. Thanks bbb_uk, I didn't realise that. Do you know if this is by design or by application?

By design. When I read about it there wasn't any network worldwide that supported actual 4g calls. It's something they are looking into. 

EE and 3 share each others networks and more sharing is proposed.

See: http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240213694/EE-and-Three-sign-passive-network-share-deal-for-rural-UK


~Edited by bbb_uk: Changed title to match new title due to splitting thread off

giffgaff's £7.50 goodybag offers 200 minutes, "unlimited" texts and 250MB of data.

Mobile by Sainsbury's offers a £10 bundle which has 300 minutes, "unlimited" texts and 500MB of data.

Co-operative Mobile (The Phone Co-op) is to launch its pay as you go soon and we await information as to rates and bundles.

An advantage of 3 payg is that unlike most other payg suppliers who dont offer call divert on payg ,you can divert your payg mobile to a landline,( 3p a minute).Handy if your somewhere you cant get service.

A disadvantage is that if people call you from a landline it can work out expensive from some landlines.EG Calls from Virgin Media Landline to 3 mobile  are particularly high nearly 16p connection and 31p+ a minute :o

Giffgaffs Hokey Cokey £5 bolt on http://giffgaff.com/goodybags/hokey-cokey-extra-minutes-free-for-each-call could prove useful to some if you get a lot of inbound calls.As you get  60 UK Minutes, 300 UK texts, 20 MB and a free extra minute for every minute you get called (as long as the call is not from another giffgaff number).
Plus, you will still benefit from  free giffgaff to giffgaff calls and texts.Calls to Voicemail and  divert calls are included in inclusive minutes.
Plus Plus calls to freephone numbers are free handy if you want to use the likes of http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php

bigjohn wrote on Feb 28^th, 2014 at 3:58am:

An advantage of 3 payg is that unlike most other payg suppliers who dont offer call divert on payg ,you can divert your payg mobile to a landline,( 3p a minute).Handy if your somewhere you cant get service. A disadvantage is that if people call you from a landline it can work out expensive from some landlines.EG Calls from Virgin Media Landline to 3 mobile  are particularly high nearly 16p connection and 31p+ a minute :o

Unless it is a number which is ported from one of the other operators.

Another cheap payg provider not been mentioned so far is

http://www.simplecallmobile.com/ runs over EE.

Calls 3p a minute to 01/02/03 ,4p a minute to UK Mobiles ,and 5p a text.

Thanks again Dave/BJ.

I have to admit I didn't realise there were so many MVNO apart from the bigger MVNO.

The tariffs with bundled mins, etc I think would be a waste as they may not be used within a month.

bbb_uk wrote on Feb 28^th, 2014 at 8:59pm:

I have to admit I didn't realise there were so many MVNO apart from the bigger MVNO. The tariffs with bundled mins, etc I think would be a waste as they may not be used within a month.

I was surprised to learn of the sheer number of MVNOs when I started to compile the list, something which as a result has been left as it is. I thought that there'd be at most 20 providers, the limit being the access to and use of the four network operators.

There are MVNAs (Mobile Virtual Network Agregators) and MVNEs (Mobile Virtual Network Enablers) which purchase service from the Network Operators and then sell on to smaller MVNOs who wouldn't be entertained otherwise.