Carrier UK SIM only contracts: best options?

[scottish]

I popped in today and was impressed so committed to a 12 month £15 a month contract with all of those. Got home and in a location where my O2 sim displayed one bar of GPRS I get three bars of 3G and it's actually usable, unlike the O2 contract.

It took an absolute age to cancel my contract, they attempted to say for £11 I get 100MB, unlimited calls and texts and they'll give me a voucher for £150 if I agree to a 24 month contract which basically gives me 14 months free. I then explained the Three contract I had got and they said it was bad value for money, so I asked how much I could get a 4G O2 contract for, which they turned round and said £26 a month for 4G 1GB and unlimited texts. No question that Three is the best value for money.

Been with O2 for 4 years, so they're sad to see me go, but I can't justify paying so much for so little when Three give me all of the above features for more than £10 less than my current monthly fee.

Gee was it not obvious to them that you were on an old tariff with unlimited data for a reason. Why would they even think this would be an acceptable alternative.

Anyway I think you've made a good choice. I'll probably be signing up to the same tariff next week.

 

[kingalexthe1st]

I've got the tarriff you just signed up for - was about to suggest you call O2 and tell them you're leaving and get them in to panic mode which is when you can barter Looks like they didn't give you a decent offer though, and I think you're better off with 3.

The other thing with 3, if you didn't know already, is that you can visit Italy, Australia and a few other countries and use all your minutes, texts and data as though you were in England. No extra cost. Add to that the fact that my WiFi iPad can now be used as a 3G iPad thanks to the tethering and £15/month is a bargain.

Alex

 

[scottish]

I've got the tarriff you just signed up for - was about to suggest you call O2 and tell them you're leaving and get them in to panic mode which is when you can barter Looks like they didn't give you a decent offer though, and I think you're better off with 3.

The other thing with 3, if you didn't know already, is that you can visit Italy, Australia and a few other countries and use all your minutes, texts and data as though you were in England. No extra cost. Add to that the fact that my WiFi iPad can now be used as a 3G iPad thanks to the tethering and £15/month is a bargain.

Alex

/Scotland/Northern Ireland/Wales

 

[kingalexthe1st]

/Scotland/Northern Ireland/Wales

Haha! Yes, thanks for that. I'm getting my UK/England mixed up again. How very English of me.

Alex

 

[Londoncity]

I'm on Virgin mobile with unlimited everything for £15 a month, 1 month rolling contract.

No complaints with anything, very happy with it.

 

[d123]

I'm on Virgin mobile with unlimited everything for £15 a month, 1 month rolling contract.

No complaints with anything, very happy with it.

Other than the fact they restrict download speeds (seems to be a maximum d/l of 2Mb/s at present) and drop you to GPRS speeds when you hit their unofficial caps?

Virgin confirmed the throttling plan in a post on its customer support forum, with an operative saying:

“I’ve received confirmation that we’re trialing a speed cap which has been in place since mid-Feb and is applicable to Contract and PAYG customers, but excludes Mobile Broadband.
“The current cap is 2Mb/s download, 0.5Mb/s upload. We are doing this to ensure we can offer a good level of service to all customers.”

 

[weckart]

Thanks for the reply. How come three always seem to be so much cheaper than the other networks?

Partly because 3 never invested in a GPRS system to look after - it is 3G or nothing, although it seems that it can piggyback onto other carriers' backbones in some areas where no 3 masts are found. Not that many, mind.

Otherwise, you pay for the relative cheapness in 3's notoriously awful customer service: Try leaving/asking for a PAC. It is an exercise in frustration.

 

[MH01]

I'm on the same contract as the OP. Sadly when I had a good chat with the local 02 staff who gave an honest opinion, they said that plan is better than anything they offer at the moment and they would keep it.

I'm hanging out for 3 moving to 4G, they seem like the only ones that will offer value for money

 

[Mercenary]

Partly because 3 never invested in a GPRS system to look after - it is 3G or nothing, although it seems that it can piggyback onto other carriers' backbones in some areas where no 3 masts are found. Not that many, mind.

