I want a simple contract phone

[Bookworm]

Ok, here's what it is:

 

Teeneage son, currently on PAYG Virgin. I give him the odd £5 credit, which usually gets swallowed up in SMS within 2 days.

 

I want to get him a contract phone, where for a fixed sum (ideally no more than £20 / month), he gets a certain amount of minutes and SMS, and then that's it, once he's used them up, he is blocked from making further call, the idea being that I do not then end up with a massive bill.

 

So far, the responses I have had have been appalling. Virgin themselves have a cut-off of £50!!!! above the agreed package. Others I have looked at don't seem to have a bar either... I think 3 (through Superdrug) are the only ones I have seen so far who have what I want, with their "add-ons", but I was wondering if anyone out there knew of a 1/2 decent deal that wouldn't leave us exposed to huge added expenses?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Thermometer]

You are seeking the impossible! No mobile phone company will guarantee to keep within an agreed limit each month.

 

You are stuck with PAYG.

[buzby]

Nope - what you want is unrealistic. What firm is going to provide a service that puts a cap on its ability to be profitable? A PAYG phone is the ideal solution, and find a network that will block premium SMS texts (some deny this is possible, but it is!). This will stop the arrival of texts that quickly deflate the users credit. My son's is on contract, however he's responsible enough to know when he's running up the bill and we've never had a problem.

 

As to your earlier PM (to which I'm unable to reply) at least allow a few seconds for an external link to be posted into a message before complaining it is 'missing'!

[bidstermeister]

Perhaps an O2 Genie SIM (PAYG) would be better ? If you top up a min of £10/month, you get 300 free texts. You also get a really good rate on calls, first few mins at a "standard" rate ,thereafter - a lot cheaper.

 

If he's constantly sending sms messages - this would be ideal.

[davethorp]

Vodafone PAYG would be an option too. There is a little known bundle where you get 500SMS a month for topping up £15 a month.

 

Add to that vodafone stop the clock and free weekends and it's hard to find a deal on either contract or PAYG that beats it

[Bookworm]

As to your earlier PM (to which I'm unable to reply) at least allow a few seconds for an external link to be posted into a message before complaining it is 'missing'!

 

I wasn't "complaining", I was drawing it to your attention in case you had forgotten. I assume you forget things occasionally like the rest of us humans?

As fo rthe few seconds, there's a 8 mns gap between CAG clock and my internal clock, always has been, no matter what I do, and frankly, I don't look at what time posts have been written before replying.

 

Sorry I tried to help.

[Thermometer]

I wasn't "complaining", I was drawing it to your attention in case you had forgotten. I assume you forget things occasionally like the rest of us humans?

As fo rthe few seconds, there's a 8 mns gap between CAG clock and my internal clock, always has been, no matter what I do, and frankly, I don't look at what time posts have been written before replying.

 

Sorry I tried to help.

 

Yes I have noted that 8 minute gap too. But have you also noted that CAG's clock jumps by an hour around midnight each day and all the posts (old and new) have one hour 'added' to them. A little later things settle down and 1 hour is subtracted off all the posts!

[Bookworm]

I don't see that it is "unrealistic" at all. After all, it is what PAYG does. It is what cable companies do when they require a PIN to stop accessing additional channels. It is what some dial-up companies used to do on some of their contracts.

I would imagine that the 1st one to think in terms of the children/teenagersmarket where bill is paid for by parents and introduces this will find themselves very popular.

[Spiceskull]

The Voda PAYG deal is one of the best: spend something like £5 before 19:30 on Friday, and all texts and calls are completely free until midnight Sunday.

 

The offer says £5, although for some reason it seems to actually be about £5.40, but a £10 credit on Monday should easily be used up by Friday, and then he can then spend 52 hours on the bloody thing for free...

 

I have been with Voda for years, and moaned like Billy 'O about the costs until someone pointed me in this direction...

[rydeshill]

Nothing simple about contracts, if it goes wrong then you end with a complicated area of law. How about auto top on payg. running out of credit focuses the mind about budgeting your finances.

[mazza1970]

Ok, here's what it is:

 

Teeneage son, currently on PAYG Virgin. I give him the odd £5 credit, which usually gets swallowed up in SMS within 2 days.

 

I want to get him a contract phone, where for a fixed sum (ideally no more than £20 / month), he gets a certain amount of minutes and SMS, and then that's it, once he's used them up, he is blocked from making further call, the idea being that I do not then end up with a massive bill.

 

So far, the responses I have had have been appalling. Virgin themselves have a cut-off of £50!!!! above the agreed package. Others I have looked at don't seem to have a bar either... I think 3 (through Superdrug) are the only ones I have seen so far who have what I want, with their "add-ons", but I was wondering if anyone out there knew of a 1/2 decent deal that wouldn't leave us exposed to huge added expenses?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I am on T-Mobile PAYGO text appeal, each text costs 3p, the last time I topped up my phone was 22nd January with £15 and I still have about £2 left and I text a lot!

