Can someone help me out with PAYG mobile phone advise please?

[TellerTuesday]

I'm so confused.

I'm trying to buy my elderly GM an easy mobile phone. I've looked on Argos, Amazon etc and the type of phone I'm looking for are all 'sim free'

So I look on Vodafone for a SIM card but they're all PAYG bundles where you pay per month. I just want to put the minimum £5/£10 on it for her in case of emergency.

Are 'top-ups' not a thing anymore? If they are where will I be able to get a SIM card from?

I don't understand what the benefit is of PAYG is if you have to pay a set amount each month.

Advice even... my eyes have blurred from the trawling of various websites!!

You can get PAYG, you just top up £10 and the perk is you get the data, text and minutes for however long - you can still use the £10 credit when the texts/minutes are used. You can also pick and choose when you top up unlike a contract where it’s a dedicated payment every month.

Think of it like pay as you go with benefits

Tesco mobile?

Giffgaff, just top it up and credit lasts until it's used up, no time limit.

O2 still do PAYG phones.

O2 do - you just have to make a call every six months on it so they know the SIM is active. If you don't, you'll lose the credit & the number. Ifound it easiest to get one from a shop as the website keeps pushing you towards bundles.

1p Mobile (on ee) are good for low usage users too. You put £10 & it's 1p per minute on calls, 1p per sms & 1p per mgb. That's what my 85-year old MIL has as it gives her some data when she's out & about.

Giffgaff is great for payg as you can set an automatic top up direct debit so when the credit dips below a set level it will top up. Means you can set this up and know your gran will never run out of credit.

Three.

Just get a SIM to go in unlocked phone.
Does your Gran have Wifi at home?

Tesco mobile and Asda still sell basic PAYG sims that do exactly what you want. There is also 1p mobile www.1pmobile.com/ which uses the EE network. DH is intending to switch to 1p, when he gets around to it. He's on O2 payg at the moment but I can't see a payg tariff on their website anymore.

I buy my phone outright from Carphone Warehouse then get my own SIM. I'm currently with Voxi, which costs me £10 p/m.
I had my mum on a PAYG & the problem with that is the unused call allowance didn't roll over. So if she didn't use it for a while, the £10 run out & she couldn't make any calls..

@lljkk no, no WiFi and won't entertain the idea of getting it either, will that make a difference do you think?

Thanks all for the suggestions. I'm still slightly baffle but I'm so clueless on it, I've only ever had monthly contracts since being a teenager.

I hate the idea that you just lose the credit after a while because she'll only use it in case of an emergency.

yeah makes a difference, she could need a contract or at least a regular payment if no wifi because she will burn thru credit otherwise. How much do you think she'll use phone, realistically?

My dad is 79 & pretty adept with his phone, but mostly he is using it in places with wifi, anyway.

Tesco mobile does PAYG, SIM cards can be bought at the tills for about 99p. Both me and my DD have Tesco mobile PAYG, you can opt for the triple credit and whatever the original top up was stays on after the bonus credit runs out. It uses the freebie credit first.

Apparently they are phasing out PAYG for fraud reasons. A number of providers are in the process of swapping PAYG customers over or just disconnecting them randomly Pay monthly is apparently the only way forwards.

My understanding was that it was a legislation thing rather than a provider thing. What ever the reason i do have opinions on the matter