Otherwise, you pay for the relative cheapness in 3's notoriously awful customer service: Try leaving/asking for a PAC. It is an exercise in frustration.

I've been through all the networks in my years. They are all as bad although the absolute worst by far for customer service is Orange/EE. Leaving is almost impossible, they keep throwing things up which mean you end up paying for another month and if you want to get a phone unlocked forget it. They just fob you off time after time until your 6 weeks are up (and youve paid another 2 months contract) before they finally give in and do it. Three and O2 unlock same day!

 

[MH01]

I was on O2 paying similar to you OP.

Got sick of the over priced slow service.

Went to Three last week, everything been pretty smooth. With O2 my speeds were around 4Mbps down and now I get 24Mbps on Threes HSDPA+.

I committed to 12 months @ £15ppm (you got 14 days to cancel) for that I get:

Unlimited Data & No extra charge for tethering
2000 minutes
5000 3 to 3 minutes
5000 texts.
FREE 4G
No fallback to EDGE/2G crap.
No Roaming charges so you can use your minutes in Republic of Ireland, Australia, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark.

The only downside.. the speed can drop a lot depending on what street you are on. But its still faster than O2.

Thanks for the info, that plan looks very tempting, will drop in and see them.

----------

I've been through all the networks in my years. They are all as bad although the absolute worst by far for customer service is Orange/EE. Leaving is almost impossible, they keep throwing things up which mean you end up paying for another month and if you want to get a phone unlocked forget it. They just fob you off time after time until your 6 weeks are up (and youve paid another 2 months contract) before they finally give in and do it. Three and O2 unlock same day!

I would not touch orange/EE with a 10 foot poll. Considered them when 4g rolled out but thier plans were such a ripoff

 

[Mercenary]

forgot to mention. I'm no three now and very happy.

Unlimited data is a must these days as your phone uses it when you dont know. Not like a call which starts and stops when you say.

Speeds are best I have found. Getting 10mbps on 3G, looking forward to 4G FOR FREE!

Lots of people here comment on how they joined three and all seem happy.

 

[saldawop]

I've never understood the people who complain about Three Customer services. Not that I have had to call them very often, but when I have they have been very helpful. I was with them a few years ago, decided to leave, asked for PAC. It was given with no questions asked.
Obviously there is sometimes a problem with understanding what the hell they are saying, but that is the same with all of these companies that use Indian call centres.

 

[Grolubao]

Can't really beat giff gaff. 12 quid for virtually everything unlimited

 

[macgrl]

I'm seriously considering three now after these comments. What do you use for visual voicemail?

 

[steve-p]

I'm seriously considering three now after these comments. What do you use for visual voicemail?

That's one thing I miss a bit, but not that much as it turns out. I got used to not having it when I moved from O2 to EE (a contract which I had to quit early due to poor coverage, but that's another story). So when I moved from EE to Three, I was already over not having visual voicemail Apart from that, I can honestly say Three is the best network I personally have used. But everyone's experience may be different depending on location.

 

[bp1000]

Same position as OP - was on an old O2 simplicity unlimited data tariff.

Not much use to me in 2013 when I can get HD Netflix but the O2 3G speeds are too slow and coverage very patchy. Great in 2009 when all I wanted was browsing and some YouTube access.

I moved to three where I can easily watch HD streams to my laptop tethered and then into a tv when I'm away. Even on a train I can watch iplayer, trains are a nightmare for signal especially cross country trains. It does occasionally buffer but O2 was mainly 2g.

I've been on a few uk getaways this summer and three has consistently obliterated O2 for 3G coverage. O2 didn't win once on my wife's O2 phone. I was never left without coverage. My maps functioned even in the bowels of Cornwall and Devon. Always got coverage in Central London although speeds dipped to 4Mbps in some areas.

