Best PAYG mobile dea?

[FeatheredHeart]

I've always had a contract phone, but really don't use it that much and am paying £30/month for the privilege. No matter what i do with orange I never seem to get a better deal, year on year.

So I'd like to go PAYG. Can anyone recommend who to go with or a good place to compare payg phone deals. I don't know anything about them but assume different companies have different payg rates - or are they all much of a muchness?

You can sign up to Which www.which.com for £1 for a month and check out their ratings - no advertising so probably more reliable. Just remember to cancel the subscription before the month is up or it will cost you nearly £10 a month!

Only some networks have their PAYG run out after 30 days. I think that stinks, personally, as it is something like a contract (just cheaper) where you are paying even if you don't use up the credit.

I'm using Asda SIM in a Vodafone phone (I did have to pay for a Voda top-up but used the credit on random calls / text messages, then stuck in the Asda SIM and don't use Voda now).

Asda has been about the cheapest rate on per minute calls for the past 12 months - 8p to landline and mobile, compared with 10p to 35p for landline and 15p to 50p for calls from some networks to other mobiles and text at 4p a message, compared with 10p or 12p on many networks (excluding 'friends' deals like Virgin 3p to another Virgin mobile).

If you ever want a different number, then go into Asda, grab a SIM pack (47p) ask for a 5 quid top-up voucher (SIM pack is free), and there you are, brand new number. Possibly useful if a someone has been bullied by text. Can tell smaller and smaller group of friends until s/he find the 'leak'/bully.

There are some "package" deals for heavy users, such as the Vodafone Freedom Pack (10 quid allows 300 text and 100 minutes) according to Voda website, but person asking on this thread has found Voda not offering Freedom Packs at the moment

Thanks very much for the Which? link.

I used to subscribe for about a fiver a quarter (for 10 to 15 years from the 80s) but then they wrote (their rates had been going up and up) and wanted me to replace STO for 4.75 with one for about 15 or 20 quid.

Given the reviews of products seemed to repeat about once every 3 years, and even though they had Motoring Which? they put cars in the regular mag nearly every month, I cancelled.

With so many other comparison/review sites (like DooYoo and so forth) I feel there's usually enough to look at without Which?

But a quid a month sounds great. They must have been losing numbers - sometimes their surveys (eg on ISPs) seem to have such small samples that the results aren't always really trustworthy - sure, it's what members felt, but if they have 2000 views on a big ISP and 50 for a small ISP, the small one might get an incredibly positive score compared with the one with more samples, just cos 5% of the 2000 had problems, and not one of the 50 for small ISP had ever had a problem, but hundreds of other customers might have been less happy.

Have they changed their attitude to companies mentioning Which? awards ? They used to have a major ban on anyone making use of a Which? recommendation in marketing, but I noticed a few months back that Lidl had a Which? endorsement on marketing posters all over the store.

Sorry to drift off on tangent about Consumers Assoc/Which? but been on my mind, and nice to find someone who may know!

Should have just put in link

shop.vodafone.co.uk/pay-as-you-go/freedom-packs

Seems MumsNet changes some links to make them into commission payment links, and when I tried the link earlier, my browser just sat there, never showed the proper page.

But as other person says they're not selling Freedom Packs, seems odd Voda website still showing them.

Oh, silly me, tenner a month for Which? perhaps!

Oh, no wonder their numbers are going down, even if their advice is often quite good and can usually be trusted.

MoneySavingExpert.com might be an equally good place to check for good deals.

Tis only a quid for the first month Web Dude. I think they rely on people being too lazy /disorganised busy to cancel in time

Should have added, depending on what contract/ network you're on FeatheredHeart you can probably switch your existing number to Asda or anyone else, by asking for PAC (cannot remember what it stands for, but it's the code to allow you to switch)

However, Orange will likely charge a fee for the PAC (penalty for switching away)

I know that some have reduced their generosity when it comes to keeping customers... Were Orange giving you any phone upgrades (if so, then they don't reduce fee or give more minutes too).

30 quid a month does seem steep, when new customers might get brand new phones or pay half that for similar minutes/text deal.

If you do go with an Asda SIM, then another option (since you don't necessarily want to buy a phone locked to Voda) would be to go into an Asda/George store, for one of the "Asda" phones.

They have a fairly good range from 20 to 100 quid, and their phones are not locked to a network, so if you later found you wanted a regular number of minutes/texts on some package from another network, a phone from Asda should work (with Virgin/T-Mobile, O2, Voda and Orange) just might not work with "3" (Three) as their phones are on a different frequency band 2100 MHz (where Voda etc use 900 and/or 1800 MHz).

Yes, MrsSantos - I finally worked out where the tenner was going...

Just that some of the "PAYG" services also have "top up with a tenner" for some "bundle" that lasts 30 days... (which was what I was thinking about when I posted)

I told Orange today i was either going to go payg with them or probably someone better and they offered me a £10 / month contract + new phone including loads more mins and txts than i use - 200/400 i think. So i said ok. It's a loyalty offer apparently. THanks all. Will remember all tips for the future.

Sounds good for a tenner a month, compared with old fee, esp as you'll have a nice shiny new phone too

Yes, I need it for the number of times i lose phones .

For anyone else who's researching phones, it's 200mins and unlimited txts compared to their normal charge of 15p/anytime anywhere minute and 10p/ txt so nothing like as good as asda.

Re "which?", they don't date stamp their reviews & even customer service don't seem to know so i have given up on them. Timeliness seems such a basic thing when you're in the reviewing business!

Hang about - if you use the 200 minutes it's 5p a minute, and the texts at 0p, so while their normal charge is worse, that does seem a pretty good deal. It's only if you go over that you hit their 15p/minute costs.

I guess saving 20 quid a month is the best bit, even if you don't regularly use 200 minutes - but you will probably force yourself to use them up on social calls now

On the lost phones... I've previously bought a few Nokia 8310 (tiny one, nothing fancy, B+W screen) as it (a) could hold 150 text messages and (b) has FM radio, even if they are 10 year old design.

End of last year I did pop into Asda and spotted an Alcatel with FM, on Orange, for 9 quid. They don't have anything quite that cheap at the moment, but seeing so many phones at Asda, Argos, and CPW, at under 50 quid then having a spare phone in case my old Nokias die is not going to break the bank, and I can finally get some clamshell ones so I don't have to do keylock to stop it calling, but just close it abd know it's immediately usable but safe from dialling out.