USwitch Upgrade.

[Enlli]

Well I've managed to do it again, Upgrading through USwitch towards the end of March and bypassing the annual price rise.

This is year three now.

This year there were a number of questions about affordability which I don't remember from last time, so it looks as if soft credit checks take place even while upgrading SIM only.

We shall see what happens 12 months from now

[MI5]

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@jonsie wrote:

I'm on the same @MI5 @Enlli 

Waiting until Disney is free again

Currently no offers for 3 months Disney unless you pay silly money

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Disney is £5.99 if you use the Priority voucher @jonsie 

[Cleoriff]

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@MI5 wrote:

@Cleoriff 

If you click through from the home page (which is wrong) you may find you can.

This is what I see on mine.

Wrong home page.

But correct if I click on "see upgrade options"

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Thanks for that @MI5. I must away and try that.

[jonsie]

I asked about it but never got an answer

Mine is showing as similar to @MI5 

When I click through on USwitch and click the upgrade button it still tells me I have to pay some £70ish

But you can upgrade directly through My O2 but I think the cheapest offer is £10 for 30GB and no Disney

Shame to be now on the 360 system

[jonsie]

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@MI5 wrote:

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@jonsie wrote:

I'm on the same @MI5 @Enlli 

Waiting until Disney is free again

Currently no offers for 3 months Disney unless you pay silly money

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Disney is £5.99 if you use the Priority voucher @jonsie 

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You know me....I want it free 😂

[MI5]

Me too @jonsie

Might just stick with my 60gb for £8.00 and add Disney for £5.99.

Still cheaper than the best currently on offer.

[jonsie]

Yes I'm on the £8 40GB doubled to 80GB so the price rise isn't going to break the bank

I'll see what's on offer next month

[pgn]

So after reading this I did my first 2-stage upgrade this week - detail below for those interested, including the impact on credit record at the end of this post.

a, buying handset direct from Google on Black Friday deal, and using an additional 5% voucher Google sent me earlier, getting a shiny new 256GB Pixel 8a handset (normal price £559) for £16.72 a month for 24months (0% interest, Klarna and Google Store); and

b, using Uswitch for their Uswitch Plus 40GB for £8 (doubled to 80GB with Volt, automatically, no wait needed!), 12months.

Total cost over 24months assuming renewal of SIMO for £8 again in Nov-2025 and Apr price rise fixed at £1.80:

401.05+(2 x 108.6 SIMO) = £618.25 (may be slightly cheaper SIMO in Nov-25, who knows?)

Next best offer, via MobilePhonesDirect, also for the larger Pixel 8a and an undoubled 90GB (180GB doubed):

And forget it for O2 Direct, they only have the smaller Pixel 8a (128GB) and closest data is 25GB (which would be doubled), and with up-front £250 payment and 24months..  £36.38/month (£10.38 Device + £26.00 Airtime, not including 2 x £1.80 upticks in Apr-25 and Apr-26).

So shop around, and use offers available from handset  manufacturers and from the likes of uswitch for airtime.

Thank you for all the good chat on this thread, appreciated. And for anyone reading this far: work out what data you really need - the most I used was in an apartment with poor WiFi last summer, where my data usage hit almost 13GB in a month (photos, WhatsApp, Google Maps, browsing and youtube, etc).

PS. The only slight hiccup above was the handoff between Google Store and Klarna, one window timed out while collecting info for the other, necessitating a call to Google and to Klarna (both of which were very quick to answer my call and brief and definitive in their responses, unlike calling O2...!). Second time through from hitting Buy on Google Store through Klarna back to Google Store, with the Klarna agaent on the phone, all went like a charm.  Ditto for Uswitch, and there are a lot of check-circles to fill in on Uswitch, and more (about 5 steps) when you are closing out in the O2 Shop - so focus is needed! But all worked well.

PPS: Klarna say they do a soft credit check for the 24-monthly payments deal, O2 warn they will do a hard credit search for an £8/month airtime contract...  the Klarna one shows on my history this morning, but O2's, despite their e-mail earlier confirming Direct Debit has been requested from my bank, seems not to show up just yet.  Still do not understand why O2 do it so hard...

[madasaf1sh]

@pgn 

Soft checks always show up quicker than hard credit checks, and to be fair thats down to how the CRA's process them...  I had one show up 2 months for a new credit card recently, yet the soft check was instant..

But totally agree its best to shop around with all the networks and port out if needs be to one of the Virtual Networks

I picked up a 15GB sim on Lebara for £1.10 a month for the next 7 months 

I have this on mine as o2 wrote off my iPhone 16 Pro Max , and my Unlimited data is only £24 a month