DS Forums

 
 

best sim only contract


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 07-12-2013, 19:11
dave1981
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 50

thinking the tesco £15 a month 2000 minutes/3gb data is the best
I don't need 2000 minutes but would like as much data as poss

currently on O2 and from what I can gather I'll get the exact same coverage/service with tesco mobile

any others ?
dave1981 is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 07-12-2013, 19:20
npah3
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 121
Best all depends on what you use each month in calls, texts and data. If not high then there are sim's available that will cost nothing each month after initial purchase.
npah3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 19:32
Gordie1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: England
Posts: 6,317
Depends what you use the phone for.

I was on a contract until a year ago, when i looked at my call use it was next to nothing, i was paying extra for my extra data bandwidth.

I am now on 3 PAYG, you can buy an add on every month that gives you 3000 texts, 300 mins and unlimited internet, and it is in 4G as well.

Or you can just leave the credit on and you get 3p per minute, 2p per text and 1p per mb, i now do that and have had the same £10 on my phone for over a month.
Gordie1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 19:39
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
If you want as much data as poss then GiffGaff give you unlimited data for £12 a month and 3 offer unlimited data for £12.90.

GiffGaff will have identical coverage to O2 (but not identical speeds). 3 will be vastly different.

Both come with few minutes (250/200) and still give more minutes and unlimited data when you go to £15 a month.
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 19:44
dave1981
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 50
dunno how much calls i would use but i'd like to have enough minutes that i don't need to think 'if this goes to answer phone i'm gonna get charged xx for nothing'
on O2 PAYG just now, got the £6 bolt on which gives you 500mb and have used that in just over 2 weeks

would tesco give the same speeds on 3G - and giffgaff might not be as fast as o2 3G soeeds ?
dave1981 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 19:53
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
Tesco won't necessarily give you the same speeds either.
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 19:57
dave1981
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 50
hmm, suppose I better try a 1 month contract 1st instead of committing to 12 months straight away

on O2 its 16 quid for 600 mins (plus 500 o2 to o2) and 750 mb data, about 1/4 of the allowance you get from tesco fror the same price
dave1981 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 20:02
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
GiffGaff give 500 minutes and unlimited data for £15. It's basically PAYG so no commitment.
3 give 2000 minutes and unlimited data (and probably better 3G coverage) for £15 (12-month) or £18 (1-month).

The question is really:

1) How many minutes do you really use?
2) How much data do you really use?
3) Do you care about having to not worry about data or not worry about calls more?

The vast majority of people in the UK regularly pay for far bigger allowances than they need to and waste a lot of money in the process, just to "not worry" about going over. You'll probably end up paying less for going over once in a while than you would by paying for extra allowance you won't use.
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 20:05
jabbamk1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
GiffGaff give 500 minutes and unlimited data for £15. It's basically PAYG so no commitment.
If you're happy with O2 coverage and speeds then this is without a doubt the best option.
jabbamk1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 20:08
Thine Wonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
GiffGaff give 500 minutes and unlimited data for £15. It's basically PAYG so no commitment.
3 give 2000 minutes and unlimited data (and probably better 3G coverage) for £15 (12-month) or £18 (1-month).

The question is really:

1) How many minutes do you really use?
2) How much data do you really use?
3) Do you care about having to not worry about data or not worry about calls more?

The vast majority of people in the UK regularly pay for far bigger allowances than they need to and waste a lot of money in the process, just to "not worry" about going over. You'll probably end up paying less for going over once in a while than you would by paying for extra allowance you won't use.
When a crisis happens or just when you need it you don't have to worry.

1) How many minutes do you really use? about 4 hours a month
2) How much data do you really use? about 2 gigs a month, but if my main broadband went down I'd use it for a few days and could use loads more. Same if I stay away from home and decide to stream iplayer, I could have an 8 gig or more month.
3) Do you care about having to not worry about data or not worry about calls more? Yes, for convenience I'd rather pay Three £15 than pay £10 to some other network and have a fixed 2 gig data allowance or risk finding out I've had a £90 bill because I went over usage. If an app suddenly burns through data or when 4G gets launched if I want to spend a lot of time testing and playing I don't have to worry about an allowance at all.

