Retro: First PAYG mobile phones

BMR · 21-04-2014, 14:09

When did the first PAYG mobiles come out? I remember buying my first one in 2000 but they were down to 50 quid by that point. When did PAYG start, and how much did it cost?

MGS4SnakeRulez · 21-04-2014, 15:24

I am not sure. My first payg phone was a nokia something on orange where you could send 10 free texts a day and that was all even if you had credit.

jabbamk1 · 21-04-2014, 15:39

Vodafone offered pay as you go back in 1996 as an alternative to contract.
One2One (T-Mobile) launched their own service in 1997 to rival Vodafone's service.
Orange followed shortly after in the same year.

Both Orange and One2One just offered one option for £179.99. One2One pushed the Nortel m900 where as Orange pushed the Motorola MR201
Vodafone offered either the Nokia Ringo or Motorola a130 for £99.

It wasn't until around 1999/2000 that prices started to drop and we saw other pay as you go phones launch. e.g Motorola C250 for £49.99.

Call costs were around 40-60p per minute on pay as you go. Even higher in some cases if you went for a different pay as you go plan. Orange for example charged over £1 per minute on their JustTalk plan when it first launched.

(It's worth bearing in mind that Vodafone launched pay as you go on the old analogue network (1G) where as T-Mobile and Orange launched their services on the new digital 2G service)

d123 · 21-04-2014, 15:39

Pretty sure the first proper PAYG was a Peoples Phone branded handset on Vodafone, sometime around '97/'98.

scooby1970 · 21-04-2014, 15:55

Can't remember the year, but mine was a Teletal Mobile on Vodafone and £1 per-minute to make a call. Those were the days! Pretty sure it was one of the first PAYG offers.

Mark

jabbamk1 · 21-04-2014, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooby1970

Can't remember the year, but mine was a Teletal Mobile on Vodafone and £1 per-minute to make a call. Those were the days! Pretty sure it was one of the first PAYG offers.

Mark

You mean this right?
Telital PV129
http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps2ccad54b.jpg

scooby1970 · 21-04-2014, 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabbamk1

You mean this right?
Telital PV129
http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps2ccad54b.jpg

That's the one! Cool, was a great phone!

Mark

d123 · 21-04-2014, 16:39

Found a photo of the one I was thinking of, model was Peoples Phone PP800.

http://i57.tinypic.com/o714yq.jpg

I remember them arriving boxed and labelled as PAYG, £1 a minute sounds right as well.

BMR · 21-04-2014, 16:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooby1970

Can't remember the year, but mine was a Teletal Mobile on Vodafone and £1 per-minute to make a call.

Good grief, I thought 30ppm on my BT Cellnet phone was dear. You could ring one landline number for free though

My first phone was a Motorola with a stubby anttena. Nice phone but I soon jumped ship to One 2 One where calls were 5ppm after the first two minutes,,,,

Rush · 21-04-2014, 17:47

My first one was a Motorola M3588 on BT Cellnet in 2000, it was on a plan called "Best Friend" where if I topped up £15 a month, I would get unlimited calls to my selected number, which I thought was amazing (at the time) and saved me having to use a phone box to phone my girlfriend. Oh the good old days.

BMR · 21-04-2014, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rush

My first one was a Motorola M3588 on BT Cellnet in 2000, it was on a plan called "Best Friend" where if I topped up £15 a month, I would get unlimited calls to my selected number, which I thought was amazing (at the time) and saved me having to use a phone box to phone my girlfriend. Oh the good old days.

Yes that's exactly the plan I had

prking · 21-04-2014, 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by d123

Found a photo of the one I was thinking of, model was Peoples Phone PP800.

http://i57.tinypic.com/o714yq.jpg

I remember them arriving boxed and labelled as PAYG, £1 a minute sounds right as well.

You're right, it would have been about 1995. People's Phone launched Vodafone Prepay. I had an NEC P2. It cost £28 for 28 days service and 28 minutes of calls. You prepaid by going into a People's Phone , they filled in a form and faxed it. Your payment was added within 24 hours. Or you could take a plastic card (no magnetic strip) to the post office, they would imprint it and your payment would be applied within 5 days.

It seems expensive now, but my previous contract had been £15 per month + VAT with no inclusive calls. Calls were 50p a minute.

Then 1997 Vodafone introduced Pay as You Talk, along with the phrase Top Up and famous card top up vouchers.

ShaunIOW · 21-04-2014, 18:49

My first was a Philips Diga on BT Cellnet in 1997 or 1998 - £10 every 3 months PAYG and 49p a minute for calls.

BMR · 21-04-2014, 19:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShaunIOW

My first was a Philips Diga on BT Cellnet in 1997 or 1998 - £10 every 3 months PAYG and 49p a minute for calls.

