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PAYG or Pay Monthly - O2,Tesco or Virgin
Nailz
Posts: 3,054 Forum Member
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I'm currently with O2 on PAYG Text and Talk and pay £3 a month for 100MB of data. I top up £15 every 2 months and am thinking that I could get more for my money by moving to another provider. I fired up a map app on Friday and it downloaded 30 MB in about 20 minutes which is nearly a third of my monthly data allowance.
I have looked at O2 Pay and Go Go Go. As an O2 customer I can start on this package for £10 / month
150 mins : 1000 texts : 500MB data
If I joined Tesco Mobile (which uses the O2 network) I could get one of these pay monthly deals:
£10 a month - 250 minutes : 5000 texts : 500MB data
£12.50 a month - 750 minutes : 5000 texts : 2GB data
Or maybe Virgin and join their Essential Tariff:
30-day contract - 1200 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB data for £12 a month
Virgin also have a Starter Tariff:
30-day contract 250 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB data £10 a month
I have been happy with the O2 service but having looked at some of these other deal feel I am paying too much. £3 for 100MB of data seems quite high.
I like Priority Moments on O2 but could always pick up a PAYG SIM just for that.
Any thoughts ? I like the 30 day contracts as I am not tied in for a year.
I have looked at O2 Pay and Go Go Go. As an O2 customer I can start on this package for £10 / month
150 mins : 1000 texts : 500MB data
If I joined Tesco Mobile (which uses the O2 network) I could get one of these pay monthly deals:
£10 a month - 250 minutes : 5000 texts : 500MB data
£12.50 a month - 750 minutes : 5000 texts : 2GB data
Or maybe Virgin and join their Essential Tariff:
30-day contract - 1200 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB data for £12 a month
Virgin also have a Starter Tariff:
30-day contract 250 minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB data £10 a month
I have been happy with the O2 service but having looked at some of these other deal feel I am paying too much. £3 for 100MB of data seems quite high.
I like Priority Moments on O2 but could always pick up a PAYG SIM just for that.
Any thoughts ? I like the 30 day contracts as I am not tied in for a year.
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Comments
I looked at GiffGaff but read reports of network downtime and also their non-existent customer service.
People on here constantly slag O2's 3G, when the only places I haven't had 3G are in rural areas plus the user has already said "I have been happy with the O2 service" so they can't be having any signal problems
I'm speaking from experience. I moved from O2 to Virgin when my contract ended. Now I am on Three. Only on O2 did my phone often fall back to GPRS data at pitiful speeds. Virgin offers access to EEs superior 3G network at bargain basement prices.
100% agree.
If we didn't have smartphones, O2 would be the best network, by far. But, since we've on from the 90s, O2 just isn't good and it never will be.
My own site http://petef.22web.org/payg.html is more comprehensive for PAYG but does not cover bundles or contracts.
Yeah, probably true
I mostly just text and use data these days, but I choose Tesco Mobile (although this may change shortly) just because I always get a signal so I can be contacted in an emergency.
The ironic thing being that there are limits...
The 321 price plan looks alright.
3p a minute, 2p a text and 1p a MB of data
My typical useage might be:
60 minutes of calls a month = £1.80
50 texts a month = £1
500 MB of data a month = £5
which is just under £8. And the credit balance isn't removed after 30 days.
£12.90 gets you 200 minutes, 5000 texts, unlimited data or 600 minutes, 5000 texts and 1GB of data.
£9.90 gives you 200 minutes, 5000 texts, 500MB data
or pay as you go with three
£10 gives you 100 minutes, 3000 texts and 500MB data
£15 gives you 300 minutes, 3000 texts, unlimited data
It's weird as some people say there are limits where as others haven't experienced being limited. I'm a fairly low user so I can't really tell. I could probably get away with some of the limited ones for a bit less but for an extra couple of quid I don't want the hassle of checking how much I've got left all the time. I just like knowing that I'm paying an affordable set amount each month and that I don't ever have to worry about how much I'm using.
jabbamk1 is absolutely correct that Virgin does indeed have a fair usage policy that restricts data to 3.5Gb per month. After this, access is not blocked but your speed is restricted so it's entirely possible that some users don't notice.
I think most of us are aware of the fair use policy, but the point Miss C. is making is that some people have gone well over 3.5GB and have found that their speed has not been limited.
I do agree with this. Virgin's offer is great and offers pretty much everything for a low price.
My point was more of a joke just saying that there are limits (not that the majority would hit it).
Indeed. Someone on the Virgin Media Forum used 10GBs twice in a row I think and didn't get capped.
Customer Services constantly say that their is no limit for mobile use; people are only limited if they tether.
Could just be a scare-tactic to reduce their network costs (costs to EE) and/or reduce congestion?
This looks interesting. I have another Virgin PAYG phone and I've read that by ringing them on 789 you can get a discount on this £15 as an existing customer.
I didn't know that as I was a Virgin PAYG customer for 12 years! Got to say that the service was great as I used my original SIM in the new smartphone I'd bought and they changed me over to the 30 day rolling contract whilst I was on the phone to them. Didn't charge me for what I'd used after my previous payment either (I was on PAYG on a direct debit).