Pay As You Go Mobile Phone

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Mr BD absolutely hates mobile phones but I want him to have one on him just for emergencies. It will only have 4 or 5 numbers in it - family and car breakdown service. Don't want something you have to pay for monthly on a regular basis as it will not get used. Can you buy just a sim card and a cheap phone and put say £10 on it and top it up as and when needed. I had one like that years ago and after six months it "swallowed" my money because I had not used it. What I know about mobile phones could be written on the back of a back of a postage stamp.

[sir.prize]

Can you buy just a sim card and a cheap phone and put say £10 on it and top it up as and when needed.

YES

[SlackAlice]

Yes, you can. Most of the supermarkets have some good PAYG offers. I did the same for years. Just make a call/text using it about once a week to make sure you don't loose any credit.

[askyourgran]

You can buy a cheap phone and a SIM card on a pay as you go basis. Mine is o2 which is pretty good, just take the O2 card that comes with the sim card to a supermarket or newsagents to top your phone up with £10 when it runs low. I got one for my bro, in case he needed someone he doesn't use it often. I use my for texting it's cheaper.

[bookbinder]

Last August I bought a Nokia pay as you go mobile from Tesco for £12.97, plus £10 credit to put on the SIM card. I bought it to keep in the car in case of breakdown. I do not use it for the normal purpose, because I don't want people ringing me at inconvenient times. I have to use it, however, every so often, otherwise Virgin mobile cancels the SIM registration (I found that out the hard way), so now once a month I go into the garden and phone my wife. She thinks it's very amusing!

[gness]

BD...I have a really cheap phone from Tesco. I put ten pounds on it now and again and they double or triple it. I do text most days but rarely make phone calls so it costs me about five pounds a month....if that. I try to use up the free credit with calls I would have to pay for on my land-line as that only lasts a month but what I pay for remains.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Thanks to you all for your advice. I'm laughing at the thought of him sending a text - that will never happen. I would feel better if he got one though. He was in a nasty road accident a while back and he had to borrow the mobile of the chap that had caused the accident, ring the main police switchboard and ask to be put through to me as he didn't even know my number. The look on the other driver's face when I arrived in the TAU van was priceless.

[DaisyNonna]

Mine cost the outrageous sum of £23 (it has a camera) pay as you go, usually topped £10 a time which lasts me about 6 months. Worth it for an emergency or the occasional text or update to relations when travelling to give ETA.

[Maydup]

Go to Carphone warehouse where you can buy a pay as you go for about £10 and add £10 to it there and then. They'll set the time on it for you and help you to add a couple of numbers in order to ring home or the AA. They helped me when i needed a basic one a while ago and i didn't need to do a thing when i left. No i don't work for them, just thoroughly recommend them for newbies.

[Canary42]

Basic model, with Pay As You Go contract has suited me for years, acquired for emergencies, but now used occasionally socially.

Spin-off advantage of possessing a mobile is ICE.

[ICE = is a contact number/person you put in the mobile's directory for contact "in case of emergency". It is quite common as one of the things emergency personnel do on attending an accident with unconscious/dead victims is check their phone for an ICE entry - usually next of kin]

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Thanks for that Canary42. I do know about ICE and it works. My daughter has my number in her phone under ICE. She was travelling home from work one evening when an idiot threw a block of concrete through the bus window and hit her on the side of her head. She was unconscious on the floor of the bus but a young girl sitting near her looked on her phone, found ICE and phoned us. We arrived at the hospital at the same time as the ambulance so she wasn't alone when she came to. I'm surprised that more people don't use it.

[DaisyNonna]

Canary, thanks for that. Do I just put ICE in contacts and a number?

[Flyhalf]

I recently purchased an Orange sim card PAYG, for entering competitions when I don't want to give my regular numbers.
No cost at Carphone Warehouse except the minimum top up £10. Their advice was to make a CALL (not a text message) every month, to keep the credit rolling along. You just have to connect to the other number, and hang up after a few rings - obviously, ring your own number to ensure no-one picks up at the other end!
The reason I went for Orange was that I could take advantage of the 2 for 1 cinema tickets on Wednesdays.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

In my phone I have ICE husband with home phone number and ICE daughter with her mobile number.

[Canary42]

Daisy: Yes, that's all you need - if your phone allows sufficient characters it you could put further details after ICE, (e.g. ICE - Joe, husband) up to you really)

[Canary42]

I'm sure my Virgin Mobile PAYG doesn't time out on the credit for non-use. I've often not used it for months.

[Old_Geezer]

Yes you can but you do need to use it once in a while or the company will assume it's "dead" and release the number for use again. Can;t have dead accounts permanently cluttering up their databases and wasting their number ranges. One chargeable call per 6 months is usual. 12 months sometimes.

(I'm surprised the service provider didn;t return your credit. Maybe there was no longer a record of it ?)

[gingejbee]

A really simple, but excellent phone is the Nokia 105 (about £13) - Which? really liked it.

[Old_Geezer]

I really must try to read a thread before posting an answer to the OP :-O