• =?UTF-8?Q?=C2=A31?= PAYGO cards from Argos and similar

    From Chris Green@cl@isbd.net to uk.telecom.mobile on Wed Feb 11 10:15:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom.mobile

    Do these cards offer a cheap way to run a mobile if you don't care
    about the number changing and remember to cancel the renewal each
    month?

    There are several, they offer unlimited calls and texts plus 10Gb or
    15GB of data, they last for 30 days so you'd need twelve and a bit per
    year. So -u12/year for quite a reasonable amount of data and unlimited everything else.

    Yes, I know it wouldn't suit one's 'main' phone due to the changing
    number but it would be fine for my tablet which is basically just a
    browsing device and for making the occasional call.
    --
    Chris Green
    -+
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Theo@theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk to uk.telecom.mobile on Wed Feb 11 10:45:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom.mobile

    Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
    Do these cards offer a cheap way to run a mobile if you don't care
    about the number changing and remember to cancel the renewal each
    month?

    There are several, they offer unlimited calls and texts plus 10Gb or
    15GB of data, they last for 30 days so you'd need twelve and a bit per
    year. So -u12/year for quite a reasonable amount of data and unlimited everything else.

    Yes, I know it wouldn't suit one's 'main' phone due to the changing
    number but it would be fine for my tablet which is basically just a
    browsing device and for making the occasional call.

    Are you sure they have credit on them? Often 99p SIM cards require a -u10 or similar topup for activation. The '15GB for 30 days' thing is what you get when you topup -u10 (or whatever) a month, ie it works on the usual 'buy monthly bundle' system, and bigger bundles cost more.

    You can buy cards preloaded with credit that require no additional topup,
    but they tend to cost more.

    eg:
    https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1487268?clickSR=slp:term:sim%20card:5:95:1

    is -u1 but says "For just -u10 a month you'll receive 8GB data, plus unlimited minutes and texts"

    Meanwhile the Vodafone 7/15/40GB cards are all -u1, while the 'data only'
    cards are 30GB for -u20, 60GB for -u30 and 120GB for -u50. If the 40GB card included 40GB of data for -u1, why would they also sell a 30GB card for -u20?

    based on: https://www.argos.co.uk/search/sim-card/?clickOrigin=searchbar:home:auto:sim+card:sim+card

    Theo
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  • From Chris Green@cl@isbd.net to uk.telecom.mobile on Wed Feb 11 11:24:39 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom.mobile

    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
    Do these cards offer a cheap way to run a mobile if you don't care
    about the number changing and remember to cancel the renewal each
    month?

    There are several, they offer unlimited calls and texts plus 10Gb or
    15GB of data, they last for 30 days so you'd need twelve and a bit per year. So -u12/year for quite a reasonable amount of data and unlimited everything else.

    Yes, I know it wouldn't suit one's 'main' phone due to the changing
    number but it would be fine for my tablet which is basically just a browsing device and for making the occasional call.

    Are you sure they have credit on them? Often 99p SIM cards require a -u10 or similar topup for activation. The '15GB for 30 days' thing is what you get when you topup -u10 (or whatever) a month, ie it works on the usual 'buy monthly bundle' system, and bigger bundles cost more.

    You can buy cards preloaded with credit that require no additional topup,
    but they tend to cost more.

    eg: https://www.argos.co.uk/product/1487268?clickSR=slp:term:sim%20card:5:95:1

    is -u1 but says "For just -u10 a month you'll receive 8GB data, plus unlimited
    minutes and texts"

    Meanwhile the Vodafone 7/15/40GB cards are all -u1, while the 'data only' cards are 30GB for -u20, 60GB for -u30 and 120GB for -u50. If the 40GB card included 40GB of data for -u1, why would they also sell a 30GB card for -u20?

    based on: https://www.argos.co.uk/search/sim-card/?clickOrigin=searchbar:home:auto:sim+card:sim+card


    You are probably right! Thanks. :-)
    --
    Chris Green
    -+
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Java Jive@java@evij.com.invalid to uk.telecom.mobile on Wed Feb 11 14:51:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom.mobile

    On 2026-02-11 10:15, Chris Green wrote:

    Do these cards offer a cheap way to run a mobile if you don't care
    about the number changing and remember to cancel the renewal each
    month?

    There are several, they offer unlimited calls and texts plus 10Gb or
    15GB of data, they last for 30 days so you'd need twelve and a bit per
    year. So -u12/year for quite a reasonable amount of data and unlimited everything else.

