I believe that O2 and maybe other providers are no longer doing PAYG
contracts. My wife has an old O2 phone on which she is almost exclusively
on WiFi. If she were to need top-up she can do that online although I think
that last time it was at a supermarket checkout. So basically it costs her
nothing. (You can see why O2 don't like that!)
EE claim to provide a PAYG service, but reading the fine print on their
site and that of ARGOS, it requires a payment of £10 or £20 pm. I pay less
than that and I am on a monthly contract.
Have I got that right about the monthly top-up or have I misread?
I an loath to go to O2 to ask for her remaining balance (£22) to be
refunded as they will try and make me pay more. (Like when Virgin ring up
and tell you they have a special offer)
Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
top-up when you needed to?
--
Jim S

On 17/01/2022 17:42, Jim S wrote:
> I believe that O2 and maybe other providers are no longer doing PAYG
> contracts. My wife has an old O2 phone on which she is almost exclusively
> on WiFi. If she were to need top-up she can do that online although I think
> that last time it was at a supermarket checkout. So basically it costs her
> nothing. (You can see why O2 don't like that!)
> EE claim to provide a PAYG service, but reading the fine print on their
> site and that of ARGOS, it requires a payment of £10 or £20 pm. I pay less
> than that and I am on a monthly contract.
> Have I got that right about the monthly top-up or have I misread?
> I an loath to go to O2 to ask for her remaining balance (£22) to be
> refunded as they will try and make me pay more. (Like when Virgin ring up
> and tell you they have a special offer)
> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
> top-up when you needed to?
>
For the pay monthly contracts, you need to set up a deal for what is
usually a twelve month or two year commitment. Because of this, the
operators can offer a better price than for lurching along from month to
month.

The "pay as you talk" deals do not have that commitment, but the data
facility will only be valid for a month. The length of your ability to
make voice calls or send SMS items using your credit varies between
operators, and may be as long as six months.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

In article <j4lqelFfiu3U1@mid.individual.net>, John Williamson
<johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> on Mon, 17 Jan 2022 at 18:22:09 awoke
Nicholas from his slumbers and wrote
>On 17/01/2022 17:42, Jim S wrote:
>> I believe that O2 and maybe other providers are no longer doing PAYG
>> contracts. My wife has an old O2 phone on which she is almost exclusively
>> on WiFi. If she were to need top-up she can do that online although I think
>> that last time it was at a supermarket checkout. So basically it costs her
>> nothing. (You can see why O2 don't like that!)
>> EE claim to provide a PAYG service, but reading the fine print on their
>> site and that of ARGOS, it requires a payment of £10 or £20 pm. I pay less
>> than that and I am on a monthly contract.
>> Have I got that right about the monthly top-up or have I misread?
>> I an loath to go to O2 to ask for her remaining balance (£22) to be
>> refunded as they will try and make me pay more. (Like when Virgin ring up
>> and tell you they have a special offer)
>> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
>> top-up when you needed to?
>>
>For the pay monthly contracts, you need to set up a deal for what is
>usually a twelve month or two year commitment. Because of this, the
>operators can offer a better price than for lurching along from month to
>month.
>
>The "pay as you talk" deals do not have that commitment, but the data
>facility will only be valid for a month. The length of your ability to
>make voice calls or send SMS items using your credit varies between
>operators, and may be as long as six months.
>
We use a Lycamobile PAYG SIM for calls to the Philippines. I am not
aware of these being withdrawn.
--
0sterc@tcher -

"Où sont les neiges d'antan?"

On Mon, 17 Jan 2022 18:22:09 +0000
John Williamson <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote:

> For the pay monthly contracts, you need to set up a deal for what is
> usually a twelve month or two year commitment. Because of this, the
> operators can offer a better price than for lurching along from month to
> month.

That would seem reasonable if the best deals around here weren't the
monthly contract SIM only deals (as long as you have a phone that is) and
they're are only a one month rolling commitment - but what's the point in
changing to a worse deal so it keeps rolling.

The thing they want is a commitment - rolling is even better than
time bound in many ways - because it can be counted as part of their ARRS
(annual recurring revenue stream) and investors like companies with a big
ARRS.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On 17-Jan-22 17:42, Jim S wrote:
> I believe that O2 and maybe other providers are no longer doing PAYG
> contracts. My wife has an old O2 phone on which she is almost exclusively
> on WiFi. If she were to need top-up she can do that online although I think
> that last time it was at a supermarket checkout. So basically it costs her
> nothing. (You can see why O2 don't like that!)
> EE claim to provide a PAYG service, but reading the fine print on their
> site and that of ARGOS, it requires a payment of £10 or £20 pm. I pay less
> than that and I am on a monthly contract.
> I an loath to go to O2 to ask for her remaining balance (£22) to be
> refunded as they will try and make me pay more. (Like when Virgin ring up
> and tell you they have a special offer)
> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
> top-up when you needed to?

1pmobile is a fairly cheap PAYG SIM (supply your own device). 1p per
minute calls, 1p a text & 1p a MB.
You _do_ have to top up three times per year, making the minimum cost
£30 per annum.
https://www.1pmobile.com

I also have a Three PAYG SIM, but they now charge 10p/minute, 10p/text,
5p/MB. Credit remains in place as log as you make a paying call etc.
every (can't remember)
I may just use up my credit balance and move, since 1pmobile is so much
cheaper to run.

