Which mobile phone company?

[nichola]

I'm thinking to buy a new sim card for a standard mobile for when I am in the UK.

Who offers best phone calls/text message deals for pay as u go?

And how much is a sim card likely to be?

Thanks   

[Scunner]

To answer accurately it would help to know how much you would use it for outgoing calls and texts. For cheap calls you can't do a lot better than Asda's pay as you go (which uses Vodafone's network so it is pretty good).

Most sims are free these days but I think Asda charge 50p or £1 - you can get them at the tills.

[brianthegardener]

this is the Asda one that Scunner is talking about Nichola .. it looks a good deal ..

http://www.asdamobile.com/sim_pack.html

[nichola]

thanks Keith and Brian - its just really for a couple of weeks so I have a cheap number I can make mobile to mobile calls (mostly) on and also for when I return here so I have a UK number if for example I need to add a person to my bank money transfer list. I have been assured a UK pay as u go will do as well as a contract phone for this purpose.

I lost my last number by not using it every 3 months but now have an old mobile I can use as a spare so no changing over sim cards just to send a text to myself to keep number open...

[Rimms]

Treat yourself to a new phone as well Nichola, I bought a brand new Nokia from Tescos when I was in the UK for a grand total of £10 

[nichola]

T E N pee per minute! Is this normal?

Can I use the free minutes any time of the day or just off peak?

[Scunner]

10p/min is in fact good these days, on PAYG expect to pay 20-25p/min with the big boys.

Asda used to be 6p (and I vaguely remember 4p/min) but now they give you unlimited free texts and a bit of data. Contracts are far better value but obviously not for someone who won't be using the phone most of the year.

[nichola]

Gosh! Well not many 2 hour long phone calls for me then and I assume as I can't find anything that says otherwise that I can use the free minutes any time until they run out...

[Scunner]

Yes any time, to landlines and mobiles of all networks.

If you like a chinwag, the £20 bundle works out at 4p/min - you get 500 minutes.

[nichola]

That's the one I was looking at... thanks for your help with this Keith