Do PAYG phone sims still exist?

[RizzoTheRat]

Does true PAYG when you top up with a bit of credit when you get low still exist? Everything I can find online calling itself PAYG is actually a monthly payment plan just without a contract. Even the likes of Tesco/Asda/GifGaf/Lebara are all on 30 day bundles.

[Bluevanman]

1p mobile

[S6PNJ]

O2 Classic SIM. 3p/2p/1p calls/texts/data. As long as you use it at least once every 6 months, your credit stays active. Buy it for 99p from eBay

[The Mad Monk]

https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/pay-as-you-go#...

[OIC]

[alangla]

Asda do them, including a top-up card you can use at the till. Looks like you need to take at least a call & text plan for a month but after that ends you can go to true PAYG

[RizzoTheRat]

Ah, I hadn't realised some have to start as a rolling contract and then change, that might be why they're hard to find. No mention of it at all on that O2 link above, or on Asda mobile's site!

1p mobile seem to be the only ones I can see advertising it. No mention of how osten you have to use it before they disconnect you though.
https://www.1pmobile.com/siminfo?prodid=STD

O2 Classic shows up on Tesco's site as out of stock and not on O2's site so not sure if it's been discontinued.

[John87]

You can use Giffgaff without a monthly bundle just by topping up with credit when needed. You do need to use it every 6 months or so to keep active but the credit itself doesn't expire

[.:ian:.]

RizzoTheRat said:

O2 Classic shows up on Tesco's site as out of stock and not on O2's site so not sure if it's been discontinued.

Discontinued as in they dont offer the sims themselves, but the existing sims work fine as do any new old-stock on ebay.
The main downside to these is they dont support Wifi calling.

[RizzoTheRat]

Wifi calling's not an issue, but e-sim would be useful rather than buying a sim from e-bay. I'm not in the UK but want to keep my UK number alive despite not using it that much, and ideally switch at least one of my sim's to an e-sim as not many phones support dual physical sims now. Currently on a UK contract, but limited to 5GB/month roaming, and a Dutch PAYG but want to switch to a UK PAYG and Dutch contract (for those wondering why I need burner phones ).

1p mobile looks suspiciously cheap compared other names I've heard of like Gifgaf, are they any good?

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 25th August 09:01

[S6PNJ]

O2 Classic does support WiFi calling (or at least it does on my phone) and yes, you have to buy the SIM via eBay, not the O2 shop. No need to start it as a rolling contract, just the initial £10 top up.

[John87]

I used to have 1p mobile on my kids smart/tracker watches but they changed the terms to require a minimum spend of £10 every 60 days. They took that whether you used it or not so I found 50p of use was still costing me £10. I switched to Giffgaffs lowest monthly plan instead

[.:ian:.]

S6PNJ said:

O2 Classic does support WiFi calling (or at least it does on my phone) and yes, you have to buy the SIM via eBay, not the O2 shop. No need to start it as a rolling contract, just the initial £10 top up.

Never worked on any of mine, switched to giffgaff, worked straight away.

[S6PNJ]

It does depend on the phone. About a year ago, my phone (Xiaomi Redmi series) wouldn't do O2 WiFi calling but the phone was capable and speaking to O2, the SIM was capable, just not the combo. Sometime later, my phone is now compatible with O2. I also have a Lebara SIM which does WiFi calling.

Lebara is left hand SIM, O2 is right hand SIM



edited to make pic smaller

Edited by S6PNJ on Tuesday 25th August 20:14

[Fastpedeller]

John87 said:

I used to have 1p mobile on my kids smart/tracker watches but they changed the terms to require a minimum spend of £10 every 60 days. They took that whether you used it or not so I found 50p of use was still costing me £10. I switched to Giffgaffs lowest monthly plan instead

I found that with 1p mobile. I decided to donate to a charity by doing the 'call a number to donate £5' to take the balance down. When 1p mobile stopped that facility I switched to Lebara £5 a month.

[giggity]

Sky do cheap SIMs at £1 a month, don’t have to worry about keeping them alive.

Three do PAYG

[RSTurboPaul]

Lebara PAYG - can top up with a voucher from a supermarket till, and the credit stays active as long as you make a text/call every 90 days (IIRC).

[blue_haddock]

RizzoTheRat said:

Wifi calling's not an issue, but e-sim would be useful rather than buying a sim from e-bay. I'm not in the UK but want to keep my UK number alive despite not using it that much, and ideally switch at least one of my sim's to an e-sim as not many phones support dual physical sims now. Currently on a UK contract, but limited to 5GB/month roaming, and a Dutch PAYG but want to switch to a UK PAYG and Dutch contract (for those wondering why I need burner phones ).

1p mobile looks suspiciously cheap compared other names I've heard of like Gifgaf, are they any good?

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 25th August 09:01

I use 1p mobile for my personal mobile and i have no issues with them, they piggy back EE so decent coverage and they included roaming for free as well.