What will Giffgaff's offer on 4G be as well? we don't yet know what they will charge.
Thine Wonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 20:16
dave1981
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 50
data is more important to me
as I say there's no way I'd use 2000 minutes, but the bigger data allowances all seem to come with more minutes too

think i'll try giffgaff, although there seems to be a difference in opinion over what the speeds will be like
if there's no commitment then i suppose there's no harm trying
dave1981 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 20:51
jabbamk1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: London, UK
Posts: 8,759
think i'll try giffgaff, although there seems to be a difference in opinion over what the speeds will be like
You won't notice a difference. Only if you live/use your phone in a very congested area.
jabbamk1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 20:55
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
GiffGaff have had a few core network issues that have reduced speeds mostly in noncongested areas. Had a few places where a GiffGaff SIM only got 1-2Mbps while putting an O2 SIM into the same phone got 8Mbps

Apparently that's down to the "last part of their equipment that is due to be upgraded" but it's last because it's "complicated".
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 21:18
dave1981
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 50
8?! most i have seen is 3.?? on my phone, upload and download
I assumed that was as fast as 3G went!
dave1981 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 21:27
Thine Wonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
8?! most i have seen is 3.?? on my phone, upload and download
I assumed that was as fast as 3G went!
So do most O2 users, however 3G has now moved on a lot with enhancements like HSPA+ and can deliver maximum theoretical speeds of up to 42Mbps. Real world EE and Three can deliver anything up to 20Mbps depending on your area what phone you have and network capacity.
Thine Wonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 21:37
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
3G goes up to ~42Mbps with current UK setups though in practice most people only see 10-20Mbps.
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 21:57
Thine Wonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
OP here's a screenshot from now just in case you think I'm making it up lol. I have pulled down the notification shade slightly so that you can see the time, date and network as I was taking the screenshot.

http://oi42.tinypic.com/f1hcg3.jpg
Associated speedtest URL www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/669823142
Thine Wonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 22:28
dave1981
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 50
I didn't doubt anyone
just never seen it on my phone - an iphone 4s
is it just in big cities you would see those kind of speeds ?
I live in a fairly rural area and have never tested the speed when I've been in town
dave1981 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 22:30
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
"depending on your area what phone you have and network capacity. "

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3151191639
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 23:32
Steven L Hunter
Guest
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 10,517
Virgin are unlimited mins unlimited texts and unlimited data subject to 3.5GB monthly usage before the speed is cut to 384kbps but if you were going for the Tesco deal you would only get 3GB anyway.
Steven L Hunter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 23:33
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
I didn't doubt anyone
just never seen it on my phone - an iphone 4s
is it just in big cities you would see those kind of speeds ?
I live in a fairly rural area and have never tested the speed when I've been in town
Personally I find the opposite. Big cities usually result in variable speeds (often slow) and outside of cities it tends to be fast - the highest speed I've seen so far (35Mbps) was doing 70MPH on the train between Cupar and Leuchars. The second highest I saw was 28Mbps in Leuchars station, 24Mbps in the suburbs of Berlin (Potsdam) and 22Mbps in a restaurant in the city centre - quickly dropping to 3Mbps on the other side of the street...

You might get lucky like Thine Wonk or you might get unlucky like me, where I live in the city there's a high density of heavy users and a low density of MBNL transmitters - resulting in speeds like this:

3:
http://qasdfdsaq.com/images/speedtes...7-22-36-56.png
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/669853546

EE:
http://qasdfdsaq.com/images/speedtes...7-22-56-58.png
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/669866254

O2:
http://qasdfdsaq.com/images/speedtes...7-22-51-41.png
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/669862909

EE 4G:
http://qasdfdsaq.com/images/speedtes...7-23-21-31.png
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/669880881

As TW said, it all depends on where you are, what phone you have, and prevailing network conditions (and capacity) at the time. And which direction the wind's blowing.
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 23:34
Thine Wonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
"depending on your area what phone you have and network capacity. "

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3151191639
Some Speedtest.net servers are awful, don't let it pick the best one by ping as that may not be the best speeds. I would try a few.
Thine Wonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 23:35
The Sack
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: S6 1SW WTID UTO FTB
Posts: 6,327
500 minutes
unlimited text
1GB Data (for downloads) surfing never seems to run out.

T-Mobile £7
The Sack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 23:43
qasdfdsaq
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,286
Some Speedtest.net servers are awful, don't let it pick the best one by ping as that may not be the best speeds. I would try a few.
You can see from the test results they're all manually set to use only the London server(s). It doesn't say which one but FTR it's Fidonet.

When that server has been proven to be able to give results like this:
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/1464359754 I don't think you can blame it for a sub-3Mbps result. Just re-tested it now on the fastest line I have access to (100Mb) - http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3151274471 - still wanna blame the server?
qasdfdsaq is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-12-2013, 23:51
Thine Wonk
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14,577
You can see from the test results they're all manually set to use only the London server(s). It doesn't say which one but FTR it's Fidonet.

When that server has been proven to be able to give results like this:
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/1464359754 I don't think you can blame it for a sub-3Mbps result. Just re-tested it now on the fastest line I have access to (100Mb) - http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3151274471 - still wanna blame the server?
Yes

http://oi39.tinypic.com/qy64uu.jpg

Like I say they can vary a lot, and network congestion to certain peers or routes can be different with different providers, hence the need to try several

Now a different server

http://oi42.tinypic.com/210wncl.jpg

Maybe your 'fidonet' isn't the best server to test Three on, there might be a slow peering link in the way or something. You should always test with a few to get a good idea.
Thine Wonk is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 11:02.