Pay and go option in the UK

Question

Level 1

6 points

Pay and go option in the UK

I got an iphone on pay as you go and a £10 top up.
I spoke to at least three sales people at three different stores before buying and they all said that the first year included a complimentary 3g internet bolt on and that after that it would cost £10/ moth to keep it.
They also said that the monthly top ups allowed unused minuted to roll over, so you didn't necessarily need to buy a top up every month.

My question is:
just what is charged to the top up balance?
Calls and texts, or anything else?
If I use the internet, or read and send emails, or use maps, does that get debited to my top up balance?
Is there a maximum usage allowance per month and after that it does get debited to my top up balance?
Does my top up balance actually roll over each month or not?

I understand that using only the wifi internet at free hot spots is always free like on the ipod touch, but what about the 3g internet that supposedly uses networks like the cloud or bt openzone during the first year?
Is that part of the complimentary bolt on or will it be debited from my top up balance?

I'm not a lawyer, so trying to understand the small print at the O2 website is impossible.

I would appreciate it if people who actually have a pay as you go option in the UK gave me their first hand advice.
Thank you.

MBP 2.4ghz 4gb ram and Mac Pro 2.8 8 core 10 GB ram, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Nov 8, 2008 3:22 AM

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Answer 1

dherron

Level 1

97 points

Nov 8, 2008 8:18 AM in response to Luis Ortega

You will need to top up at least £10 a month - your free minutes remaining will not carry over each month.

The free Wi-Fi/Mobile Internet is free for 12 months so you can surf the web and do your email free of charge for the first 12 months. After that you'll need to buy a bolt-on every month (£7.50 - £10) I don't know which price it is.

So in 12 months time you'l need to top up a minimum of £17.50-£20 to get your free minutes and surf the web/email for free.

O2 have a christmas catalogue out in their stores which explains the iPhone PAYG tariffs a bit better.

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Answer 2

Luis Ortega Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 8, 2008 8:40 AM in response to dherron

Thanks. So you are saying that the three salespeople just lied to me when they said the minutes rolled over and I didn't need to top up each month?
Since the least of what I do are the calls or the texts, can I still carry on using the iphone during the first 12 months for email, internet and maps without topping up each month, or will the phone stop working if I don't do this?
I know it sounds strange, but I really don't make many calls.
My last phone had the sim card cancelled because I never used it for months at a time to make calls and I have probably sent two texts in the past 4 years.

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Answer 3

dherron

Level 1

97 points

Nov 8, 2008 9:20 AM in response to Luis Ortega

I'm just assuming that your free minutes and texts don't roll over to the next month because they don't on any other O2 sim card or even any other network. If you don't top up, you'll still get the 12 month free internet and email usage.

I had an O2 Genie Sim Card PAYG before my iPhone. I toped up £10 a month to get 300 free text messages and 150 evening & Weekend minutes. I lost my free texts and minutes if I didn't top up by a certain date each month, this just meant that I had to pay for the phone calls and texts but I still got any bolt-on's that I had paid for. The iPhone PAYG should work the exact same way, i'm planning on going to PAYG when my contract iPhone runs out in May 09.

£10 a month (which includes free minutes & texts) + £7.50 internet bolt-on = £17.50 which is cheaper than my £35 contract now 🙂

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Answer 4

Luis Ortega Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 8, 2008 9:44 AM in response to dherron

Thanks.

You said=
I lost my free texts and minutes if I didn't top up by a certain date each month, *this just meant that I had to pay for the phone calls and texts* but I still got any bolt-on's that I had paid for.

What do you mean by, **I had to pay for my phone calls and texts**?
If you don't have a top up balance, how can you make a phone call? How would it be charged?

Assuming that this could be done, it seems to me that I could just forego doing top ups and pay for my calls at 25 pence/minute. Since I make about 1 call a month, if that, this would be a very cheap way to go for me.
All of these included minutes and texts are completely wasted on me since I don't really use the phone for phone calls (don't ask me why I got it- I just like the other stuff).

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Answer 5

Kevin Liu

Level 1

100 points

Nov 8, 2008 2:24 PM in response to Luis Ortega

I'm not sure how this PAYG works in the UK but it sounds like the one I used to have in Canada.

The problem is that your to-ups expire monthly. For example, you add $10 to your account on July 1 and make absolutely no calls that entire month, and on July 31, you forget to "top-off" (although you think there's no need given you haven't used any of your $10 from last month). By Aug 1, your account would've reverted to zero, ie. you've lost all of your remaining balance from last month. However, if you did remember to top it off on July 31, your "old" minutes roll over and now you have $20 in your account. Hope this is clear.

I'm not sure if this is exactly the case with O2, but it sounds like it.

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Answer 6

dherron

Level 1

97 points

Nov 8, 2008 2:53 PM in response to Luis Ortega

QUOTE:

Thanks.

You said=
I lost my free texts and minutes if I didn't top up by a certain date each month, this just meant that I had to pay for the phone calls and texts but I still got any bolt-on's that I had paid for.

What do you mean by, **I had to pay for my phone calls and texts**?
If you don't have a top up balance, how can you make a phone call? How would it be charged?

*******************

Example:

I top up £10 in October, I get 300 free texts & 150 free evening & Weekend minutes. Come November I still have nearly £10 credit in my phone because I didn't go over 300 texts and I only made phone calls in the evenings & Weekends. My free Texts and Minutes do not carry over into November so I start using the £10 credit that I never used all October. Come December i'll have no credit left so I top up £10 again and it'll do me the next 2 months.

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Answer 7

Luis Ortega Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 8, 2008 4:18 PM in response to dherron

dherron wrote:
Example:
I top up £10 in October, I get 300 free texts & 150 free evening & Weekend minutes. Come November I still have nearly £10 credit in my phone because I didn't go over 300 texts and I only made phone calls in the evenings & Weekends. My free Texts and Minutes do not carry over into November so I start using the £10 credit that I never used all October. Come December i'll have no credit left so I top up £10 again and it'll do me the next 2 months.

Thanks for your help.
My plan says that I get 500 minutes to any uk landline or O2 mobile from a registered post code for £10. Other things I suppose cost set amounts, such as text messages, or to other mobiles, and they are detailed in the tariffs.

Now, if I understand what you are saying, at the end of the month, if I have only made say 50 minutes of calls to uk landlines and nothing else, I would still have my £10 balance, but I would lose my remaining 450 minutes and any calls I made from then on would start getting charged to my £10 balance at the rates spelled out in the tariff?

If at the end of the second month, I still had say £4 left on my balance, would that still be good to keep calling or texting and getting charged at the rates spelled out in the tariff?

So it seems that I would not need to top up every month to be able to make calls or texts until I had run out of balance on my £10 top up?

Have I understood you correctly?

The way I make calls, that £10 could last me 5 or more months!

What I really need to be sure of is that I would still be able to use my 12 month free bolt on for internet using their cloud and bt openzone networks and use internet, email and maps without it getting charged to my top up balance.

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Answer 8

Luis Ortega Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 8, 2008 4:31 PM in response to dherron

Actually, I made a brief call to my own landline now just to see what happens and then checked my balance at the O2 account site and the balance now shows £9.75, so apparently the pay and go has no free minutes and I am getting charged according to the tariffs published.
That should mean that my balance will stay valid until I use it up, however long it takes, but I am so confused because the website seemed to say that my setup gave me 500 minutes per month as part of the £10 top up.
I am going to have to call their customer service and see if anyone there knows what they are talking about and try to get a straight answer.

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