    Yes, I know it wouldn't suit one's 'main' phone due to the changing
    number but it would be fine for my tablet which is basically just a
    browsing device and for making the occasional call.

    Can't comment on those specific SIM cards, but ask yourself: Will I
    remember every month to cancel what needs to be cancelled &/or renew
    what needs to be renewed?

    I used to use PAYG for both my mobile and my tablet, but got so pissed
    off with finding on those rare occasions that I needed to make a call or
    use the tablet for navigation on a long journey that I'd run out of
    money on the unit, and had to renew, that eventually I looked for the
    cheapest Pay Monthly alternative. My choice was 'Spusu 1 Special' and
    is unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB for -u2.90pm, which suits me
    fine. I reckon that by the time I'd paid the occasional -u10 top-up just
    to make a couple of calls, particularly when away from home, and then
    lost the rest of it through lack of use, it was not very much, if at
    all, more expensive just to have a cheap pay monthly contract as above,
    and it's so much simpler and more convenient to be able to use the phone
    or tablet as and when needed without having to think first: Is there any
    money left on this thing, and having to go through the fiddle-faddle of topping it up when, inevitably, you find that there isn't!

    As I may have mentioned, I stayed with cousins in Glenfinnan over
    Hogmanay and some of January, and they had a similar problem. The wife
    is in a care home, because she has terminal cancer, so their daughter,
    who herself lives in Germany, bought a couple of cheap and cheerful
    non-smart Doro, I think, mobile phones for them, so they could keep in
    touch with each other more easily. However, they were PAYG, and there
    was a constant problem of renewing them. The staff at the home could do
    the wife's, but the husband's needed someone to be there with the phone,
    so had to wait for one of the children to be able to be there to do it,
    and, although they live close nearby, they are often away from home. So
    I suggested to the daughter that a very cheap PAYM contract such as the
    above might be very much easier all round, and she immediately agreed.
    Under her remote direction, I did everything needed to move them over to
    the new SIMS while I was staying there.

    Although you've given examples that interest you above, you haven't told
    us your actual usage, so at best we can only guess at that from your
    examples, but I'm not going to try. Rather, notwithstanding that your
    needs are more geared to data than calls, I'd advise that you search for something similar but giving more data. For example, there's this which
    gives you 500 mins, 500 texts, and 3GB for an extra -u1pm, so -u3.90pm,
    which will work out more expensive than your plan, but will certainly be
    more convenient and easier to manage (note that this is from using a
    switching site, usually one seems to get better offers that way):

    https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/sim-only-deal/43b6b216a399fc8687511babe4d84754147061df/?position=3&list=compare%2Fsim-only-deals%20-%20promoted&list_loaded_id=2cb363fd-4ff1-4921-ab5d-4d47abc5f9ae&page=compare%2Fsim-only-deals&retailer=spusu-mobile

    So, my advice is to shop around the cheapest PAYM contracts.
    --

    Fake news kills!

    I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website: www.macfh.co.uk

    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Chris Green@cl@isbd.net to uk.telecom.mobile on Wed Feb 11 16:55:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom.mobile

    Java Jive <java@evij.com.invalid> wrote:
    On 2026-02-11 10:15, Chris Green wrote:

    Do these cards offer a cheap way to run a mobile if you don't care
    about the number changing and remember to cancel the renewal each
    month?

    There are several, they offer unlimited calls and texts plus 10Gb or
    15GB of data, they last for 30 days so you'd need twelve and a bit per year. So -u12/year for quite a reasonable amount of data and unlimited everything else.

    Yes, I know it wouldn't suit one's 'main' phone due to the changing
    number but it would be fine for my tablet which is basically just a browsing device and for making the occasional call.

    Can't comment on those specific SIM cards, but ask yourself: Will I
    remember every month to cancel what needs to be cancelled &/or renew
    what needs to be renewed?

    I used to use PAYG for both my mobile and my tablet, but got so pissed
    off with finding on those rare occasions that I needed to make a call or
    use the tablet for navigation on a long journey that I'd run out of
    money on the unit, and had to renew, that eventually I looked for the cheapest Pay Monthly alternative. My choice was 'Spusu 1 Special' and
    is unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB for -u2.90pm, which suits me fine.

