topic Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use in Pay Monthly

Keeping a sim active when not in use

GlenSydney — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 03:40:36 GMT

Hello

I live in Australia and use an O2 Pay & Go sim when I visit the UK every two years.

Whilst back in Australia I send a text every 6 months to keep the sim active.

I understand I also have to top up every 999 days to keep the Sim alive as well.

Currently I have £13 credit balance sitting on the account.

In order to meet the requirement to top up every 999 days do I need to recharge by paying more money on to the account or can I just buy my next plan out of the credit I already have on the account and achieve the ‘top up’ within 999 days that way?

I’m also thinking the next time I am in the UK I will change from my old ‘O2 Unlimited’ tariff to a £10 ‘Big Bundle’ as it has much better conclusions.

Then after my visit I would not leave enough credit on the plan for it to deduct another month at £10, but just keep the Sim active by 6-monthly texting until I came back again.

Thank you for any advice.

Regards

Glen

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

Cleoriff — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 06:10:45 GMT

Hi @GlenSydney

You are doing absolutely the right thing to keep your sim active according to the terms and conditions

7.1. If you do not carry out any chargeable activity at least once in any 6 month period your Mobile Phone will be disconnected and you will lose any remaining credits balance on your Account. If you wish to be re-connected after this time you will be given a new Mobile Phone number.

As for topping up... you can't use existing credit but there are various ways to do it...

http://www.o2.co.uk/topup

As for the new payg tariffs these are the ones to choose from...

http://www.o2.co.uk/tariffs/payandgo

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

MI5 — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 07:17:40 GMT

I wouldn't advise the big bundle tariff as this is intended for continuous use.
If you topped up at a later date it would take your top up and allocate the allowances which you wouldn't be able to use unless in UK.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

GlenSydney — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 05:45:11 GMT

Thankyou both for that advice.

It sounds like I'm better off staying on 'O2 Unlimited'.

It gives me options of:

Top up £10 to get unlimited O2 to O2 texts, plus 50MB UK data. Top up £15+ to get unlimited O2 to O2 texts and calls, plus 100MB UK data. Also includes international calls from the UK starting at 1p/min.

That should suffice as when I visit I can usually use Wi-Fi in the hotel.

Cheers.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

MI5 — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 12:27:44 GMT

Sounds good to me.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

jonsie — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 09:39:45 GMT

That is the best tariff for your particular needs and usage tbh.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 09:03:58 GMT

Hi @GlenSydney I'm glad you could find an answer to your question here in the community. Please, do come back if you have any other questions.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

GlenSydney — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 11:56:29 GMT

Hello

Just seeking an update on the above issue with plans currently available please.

To recap, I live in Australia and use an O2 Pay & Go sim when I visit the UK every year or two.

Whilst back in Australia I send a text every 6 months to keep the sim active and I ensure that I top up every 999 days to keep the Sim alive as well. It has about £10 credit at the moment.

I’m currently on an old plan called ‘O2 Unlimited’ which gives me options of:

That works OK when I'm in the UK for calls & texts but is not very good value for data.

Is there a better value calls / texts / data plan these days for someone like me making only occasional use of the sim?

Thank you for any advice.

Regards

Glen

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

Cleoriff — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:05:17 GMT

Hi @GlenSydney

Everything you need to know about ALL PAYG tariffs is here...

You may be better off with the Classic

https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/sim-cards/pay-as-you-go

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

MI5 — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 12:05:15 GMT

@GlenSydney login to your MyO2 and change your tariff to the Classic PAYG.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

GlenSydney — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 22:22:26 GMT

Hello and thankyou both for that advice.

It sounds like that is my best bet so I will get that arranged.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

IsaSA — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 10:39:31 GMT

@GlenSydney Hi - it sounds like you do what I do. I live in South Africa. For some reason, without monitoring my SIM it's kept active over a number of years. I think I will now need to be more careful. It sounds like the ClassicPG is the way to go in order to keep the SIM active until you actually get to the UK or Europe. I will then change to the £10 Data Big Bundle the month before and make sure there is money in- I would highly recommend this deal, as I've used it for every trip and let it lapse in between because I haven't had funds in my O2 account, but it'll take a bit of admin to swop between Classic and Bundle. How do you pay? As I don't have a UK credit card, I've found other ways. I've now found Ding, after MobiletopupUK proved to be hit and miss - sometimes payment didn't go through. Am just wondering if you've found another way to pay. Ding is consistent and never lets me down. You have to pay a minumum of £10 and I think the charge is £1 or so - it's in USD.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

GlenSydney — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 00:06:33 GMT

@IsaSAHi - yes very similar.

So far, I've managed to keep the sim topped up at least every 999 days by either visiting the UK myself or having a family member from Australia visit there and take the sim to use.

Failing that we have family in the UK who I thought I might one day ask to buy me a voucher and send me the number.

Hope that helps.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

GlenSydney — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 11:01:19 GMT

So I changed to Classic Pay As You Go and today I went to send my usual "just under every 6 months" text from Australia, to keep it active, only to find I had been disconnected.

I contacted O2 by live chat and they were very helpful, offering to reconnect me and bring back my credit.

I have to wait 24 hours, hopefully it all goes well.

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

GlenSydney — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 22:42:02 GMT

It all worked, I'm back on line.

Cheers to O2 !

Re: Keeping a sim active when not in use

Cleoriff — Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:54:26 GMT

Excellent news @GlenSydney