pay as you go

[adrian jaye]

long story short,

no longer have company paid mobile,
small budget, got a phone given to me.

best option appears to be virgin pay as you go ?

ideas

cheers

[Agent006]

best option appears to be virgin pay as you go ?

Until you try and use it. Virgin is a sub-thingy of one2one, which is now TMobile. Service reception can be a bit dodgy anywhere outside big cities.

[Slayer]

Not necessarily true. I have had no problems with my Virgin PAYG and often get better reception than my compatriots with Orange etc.

[Leadfoot]

I've been with T Mobile been for 4 years. very rarely have reception probs, certainly no more than friends using Orange/Voda etc.

[egomeister]

In terms of reception I have always found Vodafone or Orange to be best - probably with Vodafone a little better. In my brief experience of Virgin (ie. One2One/T-Mobile) I found the reception pretty patchy but I hear it has improved since then.

I'm not sure which packages are the best deals at the moment but I'd guess that there isnt much in it in terms of costs to call landlines. However, if you call mobiles then using the same network as the people you call can save a fair bit.

[sparks]

Orange SIM is 20GBP I think. I have been a (contracted) Orange user for a long time, and haven't had any problems.
Best bet (as already mentioned) is to go with the same provider as most of your friends/family.

Sparks

[plipton]

Yes - Go for Virgin unless where you live/work or want to use it is not covered.

Their prices are pretty good and only require 1 call every 6 months to keep active.

Personally I'd go for their pay monthly option (no service fees) and get a monthly usage bill paid by DD. That way you can use the phone abroad and never run out of credit.

If coverage is your main priority then Voda or O2 are best for 2 reasons -

1. they use the 900MHz spectrum which is allowed to run 2 watts handset power. Orange and T Mob use 1800 and 1 watt power. The combination of frequency (higher frequency usually means poorer propogation) and lower power means the 1800 networks' coverage isn't quite as good in fringe areas.

2. Voda is the biggest network in terms of customer base and, therefore, has more money to invest in networks. Cellnet (er, I mean O2, is very close).

It's all down to price and coverage at the end of the day.

Plipton

[adrian jaye]

cheers all,

ok some points

1> not too bothered with coverage, off course the time I will, thered be none, sods law !

2> not gonna be ringing ppl, if so, local/mobile, and generally VERY low outgoing

3> mainly for ppl to ring me

with Virgin, whats kinda costs, also, voicemail how does that work (charges)

thankxs again !

[plipton]

Plenty to read here.

www.virginmobile.com/mobile/

The good thing with Virgin is they tell you all the charges up front - no surprises.

If I lived in the UK I'd have one. As it is I don't and mine's free (see profile)

[chris.mapey]

Go on whatever network the vast majority of your mates are on. The last thing you want to be doing is cross networking on PAYG - is can be up to 50p per min at all times. Mucho Cost.

Check the tariff carefully....you have beeen warned!!

Chris

[First and Last]

Adrian,

Same thing happened to me - I went Virgin Pay As you Go since my call volumes are low and if I don't call now I don't pay. Even after buying the 'phone I'll have to use it quie a lot before I pass the cost of a Monthly rental approach.

No problems so far with reception/coverage and the standard call charges are the best of the known names for Pay As You Go.

It's all on the Virgin website - a bit gimmicky but recommended.

Have Fun

[adrian jaye]

thankxs all,

have oredered a virgin payg today !

laterz