I think my sister had one of those, although I think her call plan was 35ppm and only 5p for texts, which was quite cheap back then. No free number for her though. I think this was called the 'U' plan....

qasdfdsaq · 22-04-2014, 08:42

Someone should fill out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...d_mobile_phone as there's no UK info in there.

de525ma · 22-04-2014, 18:17

My first was a Nokia nk402 (basically an 1800MHz 5110) on Orange JustTalk.

Topped up using a £50 voucher, and got 25p/12.5p calls which wasn't too bad.

The major pain was that it got 10 free texts a day, but that was it. Try an 11th, and you got the cryptic "message not sent this time" error....

About 6 months after this, they removed this and texts cost 5p (with the £50 top up).

happy-camper · 22-04-2014, 18:22

Mine was a Motorola C520 on Orange Just Talk back in 1999, Cost £59.99 if I remember correctly and came with £10 Just Talk voucher

d123 · 22-04-2014, 18:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by de525ma

My first was a Nokia nk402 (basically an 1800MHz 5110) on Orange JustTalk.

Topped up using a £50 voucher, and got 25p/12.5p calls which wasn't too bad.

The major pain was that it got 10 free texts a day, but that was it. Try an 11th, and you got the cryptic "message not sent this time" error....

About 6 months after this, they removed this and texts cost 5p (with the £50 top up).

I remember selling those by the box load, probably the best selling single PAYG item on orange in the '90s and early '00s, for the life of me I don't remember the 10 text limit and I was there when they launched (I've even got a "medal" that came with the first batch designed to be used to change the fascia). Memory is not what it used to be it seems

.

They weren't cheap either, they were either £229 or £179 at launch (that useless memory again...)

de525ma · 22-04-2014, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by d123

I remember selling those by the box load, probably the best selling single PAYG item on orange in the '90s and early '00s, for the life of me I don't remember the 10 text limit and I was there when they launched (I've even got a "medal" that came with the first batch designed to be used to change the fascia). Memory is not what it used to be it seems

.

They weren't cheap either, they were either £229 or £179 at launch (that useless memory again...)

I think I got mine for around £90 in late '99.

They removed the 10 text limit in April 2000. I remember the day - I sent 65

binary · 22-04-2014, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShaunIOW

My first was a Philips Diga on BT Cellnet in 1997 or 1998 - £10 every 3 months PAYG and 49p a minute for calls.

It was the Philips Diga that a lot of people had on the pay-nothing-as-you-go plan, was it not?

d123 · 22-04-2014, 19:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by de525ma

I think I got mine for around £90 in late '99.

They removed the 10 text limit in April 2000. I remember the day - I sent 65

The NK401 launched late '97 or '98. Cheapest "Just Talk" was the Dancall DC01, horrible little phone.

I'm not doubting you had a text limit, I only sold them, I never used them, at dealer price the All in One packages were far better value for money.

d123 · 22-04-2014, 19:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by binary

It was the Philips Diga that a lot of people had on the pay-nothing-as-you-go plan, was it not?

Yes, Philips Diga, badged as "Easy Life" or "U", one of them could be modified and the credit never went down.

Orbitalzone · 22-04-2014, 19:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by happy-camper

Mine was a Motorola C520 on Orange Just Talk back in 1999, Cost £59.99 if I remember correctly and came with £10 Just Talk voucher

Same here, I found the phone was never very good with signals or maybe just patchy reception wherever I used it.

When I renovated a house in 2006 I wrapped up this phone in a newspaper and buried under the floorboards for someone to discover in the future

moox · 22-04-2014, 19:55

I had what I guess might be the slightly upgraded C520, the M3788 also on Orange.

I don't remember it being a bad phone. Eventually upgraded to some tiny Sony thing (J70?) and then onto numerous Ericssons and Nokias (mostly contract hand-me-downs).

Smartphones are probably better all round but I do miss the clearly superior build quality and attention to detail that Nokia/Ericsson and friends all had. They made phones that actually made phone calls properly, rather than being an oversight.

randolf105 · 22-04-2014, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by d123

Yes, Philips Diga, badged as "Easy Life" or "U", one of them could be modified and the credit never went down.

If you sent a text then switched the phone off at the right time whilst the text was sending you used to get them free...

21-04-2014, 14:09	#1
BMR Guest Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 4,240	Retro: First PAYG mobile phones When did the first PAYG mobiles come out? I remember buying my first one in 2000 but they were down to 50 quid by that point. When did PAYG start, and how much did it cost?

21-04-2014, 15:24	#2
MGS4SnakeRulez Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 16,705	I am not sure. My first payg phone was a nokia something on orange where you could send 10 free texts a day and that was all even if you had credit.