    Yes, that where I (OP) have ended up too. This post was more out of
    interest than actual need, though I am after a way of getting a SIM
    into a second device of mine which will be very rarely used for calls
    or data, it will be almost wholly used for book reading.
    --
    Chris Green
    -+
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Woody@harrogate3@ntlworld.com to uk.telecom.mobile on Wed Feb 11 17:05:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom.mobile

    On Wed 11/02/2026 14:51, Java Jive wrote:
    On 2026-02-11 10:15, Chris Green wrote:

    Do these cards offer a cheap way to run a mobile if you don't care
    about the number changing and remember to cancel the renewal each
    month?

    There are several, they offer unlimited calls and texts plus 10Gb or
    15GB of data, they last for 30 days so you'd need twelve and a bit per
    year.-a So -u12/year for quite a reasonable amount of data and unlimited
    everything else.

    Yes, I know it wouldn't suit one's 'main' phone due to the changing
    number but it would be fine for my tablet which is basically just a
    browsing device and for making the occasional call.

    Can't comment on those specific SIM cards, but ask yourself: Will I
    remember every month to cancel what needs to be cancelled &/or renew
    what needs to be renewed?

    I used to use PAYG for both my mobile and my tablet, but got so pissed
    off with finding on those rare occasions that I needed to make a call or
    use the tablet for navigation on a long journey that I'd run out of
    money on the unit, and had to renew, that eventually I looked for the cheapest Pay Monthly alternative.-a My choice was 'Spusu 1 Special' and
    is unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 1GB for -u2.90pm, which suits me fine.-a I reckon that by the time I'd paid the occasional -u10 top-up just to make a couple of calls, particularly when away from home, and then
    lost the rest of it through lack of use, it was not very much, if at
    all, more expensive just to have a cheap pay monthly contract as above,
    and it's so much simpler and more convenient to be able to use the phone
    or tablet as and when needed without having to think first: Is there any money left on this thing, and having to go through the fiddle-faddle of topping it up when, inevitably, you find that there isn't!

    As I may have mentioned, I stayed with cousins in Glenfinnan over
    Hogmanay and some of January, and they had a similar problem.-a The wife
    is in a care home, because she has terminal cancer, so their daughter,
    who herself lives in Germany, bought a couple of cheap and cheerful non- smart Doro, I think, mobile phones for them, so they could keep in touch with each other more easily.-a However, they were PAYG, and there was a constant problem of renewing them.-a The staff at the home could do the wife's, but the husband's needed someone to be there with the phone, so
    had to wait for one of the children to be able to be there to do it,
    and, although they live close nearby, they are often away from home.-a So
    I suggested to the daughter that a very cheap PAYM contract such as the above might be very much easier all round, and she immediately agreed.
    Under her remote direction, I did everything needed to move them over to
    the new SIMS while I was staying there.

    Although you've given examples that interest you above, you haven't told
    us your actual usage, so at best we can only guess at that from your examples, but I'm not going to try.-a Rather, notwithstanding that your needs are more geared to data than calls, I'd advise that you search for something similar but giving more data.-a For example, there's this which gives you 500 mins, 500 texts, and 3GB for an extra -u1pm, so -u3.90pm, which will work out more expensive than your plan, but will certainly be more convenient and easier to manage (note that this is from using a switching site, usually one seems to get better offers that way):

    https://www.uswitch.com/mobiles/sim-only- deal/43b6b216a399fc8687511babe4d84754147061df/? position=3&list=compare%2Fsim-only-deals%20- %20promoted&list_loaded_id=2cb363fd-4ff1-4921- ab5d-4d47abc5f9ae&page=compare%2Fsim-only-deals&retailer=spusu-mobile

    So, my advice is to shop around the cheapest PAYM contracts.


    Greetings - long time no speak. Out of interest in almost all cases per
    the hyperlink above, everything after the first question mark is
    superfluous. So if you highlight and copy from htt... to f/? and post
    that it goes to the same place - this one does as I just tried it.
    Usually quicker and easier than using tinyurl.com or bit.ly

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  • From David Woolley@david@ex.djwhome.demon.invalid to uk.telecom.mobile on Thu Feb 12 15:09:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.telecom.mobile

    On 11/02/2026 17:05, Woody wrote:
    Greetings - long time no speak. Out of interest in almost all cases per
    the hyperlink above, everything after the first question mark is superfluous. So if you highlight and copy from htt... to f/? and post
    that it goes to the same place

    You can usually drop the ? as well.

    I remove all this on principle, not only to keep the URL short, as all
    the rest is for tracking, and it means tracking information about me
    would be associated with every use made by a recipient of the link.
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2