[Dickyboy]

Pay as you go mobile phone charges are about to change apparently.
My provider wants me to install a new Sim Card. On checking their website I see that there will be a charge for every call, text or whatever made, with a minimum charge of £2.00 each. So I'm binning mine, I rarely use it anyway. Besides I don't plan to help Mr Branson live in the style he so richly deserves. I've always used the land line for most calls anyway.

 

[Frank P]

Dicky, why don't you try Giffgaff, as a "pay as you go" company they are good, check them out.........

Cheers Frank

 

[Dickyboy]

Dicky, why don't you try Giffgaff, as a "pay as you go" company they are good, check them out.........

Cheers Frank

I had a look at Giffgaff Frank. It looks very good, but I won't use it. I'm basically stuck indoors, and my old mobile was only carried by me in the car for emergency use. I put £20 in it a couple of years ago, and it's just about to run out now, so little used anyway. Worth knowing about Giffgaff though.

 

[Dickyboy]

PS My phone is only 2 G anyway

 

[Frank P]

Dicky, I have just checked on the Giffgaff site and here is a quote from them "The fact the a phone is only 2G won't be a problem. Just make sure that it is either unlocked or locked to 02. Also, I'm guessing that the phone will be quite old if it is 2G only? You will almost certainly need a full sized SIM card so make sure that you don't pop out any of the smaller sections of the 3 in 1 sim that you will receive" quote

I know that if you put £10 credit/top up on the phone, this again is from them " Hi topup never expires and will always be on your account until you let your sim expire which will happen if you don't make a paid call or text or use data for 6 months."

All you have to do is make one call every 5 months and there won't be a problem, you can call your own landline if want.

Giffgaff calls cost 16p ........You can also transfer your existing number to them.

Frank

 

[martin winn]

I have used 3 network for years. Calls cost 3p per minute. The credit never runs out even if you don't make a call.
The phone will have to be unlocked. If it isn't it should cost about £10 from a phone shop. You can however buy a
phone for about that.

 

[Dickyboy]

I've looked at Giffgaff, and that might be the way to go, if I decide that I really need a mobile, though it all seems a bit complicated to me. If it was just a matter of plugging a new giffgaff sim card into my old phone, and carrying on there wouldn't be a problem.
Martin, please check your network, by what I read a couple of days ago, virtually all networks are doing away with the old fashioned Pay as You Go system, and introducing a higher charge for each individual call or text.
Thinking about it, I might just keep an eye on Giffgaff, but not do anything just yet. I might be a bit cynical, but I doubt that major changes will be informed of until people have actually signed up. Which is how I found out about the virgin change on my phone. The very frequent texts from Virgin telling me to change my Sim sort of gave me a clue that things were changing. They also pointed out the advantages but did not say much about what I would lose. Which was PAYG.
So watch out for instructions from your provider to change the Sim.

 

[meechingman]

I've been on O2 Pay and Go for years. Mainly used for incoming calls and texts. 2p a minute IIRC and something like 5p a text. Total call charges last year were about a tenner! I'll be watching for any changes.

 

[pippin]

If your phone is that old I am very surprised that there is any life left in the battery!

 

[Dickyboy]

My battery is still good, I keep it working by playing the games on it now & again. If the battery fails, then I'll just bin the thing.
Had a chat with the lady that does for me about hers. I can't remember exactly what she said about costs, and she's on a "Cheap" contract and it still costs her more money a year than I'd be prepared to pay. I'm pretty much housebound, and my landline is always only a few paces away. I don'y want all the gadgets & gismos that come with modern mobiles, I have good internet connections with my 'puter + the landline gives me all the connections I need.
Basically, if one isn't mobile does one need a mobile phone?

 

[Farmer John]

I recently found that a mobile can be very useful when you suddenly find yourself in hospital. Phone calls in, all my music, all my photos and the ability to text to people to leave requests. I had a rather ropey one which did some of these for me, since coming out and anticipating quite a few more trips in, I have bought a more capable one. Other than that kind of thing, I agree with you Dickyboy.

 

[Dickyboy]

I recently found that a mobile can be very useful when you suddenly find yourself in hospital. Phone calls in, all my music, all my photos and the ability to text to people to leave requests. I had a rather ropey one which did some of these for me, since coming out and anticipating quite a few more trips in, I have bought a more capable one. Other than that kind of thing, I agree with you Dickyboy.

Hospital is a very good point, it hadn't really occurred to me, even though I've been hospitalised several times over the years. Last time about five or six years ago. That point has made me look at having mobile in a new light. I'll defo have a look around for a basic one, though I won't retain the one I have at the moment, even if it hasn't expired yet.
I'll see if I can get one on line. Thank's for that point.
I'll really have to be at deaths door before I allow myself to be admitted though. Covid-19 will (Without a doubt) kill me. Two bouts of Pneumonia nearly did.