[davethorp]

Voda free weekends has always been £5 spend for me and not £5.40. With the 500 free texts offer not a lot beats it though

[buzby]

I wasn't "complaining", Sorry I tried to help.

 

I wasn't complaining about that either - just responding so you wouldn't have thought your eyes were playing up when the link was actually there in the original message.

 

No, my reall annoyance was when responding in kind to the PM, I get this:

 

Bookworm has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her

Doesn't seem fair that you're denied the pleasure of incoming PM's

[izzthewiz]

Hi, ive just been reading your posts about mobiles. Im with the utility warehouse and so is all my family. If you already have a mobile phone you can simply have a sim card it will cost £8 month line rental 8p a minute, 7p a text and there is no contract so you can cancel at any time.

 

Otherwise you can order from a choice of free phones that will have a short contract this will be £14 line rental while in contract but will automatically drop to £8 per month when contract has finished. The same 8p a minute and 7p a text applies. They also allow you to put a block on the phone i think the minimum block is £15 and if your son reached this they would contact you and only you could give permission to up it.

 

One of my family members is a distributor its worth having a look the website is: Richard & Melanie Curtis - Independent Qualified Executives - Telecom plus

 

Goodluck with whatever you choose, ive been with many different companies but i cant fault the utility warehouse.

[Spiceskull]

Bookworm has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her

 

Doesn't seem fair that you're denied the pleasure of incoming PM's

Hi Buzz - I know from my own experience that mods are deluged with PMs - literally hundreds a day... as the storage limit is 100, and as there are always 1,001 things to do on the forum, turning off PM is one of the first things a mod does...usually...

 

Please don't have a go at Bookie - she is a popular mod (heaven knows why, any conceivable reason escapes me) - and dealing with stuff by PM only adds to an already heavy burden...

 

Spicey

[buzby]

Honest, wasn't havin' a go but I think the forum s/w should be fairer, if you opt out of a function (say PM) then that function should not be available. How can a PM be replied to if inbound messages are blocked? Perhaps conditionally permitting replies to those who have PMs sent would resolve the issue?

[Barobalti]

I’m very wary of “packages” such as x amount of minutes and y amount of texts for “free”. You’re generally going to get whacked if you go over your allocated limit and, as the “carry-over” minutes and texts are usually curtailed after a period, so the customer is paying for a service not fully used.

With most PAYG and contracts you could end up paying (say) over 40p per minute for calls out to certain networks. My own experience indicates that PAYG is never cost-effective save perhaps in the case of people who GENUINELY never spend more than £10.00 pcm; many people claim that’s all they spend but this is generally not the case.

With my provider of choice I only pay for the calls I make and they are fixed at a tariff which I have found to be pretty well unbeatable on the market place. With no high street stores or advertising to decimate profits, then the savings are passed on to the customer.

…and what about those companies who offer you the sun, the moon, and the stars to remain with them when you call in to get your PAC (Porting Authorisation Code)? Why could they not offer that “better deal” in the first instance? Personally I’d give a wide berth to a company who would adopt such methods just to keep my custom.

Anyone is free to contact me privately for more information -- obviously (as in other forums) I have a business interest here, but I would consider it crude and tactless to attempt to force a "hard sell" on my good friends here at CAG.

[Thermometer]

My own experience indicates that PAYG is never cost-effective save perhaps in the case of people who GENUINELY never spend more than £10.00 pcm; many people claim that’s all they spend but this is generally not the case.

 

I know lots of people who have had their PAYG phone suspended on Orange PAYG because they have not made a single call in six months!

 

Personally, I have used about £25 credit on an Orange PAYG phone in the last two years!

[buzby]

With most PAYG and contracts you could end up paying (say) over 40p per minute for calls out to certain networks.

 

So it makes sense to ensure that you work out where most of your calls will go and use that as your preferred network, as this will ensure off-net calls are kept to a miimum. (Although the usual caveat applies, only the UK lets consumers be caught out calling a mobile number that may pe ported and hit them with a fee that could not be foreseen).

 

There's no credit check, no enforced direct debit, no agreement to spread your credit reference data around, and no minimum service period. Is this worth 40p/min for some cross network calls? Of course it is - it's the only way the consumer stays in control!

[davethorp]

And on vodafone PAYG xnet calls can be as cheap as 10p a min. With evening and weekend calls up to an hour costing at most 30p or possibly free

[Barobalti]

So it makes sense to ensure that you work out where most of your calls will go and use that as your preferred network, as this will ensure off-net calls are kept to a minimum.

>>

If you’re in business, as I am, this is not possible.

There's no credit check, no enforced direct debit, no agreement to spread your credit reference data around, and no minimum service period. Is this worth 40p/min for some cross network calls? Of course it is - it's the only way the consumer stays in control!

>>

I pay 8p per minute for all calls and am totally in control.

And on vodafone PAYG xnet calls can be as cheap as 10p a min.

>>

I like “can be”!!!

[davethorp]

Sorry by can be I mean "is 10p a min for more time than its any other rate"