21-04-2014, 15:39	#3
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	Vodafone offered pay as you go back in 1996 as an alternative to contract. One2One (T-Mobile) launched their own service in 1997 to rival Vodafone's service. Orange followed shortly after in the same year. Both Orange and One2One just offered one option for £179.99. One2One pushed the Nortel m900 where as Orange pushed the Motorola MR201 Vodafone offered either the Nokia Ringo or Motorola a130 for £99. It wasn't until around 1999/2000 that prices started to drop and we saw other pay as you go phones launch. e.g Motorola C250 for £49.99. Call costs were around 40-60p per minute on pay as you go. Even higher in some cases if you went for a different pay as you go plan. Orange for example charged over £1 per minute on their JustTalk plan when it first launched. (It's worth bearing in mind that Vodafone launched pay as you go on the old analogue network (1G) where as T-Mobile and Orange launched their services on the new digital 2G service)

21-04-2014, 15:39	#4
d123 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,993	Pretty sure the first proper PAYG was a Peoples Phone branded handset on Vodafone, sometime around '97/'98.

21-04-2014, 15:55	#5
scooby1970 Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Neath Posts: 2,468	Can't remember the year, but mine was a Teletal Mobile on Vodafone and £1 per-minute to make a call. Those were the days! Pretty sure it was one of the first PAYG offers. Mark

21-04-2014, 15:59	#6
jabbamk1 Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: London, UK Posts: 8,759	Quote: Originally Posted by scooby1970 Can't remember the year, but mine was a Teletal Mobile on Vodafone and £1 per-minute to make a call. Those were the days! Pretty sure it was one of the first PAYG offers. Mark You mean this right? Telital PV129 http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps2ccad54b.jpg

21-04-2014, 16:10	#7
scooby1970 Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Neath Posts: 2,468	Quote: Originally Posted by jabbamk1 You mean this right? Telital PV129 http://i481.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps2ccad54b.jpg That's the one! Cool, was a great phone! Mark

21-04-2014, 16:39	#8
d123 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,993	Found a photo of the one I was thinking of, model was Peoples Phone PP800. http://i57.tinypic.com/o714yq.jpg I remember them arriving boxed and labelled as PAYG, £1 a minute sounds right as well.

21-04-2014, 16:52	#9
BMR Guest Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 4,240	Quote: Originally Posted by scooby1970 Can't remember the year, but mine was a Teletal Mobile on Vodafone and £1 per-minute to make a call. Good grief, I thought 30ppm on my BT Cellnet phone was dear. You could ring one landline number for free though My first phone was a Motorola with a stubby anttena. Nice phone but I soon jumped ship to One 2 One where calls were 5ppm after the first two minutes,,,,

21-04-2014, 17:47	#10
Rush Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Scotland Posts: 420	My first one was a Motorola M3588 on BT Cellnet in 2000, it was on a plan called "Best Friend" where if I topped up £15 a month, I would get unlimited calls to my selected number, which I thought was amazing (at the time) and saved me having to use a phone box to phone my girlfriend. Oh the good old days.

21-04-2014, 18:17	#11
BMR Guest Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 4,240	Quote: Originally Posted by Rush My first one was a Motorola M3588 on BT Cellnet in 2000, it was on a plan called "Best Friend" where if I topped up £15 a month, I would get unlimited calls to my selected number, which I thought was amazing (at the time) and saved me having to use a phone box to phone my girlfriend. Oh the good old days. Yes that's exactly the plan I had

21-04-2014, 18:31	#12
prking Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Weston-super-Mare Posts: 9,167	Quote: Originally Posted by d123 Found a photo of the one I was thinking of, model was Peoples Phone PP800. http://i57.tinypic.com/o714yq.jpg I remember them arriving boxed and labelled as PAYG, £1 a minute sounds right as well. You're right, it would have been about 1995. People's Phone launched Vodafone Prepay. I had an NEC P2. It cost £28 for 28 days service and 28 minutes of calls. You prepaid by going into a People's Phone , they filled in a form and faxed it. Your payment was added within 24 hours. Or you could take a plastic card (no magnetic strip) to the post office, they would imprint it and your payment would be applied within 5 days. It seems expensive now, but my previous contract had been £15 per month + VAT with no inclusive calls. Calls were 50p a minute. Then 1997 Vodafone introduced Pay as You Talk, along with the phrase Top Up and famous card top up vouchers.

21-04-2014, 18:49	#13
ShaunIOW Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Isle of Wight Posts: 7,828	My first was a Philips Diga on BT Cellnet in 1997 or 1998 - £10 every 3 months PAYG and 49p a minute for calls.

