UK Pay-as-you-go, some advice please?

netwhizkid

I am heading to the UK for a few days this week and am wondering I will be using my mobile over there alot as I shall have several calls to make and take. Meteor will be charging me 99¢ per minute to make and take calls so that isn't viable. Which English network is the best to go for. I was thinking Vodafone for the reason that I can keep it topped up here as I may not be returning for over a year and the Irish networks will deactivate the sim if it isn't used in a year, so I presume the UK networks are the same. I'm sure many people do this especially those back and forth regulary. There are so many companies I am stumped, Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin etc. Which mobile phone providers are the best for call value and topping up here to keep the Sim active? I have an unlocked Nokia 3410 and it will do the trick.

Any ideas are appreciated. Meteor charging me €60 for roaming in the USA last summer left an aftertaste in my mouth that has quenched my appetite for roaming considerably.

BuffyBot

My UK mobile is with Orange on their PAYG plan. I've always found them quite reasonable in terms of rates.

Meteor charging me €60 for roaming in the USA last summer left an aftertaste in my mouth

In fairness "charging" is the wrong word. It may be €60, but it's still all there as credit on your account, to be used as and when you will.

jrey1981

if you are calling back to ireland you need to look into the virgin or mobile world call rates which should be the lowest

byrnefm

My UK mobile is also with Orange - they only charge 20p/min to call Ireland (the other networks are nowhere near as competitive on PAYG to Ireland, although I don't know what Virgin charges to here). Their line does seem to suffer from echo, though, at least when calling Ireland. Their regular rates are pretty decent also (35p peak, 10p o/p) and texts are 12p to the UK, 20p international. You have to make at least one chargeable call every 6 months to keep the account active.

BuffyBot

Tesco Mobile also have some fairly competitive rates. You can pick up "SIM only" packs. Rates here: http://www.tescomobile.com/sim-cards

Jam Man

Three Ireland charge national rate (35c per min) for all their customers who go to the UK or call the UK....

parsi

#Elites wrote:

Vodafone IRL and Vodafone UK are different companys, you cant top up with a IRL voucher on the UK Sim! so its pritty pointless their!

tbh when you bought your UK sim card + Credit youve probaly spent more then if you just sticked with Metior.

You can. And if you're really lucky the UK update will take a bit longer than expected and you can topup your Irish sim as well.

netwhizkid

Thanks for the help fellas, I am going over tomorrow, Either the Orange or Vodafone sims are looking good, I will probably go into Carphone Warehouse or the likes and see what they saw. As byrnefm said "You have to make at least one chargeable call every 6 months to keep the account active." So I could always use the UK sim on roaming in Ireland and make a call on it to keep it active. 2 Calls a year? Max £2 of credit and I will top it up with like a tenner when leaving. As most of my calls will be to local British number's I shouldn't get stung too much.


www.telestunt.co.uk will allow you to save on calls from the UK as some of us do here for calling abroad already.

byrnefm

netwhizkid wrote:

So I could always use the UK sim on roaming in Ireland and make a call on it to keep it active. 2 Calls a year?

.. or just send two texts a year (40p / text while roaming in Ireland, AFAIK) or use it if visiting the North (though quite a distance to go from Kerry just to keep a number active )