Even had coverage in north wales and watch f1 qualifying on a beach in Anglesey.

As pointed out three signal not as strong indoors in some places but this shouldn't be a problem everything functions normally. I've noticed in shopping centres I still get 3G but occasionally when it's only 2 bars outside it will loose signal in doors. This has happened in various places over the uk and I estimate there's an 80% change it will fall back to a strong 2G signal but this means no data.

Best advice is get a Payg three sim and test it out for a month. I'm very happy with three glad I switched.

 

[kmpowell]

One word of caution with 3, they have no 2G data backup (it was switched off in 2012), so if you go out of a main city where there's no 3/4G coverage, you can only use Voice and Text over 2G, there's no data.

As for the best 4G sim-free, it has to be the Voda deal currently being offered through CPW...

Unlimited Mins
Unlimited Texts
6GB data
£17.66pcm for 12mths. It's normally £26pcm but you get £100 instant cashback.

 

[Amiz]

I can't seem to find a good Nano Sim only deal for my 5s.

 

[steve-p]

One word of caution with 3, they have no 2G data backup (it was switched off in 2012), so if you go out of a main city where there's no 3/4G coverage, you can only use Voice and Text over 2G, there's no data.

That's true I'm sure, but I take issue with your wording that implies Three only have coverage in a 'main city'. I live in a village and work in a very small town 12 miles away with a rural commute and I have unbroken 3G the whole way. I've even streamed music in the car the whole journey just because I can Maybe they turned off the 2G data because their 3G coverage is good now.

 

[kolax]

I've been with Orange (now EE signal) and I'm really considering switching to Three.

I can't be bothered having to call up EE to cancel my plan and get my PUK code, so was wondering if anyone knew if you could do this in-store? Ideally I'd like to walk into an EE shop and sort all that out.

 

[macgrl]

One word of caution with 3, they have no 2G data backup (it was switched off in 2012), so if you go out of a main city where there's no 3/4G coverage, you can only use Voice and Text over 2G, there's no data.


That sucks..I didn't know that...but is their 3g network more expansive than others that it doesn't need to drop to 2g?

 

[steve-p]

I've been with Orange (now EE signal) and I'm really considering switching to Three.

I can't be bothered having to call up EE to cancel my plan and get my PUK code, so was wondering if anyone knew if you could do this in-store? Ideally I'd like to walk into an EE shop and sort all that out.

Top tip for getting your PAC without any resistance at all - just lie. Call them and tell them your employer is taking over your payments and are insisting that you keep your number and move to the network they use. They know there's no point wasting their time with offers and excuses. It's worked three times for me. While I'm at it, lying also works well quitting other things like Sky. I told them I was moving abroad and they just folded too

 

[kolax]

Ah good idea - got my PAC code now, got 3-4 weeks to decide what to do.

However, the lack of data on GPRS/EDGE on Three is concerning and I'm not quite convinced it'll work well for me. If I only had EDGE signal, then loosing the ability to use WhatsApp, or refresh the Bus Tracker times is a big issue for me.

The coverage in Edinburgh is meant to be great, but there's white 3G spots on the outskirts that could be problematic.

 

[kingalexthe1st]

Something I totally forgot to mention was check quidco and other money saving websites. I got my 3 contract last year which was originally £10 a month (upgraded recently to £15 for the thethering), but got £100 cash back through quidco, effectively giving me all the texts, calls and data for £1.67/month (!!). It's laughable how much you can get if you play your cards right

Alex

 

[d123]

I can't seem to find a good Nano Sim only deal for my 5s.

What is a "nano sim only deal"?

Any sim only deal can be used with a nano sim, the majority of networks will supply any size of simcard free, the ones that won't (like EE) you can pay for a nano sim or just cut a microsim down.

For example, both Vodafone and Three (the 2 offering the best deals currently) ask you to specify the sim size wanted on page 1 of the sim only ordering.