21-04-2014, 19:08	#14
BMR Guest Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 4,240	Quote: Originally Posted by ShaunIOW My first was a Philips Diga on BT Cellnet in 1997 or 1998 - £10 every 3 months PAYG and 49p a minute for calls. I think my sister had one of those, although I think her call plan was 35ppm and only 5p for texts, which was quite cheap back then. No free number for her though. I think this was called the 'U' plan....

22-04-2014, 08:42	#15
qasdfdsaq Inactive Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 3,286	Someone should fill out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...d_mobile_phone as there's no UK info in there.

22-04-2014, 18:17	#16
de525ma Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Portsmouth Posts: 787	My first was a Nokia nk402 (basically an 1800MHz 5110) on Orange JustTalk. Topped up using a £50 voucher, and got 25p/12.5p calls which wasn't too bad. The major pain was that it got 10 free texts a day, but that was it. Try an 11th, and you got the cryptic "message not sent this time" error.... About 6 months after this, they removed this and texts cost 5p (with the £50 top up).

22-04-2014, 18:22	#17
happy-camper Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 963	Mine was a Motorola C520 on Orange Just Talk back in 1999, Cost £59.99 if I remember correctly and came with £10 Just Talk voucher

22-04-2014, 18:46	#18
d123 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,993	Quote: Originally Posted by de525ma My first was a Nokia nk402 (basically an 1800MHz 5110) on Orange JustTalk. Topped up using a £50 voucher, and got 25p/12.5p calls which wasn't too bad. The major pain was that it got 10 free texts a day, but that was it. Try an 11th, and you got the cryptic "message not sent this time" error.... About 6 months after this, they removed this and texts cost 5p (with the £50 top up). I remember selling those by the box load, probably the best selling single PAYG item on orange in the '90s and early '00s, for the life of me I don't remember the 10 text limit and I was there when they launched (I've even got a "medal" that came with the first batch designed to be used to change the fascia). Memory is not what it used to be it seems . They weren't cheap either, they were either £229 or £179 at launch (that useless memory again...)

22-04-2014, 18:56	#19
de525ma Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Portsmouth Posts: 787	Quote: Originally Posted by d123 I remember selling those by the box load, probably the best selling single PAYG item on orange in the '90s and early '00s, for the life of me I don't remember the 10 text limit and I was there when they launched (I've even got a "medal" that came with the first batch designed to be used to change the fascia). Memory is not what it used to be it seems . They weren't cheap either, they were either £229 or £179 at launch (that useless memory again...) I think I got mine for around £90 in late '99. They removed the 10 text limit in April 2000. I remember the day - I sent 65

22-04-2014, 19:03	#20
binary Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 636	Quote: Originally Posted by ShaunIOW My first was a Philips Diga on BT Cellnet in 1997 or 1998 - £10 every 3 months PAYG and 49p a minute for calls. It was the Philips Diga that a lot of people had on the pay-nothing-as-you-go plan, was it not?

22-04-2014, 19:21	#21
d123 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,993	Quote: Originally Posted by de525ma I think I got mine for around £90 in late '99. They removed the 10 text limit in April 2000. I remember the day - I sent 65 The NK401 launched late '97 or '98. Cheapest "Just Talk" was the Dancall DC01, horrible little phone. I'm not doubting you had a text limit, I only sold them, I never used them, at dealer price the All in One packages were far better value for money.

DS Forums

Retro: First PAYG mobile phones

22-04-2014, 19:24	#22
d123 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 3,993	Quote: Originally Posted by binary It was the Philips Diga that a lot of people had on the pay-nothing-as-you-go plan, was it not? Yes, Philips Diga, badged as "Easy Life" or "U", one of them could be modified and the credit never went down.

22-04-2014, 19:40	#23
Orbitalzone Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Sussex Posts: 12,173	Quote: Originally Posted by happy-camper Mine was a Motorola C520 on Orange Just Talk back in 1999, Cost £59.99 if I remember correctly and came with £10 Just Talk voucher Same here, I found the phone was never very good with signals or maybe just patchy reception wherever I used it. When I renovated a house in 2006 I wrapped up this phone in a newspaper and buried under the floorboards for someone to discover in the future

22-04-2014, 19:55	#24
moox Forum Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 14,645	I had what I guess might be the slightly upgraded C520, the M3788 also on Orange. I don't remember it being a bad phone. Eventually upgraded to some tiny Sony thing (J70?) and then onto numerous Ericssons and Nokias (mostly contract hand-me-downs). Smartphones are probably better all round but I do miss the clearly superior build quality and attention to detail that Nokia/Ericsson and friends all had. They made phones that actually made phone calls properly, rather than being an oversight.

22-04-2014, 20:18	#25
randolf105 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 42	Quote: Originally Posted by d123 Yes, Philips Diga, badged as "Easy Life" or "U", one of them could be modified and the credit never went down. If you sent a text then switched the phone off at the right time whilst the text was sending you used to get them free...