Hi @Oxonian in response to your reply - When I first got a mobile phone it was 1999 and I got BT Cellnet. The tariff I was on was called 'U' (just a plain simple letter!) It was 35p per minute and only 5p to send texts. But BT Cellnet became O2 a few years later and my BT Cellnet phone called a 'Diga' was discontinued in 2005 with a few other models (it had an aerial!) and I had to move over to O2 instead and I got a new O2 phone. I got a Nokia 3220. It had coloured flashing lights on the side and a great Nokia game called 'Dance Delight' where you had to copy dance moves and remember the sequence of coloured balls. It had a cool soundtrack.
I was on O2 Pay and Go Talkalot which was standard rates. But my phone contacts over the years increased in size and so did the length of the phone calls I made! Talkalot from 25p per minute to 55p per minute meant my PAYG credit soon went. So I joined £10 Big Bundle in later years. But @Oxonian is right. The tarrif choices with O2 are now better, especially the Big Bundles, compared to 2006 but standard rates nowadays don't feel like your getting anything special like they used to. Dropping from 25p per min after 3 minutes of calls to 5p per min at that time felt like I was getting a good deal.
Bolts on with O2 are expensive . £12 for a 3GB Bolt on feels it a bit much. Another gigabyte or 2 wouldn't go amiss for £12.
Mum liked 'Text and Web' because unlike the Big Bundles the credit isn't taken out automatically like on Big Bundle. You top up and get your allowance , but the money isn't taken out of your credit and if you don't top up again at the set date the following month you just pay standard rates instead. It's not taken out automatically from the credit each month like a Big Bundle allowance is, so although it's £10 a month you don't actually have to pay £10 every single month with 'text and Web'. I'm hoping what she is changed over to (standard PAYG Plus) (never heard of it!) will work similar. If not, £5 Big Bundle for Mum may be a better option. (She's 82 and only uses her phone to call or text me). 😄