 

[Dickyboy]

I'm in a quandary. I'm now thinking of starting again with a mobile phone connection. I'm finding it all rather confusing. Can I just get a new sim card to put into my old Mobile?
If so, does it come with a network provider built in? Or once I've bought the card, do I then have to find my own network provider?
If I buy a new (Cheap) free as you go type phone, will that come with a network provider built in? Giffgaff seems it might be the way to go.
I don't want a fancy phone, just one I can use very occasionally for making simple calls. It's not that I can't afford a fancy one, it's just that I don't want or need one.
Finally, can everything be set up from home on line, and have it all delivered to me at home? I can't go out shopping personally for one.

 

[Ron Stringer]

I'm in a quandary. I'm now thinking of starting again with a mobile phone connection. I'm finding it all rather confusing. Can I just get a new sim card to put into my old Mobile?
If so, does it come with a network provider built in? Or once I've bought the card, do I then have to find my own network provider?
If I buy a new (Cheap) free as you go type phone, will that come with a network provider built in? Giffgaff seems it might be the way to go.
I don't want a fancy phone, just one I can use very occasionally for making simple calls. It's not that I can't afford a fancy one, it's just that I don't want or need one.
Finally, can everything be set up from home on line, and have it all delivered to me at home? I can't go out shopping personally for one.

Ensure that you get a sufficiently sophisticated phone that you can exchange video calls. It is only a matter of time before your local doctor will insist on a video consultation to enable your condition to be evaluated before permitting you to visit his premises. Video calls will be necessary before your doctor will agree to visit your home. A video call may save you both from any need for physical contact.

 

[Dickyboy]

Ensure that you get a sufficiently sophisticated phone that you can exchange video calls. It is only a matter of time before your local doctor will insist on a video consultation to enable your condition to be evaluated before permitting you to visit his premises. Video calls will be necessary before your doctor will agree to visit your home. A video call may save you both from any need for physical contact.

Naa,, not doing that, my Dr can phone by landline or skype.

 

[R798780]

I got myself a budget smartphone for a tad under £100 in January - Dual sim and unlocked. I wanted a mobile hotspot for my tablet when on holiday abroad - download the newspaper daily and an occasional catchup on facebook and SN. It has two sims; one I use for data with a "3 mobile" pre-loaded data sim; in the other I use "1p mobile" - calls 1p a minute and texts 1p each; just have to update the credit every few months. No contracts involved.

The hotspot and data sim meant we could still operate at home when the broadband went down recently.

My daughter borrowed my old 3G mobile WiFi hotspot (MiFi) to watch her Netfliks in a caravan and stuck in a PAYG sim card from Smarty. I'd never heard of Smarty other than tubes of chocolate buttons but the rates looked reasonable.

We have used mobiles in hospital; just for calls and texts - "come and get me" etc. Couldn't get an O2 signal but Orange worked in Northallerton. I wonder how the Nokia with 1p will work - hopefully that's being futuristic.

 

[Dickyboy]

Thanks all.. I think I'll just leave it at the moment. Perhaps later I'll just phone one of my local shops and talk to them about it.

 

[Frank P]

Dicky, have you considered buying a used (2nd hand) phone? Like you I don't use a mobile phone too much, last February I bought a reasonably modern smart phone on Ebay, it was is a Samsung S4 in good condition and cost £27 plus £4 postage, I believe that they cost around £300 when they were new about five or six years ago, I only bought that because an old friend wanted to do a video call.. ...

Cheers Frank

 

[Dickyboy]

Had a chat with my daughter earlier. She put me onto Carphone Warehouse, and suggested what might be good for me. So I got one for £10.00 pm over two years. The phone itself was only a cheepo. ​

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

 

[Farmer John]

Dicky, have you considered buying a used (2nd hand) phone? Like you I don't use a mobile phone too much, last February I bought a reasonably modern smart phone on Ebay, it was is a Samsung S4 in good condition and cost £27 plus £4 postage, I believe that they cost around £300 when they were new about five or six years ago, I only bought that because an old friend wanted to do a video call.. ...

Cheers Frank

I bought a second hand phone, it would do the incoming call/ phone out OK but anything else it seemed to resist, trying to get Google and such, trying to install simple software was very difficult. I carried on, it then started to reveal, buried deep, another email address, other things that showed who had owned it before. To sum up, it had been partly crippled to hide past use. When I bought it, it was on Windows 7, with an update to Windows 10, stuff had survived that. I emailed the person who was still on there, then took a hammer to it. Be wary of second hand. Incidentally, I use Giff-Gaff, it lives on top of O2, if O2 service is poor in your area so will be your Giff-Gaff.