Which Pay As You Go tariff is right for me? The cheapest & best value tariffs.
December 13th, 2009
Ken’s Tech Tips presents the cheapest & best value tariffs for 11 different types of mobile user.
In the past, we’ve covered how to get free calls, free texts or free mobile internet access without switching network. But if you don’t mind switching network, which network and which tariff offers the best value? There are a whole plethora of different prices and tariffs so it’s easy to get lost. We’ve done the hard work and found the best value tariffs on the market for every type of mobile user.
photo: Seattle Miles
Light/occasional users
If you’re a light or occasional user of your mobile phone (you only use it in emergencies for example) then Giffgaff or ASDA Mobile provide prices which can’t be beaten.
- Calls: 8p/minute
- Texts: 4p/text
- Data: Free on Giffgaff for 6 months; 20p/MB on ASDA Mobile
Visit the Giffgaff or ASDA Mobile website for more information on their tariffs.
Medium user: Mainly calls
Calls mainly to landlines
If you make a lot of calls to UK landlines, O2’s Favourite Place tariff will give you free minutes to landlines and O2 mobiles. One caveat: you need to make all of your free calls from within one postcode area.
| Top-up amount | Free allowance |
|---|---|
| £10-£14 | 500 minutes for 30 days |
| £15-£29 | 1000 minutes for 30 days |
| £30+ | Unlimited minutes for 30 days |
Outside of your allowance, O2 charges 25p/min for the first 3 minutes and then 5p/min for your calls to landlines.
photo: doug88888
Calls mainly to O2
If your calls are predominantly to friends on the O2 network, the O2 Unlimited tariff gives you unlimited calls to them for a month when you top up £15.
| Top-up amount | Free allowance |
|---|---|
| £10-£14 | Unlimited texts to O2 mobiles for 30 days |
| £15+ | Unlimited texts and calls to O2 mobiles for 30 days |
Outside of your allowance, O2 charges 25p/min for the first 3 minutes and then 5p/min for your calls to O2 mobiles.
Calls mainly to Three
If your calls are predominantly to friends on the 3 network, the 3Pay tariff (see our guide) gives you unlimited calls to them for 3 months when you top up. The minimum top up is £5. There are also lots of other freebies such as texts and internet access.
| Top-up amount | Free allowance |
|---|---|
| £5 | Unlimited calls to 3 mobiles for 90 days |
Outside of your allowance, Three charge 20p/minute for calls to UK landlines and mobiles.
Calls mainly on Skype
If you make a lot of calls over the internet on Skype, you’ll love Three’s offer of “free calls forever” on Skype.
| Top-up amount | Free allowance |
|---|---|
| N/A | Unlimited calls on Skype |
You’ll need to sign up for the 3Pay tariff and then download a Skype client onto your phone from the “Planet 3″ portal.
Other networks typically won’t allow you to use Skype on their network.
photo: Amir K.
Calls mainly abroad
Many “vanilla” tariffs charge up to £1.50/min for you to call abroad. However, there are some specialist providers of phone calls abroad from your mobile such as LycaMobile (see our guide) and Lebara Mobile which charge 4p/minute for international calls.
O2 offers a Your Country plan but the small allowance makes it a reasonably poor deal when LycaMobile and Lebara Mobile are offering calls at such low rates.
Vodafone Passport is great if you go abroad a lot – you’re charged an extra 75p connection fee but all the normal call costs are the same as if you were in the UK.
Medium user: Mainly texts
If you send a lot of texts, 3Pay offers the best allowance of free texts. The 3Pay tariff (see our guide)gives you 600 free texts that last for 3 months when you top up £10 online. For a £25 top-up, all of your texts are free for the next 3 months.
| Top-up amount | Free allowance |
|---|---|
| £10 | 600 texts for 90 days |
| £15 | 1000 texts for 90 days |
| £20 | 2000 texts for 90 days |
| £25 | Unlimited texts for 90 days |
T-Mobile Monthly Text and Internet Reward (see our guide) could also be worth considering. For a £10 top up, you’ll get unlimited free texts but it only lasts for 30 days.
photo: Brandon Godfrey (busy)
Medium user: Mainly data/mobile internet
Giffgaff is offering free data for the next 6 months (100MB/day allowance) without regular top ups so is currently the best deal with data. However, otherwise:
Less than 50MB per month
Three’s 3Pay tariff (see our guide)offers customers 150MB of internet access that lasts for 3 months when you top up. This is equivalent to 50MB per month.
| Top-up amount | Free allowance |
|---|---|
| £5+ | 150MB for 90 days |
photo: Incase Designs
More than 50MB per month
T-Mobile Monthly Text and Internet Reward (see our guide) provides better value if you need a larger data allowance than Three offers. For a £10 top up, you’ll get unlimited data for the next 30 days.
| Top-up amount | Free allowance |
|---|---|
| £10+ | Unlimited data for 30 days |
O2 Text and Web does something similar but it’s more pricey at a minimum £15 top up.
Pizza and Cinema lover
The final tariff that is worth considering (but for very different reasons!) is Orange if you watch a lot of films and eat a lot of pizza (see our guide) on Wednesdays. You can get 2-for-1 on cinema tickets and at Pizza Express on Wednesdays. That said you don’t need to use Orange as your main network in order to benefit from these deals.
About the Author: Hi! I'm Ken. I've been using mobiles for over 10 years and technology for a lot longer! I'd love to hear from you.
Ken,
I need some help.
I am at the end of an O2 iphone (3g) pay as you go period. I am a very light phone and text user, a dozen short phone calls and less than 20 texts a month. O2 have offered a £15 charge to unlock the phone. Also a £10 per month for future data access.
I have and use Skype a little mainly on the mac rather than on a iphone, but could expand use of Skype as I have the app and it works pretty well.
What do you recommend as the best deal/ rates/tariffs I should go for? (I do not like the idea of being ‘tied-in’ in to any provider for a fixed 12/18/24 contract that is why I went for PAYG.)
Your insight is very much appreciated.
Ron
Hi Ron,
Thanks for your comment on my website!
It sounds like your looking for a tariff with a good data allowance, a short/no contract and Skype.
My primary recommendation would actually be 3’s £15/mo. SIM only tariff. It’s a 1 month contract (only slightly less flexible than PAYG) and comes with 1GB monthly data allowance and you are allowed to use Skype on their 3G network. You’ll also get 300 minutes and unlimited texts so I suspect this will easily cover all of your additional calling costs. Seeing as you’d be paying £10/mo. just for data on O2, this seems like a fairly good deal. You can see more information about this tariff on the following page:
http://cow.neondragon.net/index.php/the-uks-6-best-value-smartphone-sim-only-tariffs-with-internet-access
See the following page for information about unlocking your iPhone:
http://cow.neondragon.net/index.php/how-to-unlock-your-iphone-from-o2-and-orange
Alternatively, you could look at T-Mobile’s PAYG deal which gives 40MB/day of internet and unlimited texts when you top up £10/mo.
http://cow.neondragon.net/index.php/t-mobile-launch-payg-monthly-text-and-internet-reward-with-free-texts-internet-on-payg
I’m unsure if you can use Skype on their network though and there is a danger of extra charges if you exceed 40MB in one day.
Hope this helps!
Ken
Hi, i’m thinking of buying a Nokia e71 the using it with a payg package with a 3g Internet Simcard. Who does the best deal? i’m looking for a payg deal because my calls are limited to say the least, but would also access maps and email which would be very usefull.
Open to other suggestions of course.
Mike