SIM Only Contracts - Any good deals?

[Rawns]

My mobile contract is up for renewal in two months. Instead of paying a stupid amount for unused minutes and texts, I'm planning on keeping my existing phone and getting a SIM only deal.

I've stumbled across Talkmobile. I've never heard of them before but they have a "Data" 12 month SIM contract which includes 100 minutes, 200 texts and 1Gb of data a month for only £8.00. Has anyone used Talkmobile before, or have any idea if they are any good and which network they use?

I'm also with TalkTalk for home phone & internet and they do customer only offers but again, no idea which network they use and if they are any good? I can get 200 mins, 3000 texts and 500Mb of data (doubled to 1Gb if I buy the SIMS online) from them.

Any other recommendations greatly received!

[DeltaBravo]

GiffGaff for the win.

£10 gets you, 250mins, unlimited texts and 1gb data

[Rawns]

Interesting, just stumbled across GiffGaff and for £12 a month, you get 250 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data! The unlimited data tempts me for the likes of Google Music.

[Rawns]

GiffGaff for the win.

£10 gets you, 250mins, unlimited texts and 1gb data

Must have posted the same time.

Seems that they don't do pay monthly, it's all PAYG? I'd rather pay monthly otherwise I'll only forget!

[laserblazer]

Talkmobile is Carphonewhorehouse's own product and uses the Vodafone infrastructure. I got a Galaxy Ace with 250 call minutes, 500MB data and 5000 texts per month. 3G seems a bit erratic but I've nothing really to compare it against.

[LosOjos]

Seems that they don't do pay monthly, it's all PAYG? I'd rather pay monthly otherwise I'll only forget!

I believe you can set up a direct debit with GiffGaff to come out every month and get you your bonuses.

Not 100% certain but that was something I looked in to when my contract was up (then my phone broke so I took out another "silly money" contract )

[DeltaBravo]

Must have posted the same time.

Seems that they don't do pay monthly, it's all PAYG? I'd rather pay monthly otherwise I'll only forget!

You can set it up so every month it automatically renews itself.

[Sdrawkcab]

I'd consider GiffGaff "semi-contract" - the £12 a month is a "booster" that gets you your minutes/texts/internet, and then everything else on top of that is PAYG. I've never bought non-booster credit though as I don't send MMS (why would you when all phones capable of receiving picture messaging can also receive emails now?). You can set up the £12 a month to renew automatically through the website so it's pretty much the same as a pay monthly phone.

I switched to GiffGaff for the £12/month deal and I couldn't be happier. I get to use Google Music all I want (I have over 19,000 songs in my collection so google music is the only practical way of accessing all of them on the move) and I don't have to worry about getting shafted with data charges. They also say they don't allow tethering (like all networks) but I've not had any trouble tethering my Nexus 7 via bluetooth when out and about, which is also a bonus. It piggybacks off the O2 network (in fact, my phone says O2 on the screen instead of GiffGaff), so if you get good O2 signal where you are GiffGaff is probably your best choice for sim-only network.

[Geoff]

Indeed, GiffGaff here on the £12 goodybags with recurring monthly topups. Using a Galaxy S2 I got cheap second hand. BTW the 'unlimited' data isn't actually unlimited. It's 1Gb/day. In practice you'll never get anywhere near this limit.

[Rawns]

Oooo, I am currently with O2 and network coverage is fine where I am! Thanks chaps, looks like GiffGaff will be the network of choice then.

Even at £12 a month, it will still save me £25 every month

[fiza]

I use giffgaff and have done for a while. They recently put their price up to £12 for the unlimited data deal. I cant say its been 100% as sometimes people have rung me and my phone doesnt even ring. Sometime I lose signal for a few minutes and then it pops back. its not my phone as I have used other sims (02 and orange with no issues). I know giffgaff use the 02 network but they must throttle it or something as its not as reliable as "proper" 02.
The free minutes dont cover all numbers. I had to ring the hotpoint service centre the other day and had to have topup credit over and above the giffgaff "goodybag".

I have thought of moving off giffgaff and have looked at Virgin mobile as they do one for £12 with 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB data.
Virgin SIM Only

[SteveBentley]

GiffGaff do allow tethering on the £10 goodybag - the distinction is that if you have a limited amount of data you can use it however you like.

Also bear in mind their payback system where you can earn credit for answering a few questions on their forums. They seem to reward quality answers rather than quantity so it's actually pretty easy to get an almost free mobile phone service, I've had a £10 credit in a month where I've contributed to half a dozen threads.

[jcollings]

Three have some good deals on. We've just put our daughter on this one -

All-you-can-eat data
200 minutes
5000 texts
From
£12.90
a month.

Search Results

I always thought Three had terrible coverage but it's great for her at home and at the school she goes to.

[OB1]

Virgin do

• 1200 minutes
• Unlimited texts
• 1GB Mobile Web

for £12/mo. Depends on whether you prefer calltime or data, a lot of the options seem to be on par with each other.
I'm in the market myself so this is pretty useful.

[Rawns]

Virgin do

• 1200 minutes
• Unlimited texts
• 1GB Mobile Web

for £12/mo. Depends on whether you prefer calltime or data, a lot of the options seem to be on par with each other.
I'm in the market myself so this is pretty useful.

Data. I barely use my phone for calls and I don't send vast amounts of text, but I get though close to 1Gb of data a month. If I had unlimited, I could get Google Music on the go and leave my iPod at home.