--
Sam Plusnet

Yes sky have been promoting that they do not grab your data all the time, as
have others. Why all this has to be so complicated, eludes me, just price
data, calls and texts and let you pay for what you want. Seems to be crazy
and not in either parties interests to make it complicated.
However, marketers may have different opinions.
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"John Williamson" <johnwilliamson@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:j4lqelFfiu3U1@mid.individual.net...
> On 17/01/2022 17:42, Jim S wrote:
>> I believe that O2 and maybe other providers are no longer doing PAYG
>> contracts. My wife has an old O2 phone on which she is almost exclusively
>> on WiFi. If she were to need top-up she can do that online although I
>> think
>> that last time it was at a supermarket checkout. So basically it costs
>> her
>> nothing. (You can see why O2 don't like that!)
>> EE claim to provide a PAYG service, but reading the fine print on their
>> site and that of ARGOS, it requires a payment of �10 or �20 pm. I pay
>> less
>> than that and I am on a monthly contract.
>> Have I got that right about the monthly top-up or have I misread?
>> I an loath to go to O2 to ask for her remaining balance (�22) to be
>> refunded as they will try and make me pay more. (Like when Virgin ring up
>> and tell you they have a special offer)
>> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
>> top-up when you needed to?
>>
> For the pay monthly contracts, you need to set up a deal for what is
> usually a twelve month or two year commitment. Because of this, the
> operators can offer a better price than for lurching along from month to
> month.
>
> The "pay as you talk" deals do not have that commitment, but the data
> facility will only be valid for a month. The length of your ability to
> make voice calls or send SMS items using your credit varies between
> operators, and may be as long as six months.
>
> --
> Tciao for Now!
>
> John.

Jim S wrote:

> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
> top-up when you needed to?

Clearly the networks don't make enough zbarl from PAYG customers, so are trying
to kill them off.

IIUC you can be on giff-gaff and *not* buy the goody bags and it will behave
like PAYG used to?

Sam Plusnet wrote:

> 1pmobile is a fairly cheap PAYG SIM (supply your own device).  1p per minute
> calls, 1p a text & 1p a MB.
> You _do_ have to top up three times per year, making the minimum cost £30 per
> annum.

I fund my brother's phobile on 1pmobile, their old terms were better for people
who don't use up much credit, the new terms set a minimum amount they'll take if
you don't "spend" enough credit.

They're still fairly good though.

On Tue, 18 Jan 2022 09:27:59 -0000
"Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)" <briang1@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> Yes sky have been promoting that they do not grab your data all the time,
> as have others. Why all this has to be so complicated, eludes me, just
> price data, calls and texts and let you pay for what you want.

There are a couple of real reasons I know of. One is that the way
the phone companies pay for the bandwidth and connections they sell on is
very different and quite complex (I've only glimpsed at it <shudder>) and so
they can't just pass on costs plus markup like selling beans. The other is
that they are nearly all listed companies and have to play the stock value
games in order to survive - one of those games is showing a big ARRS so
hooking people on predictable subscriptions that they're not likely to
terminate is a big win - the phones and the services are all just ways of
achieving that.

--
Steve O'Hara-Smith
Odds and Ends at http://www.sohara.org/

On 18/01/2022 10:06, Tease'n'Seize wrote:
> Jim S wrote:
>
>>

>
> IIUC you can be on giff-gaff and *not* buy the goody bags and it will
> behave like PAYG used to?
>
swot I do

Tease'n'Seize said:
> Jim S wrote:
>
>> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
>> top-up when you needed to?
>
> Clearly the networks don't make enough zbarl from PAYG customers, so are trying
> to kill them off.
>
> IIUC you can be on giff-gaff and *not* buy the goody bags and it will behave
> like PAYG used to?

Yes. I have one of theirs, and aiui the deal is that credit stays put so
long as you spend a bit every 180 days. They are, however, a PITA for
the way that every time you do something they send you a text going
"WHOOHOO !" WHOOPEE ! You gave us some zbarl!!!".

Asda have a similiar deal but without all the noise.

--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

On 17/01/2022 17:42, Jim S wrote:

> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
> top-up when you needed to?
>
At the risk of jinxing it.

ADSA mobile do a PAYG SIM. (see link below)
I top up by "top up card" at the corner shop with cash, the xyl does it
over the phone by debit card. Credit remains until used as long as I
make one paid for SMS or Call every 6 months. It does 4G but I hardly
ever use mobile data. It connects to my, and many other, wifi networks.
I topped up by only £10 during the last 12 months. Still have ~£7 left.
They do month long add-on deals if you want them. The carrier used is
voodoophone.

link - https://mobile.asda.com/pay-as-you-go

--
Nev
It causes me a great deal of regret and remorse
that so many people are unable to understand what I write.

On Wed, 19 Jan 2022 12:03:43 +0000, nev young
<newsforpasiphae1953@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>On 17/01/2022 17:42, Jim S wrote:
>
>> Are the days gone when you could pick up a phone at the supermarket and
>> top-up when you needed to?
>>
>At the risk of jinxing it.
>
>ADSA mobile do a PAYG SIM. (see link below)
>I top up by "top up card" at the corner shop with cash, the xyl does it
>over the phone by debit card. Credit remains until used as long as I
>make one paid for SMS or Call every 6 months. It does 4G but I hardly
>ever use mobile data. It connects to my, and many other, wifi networks.
>I topped up by only £10 during the last 12 months. Still have ~£7 left.
>They do month long add-on deals if you want them. The carrier used is
>voodoophone.
>
>link - https://mobile.asda.com/pay-as-you-go

I've had ~ similar <here in Canada> since I retired 10 years ago.
Annual $ 100. required. I've accumulated over $ 300. in those
10 years < no data - just voice & texts > so now I can enjoy
small amounts of data - just when I really need it - ie:
playing with money that's already spent - on my new-ish smart phone.
< all updates blocked & data normally OFF >
John T.