Data bolt-ons not available for Pay Monthly Simplicity?

[GJD]

Hello,

I'm on a 2008 tariff. I have an ancient seven-year-old phone that I have only just "upgraded" to a slightly less ancient four-year-old phone because the WAP service on National Rail has stopped working on the old old phone.

I have a comical inclusive data "bolt-on" of 1 MB. Yes, 1 MB! This was just about enough for very basic WAP browsing (for live train times), but for some time I've wanted to get a bit more of a data allowance. I did a live text chat thing and the agent said I would have to do a completely new tariff.

I don't want to give up my phone/text set-up as I have free O2-to-O2 calls, and texting UK mobiles from abroad just takes from my inclusive text allowance. As a result, even after two weeks abroad, my O2 bill is just 1/3 of what my normal UK-only bill used to be with Orange for donkey's years.

I rather like O2; the phone reception is nearly always excellent (far far better than Orange ever was from 1995-2008) and I'd rather stay with O2 full stop. I just need more than 1MB data if possible without jeopardising my phone tariff. However I've just looked at Tesco Mobile's SIM-only tariff and I'm flabbergasted: £15 gives 1000 mins, 5000(!) texts, 2GB data and just on a one-month contract. Tesco's roaming charges from calling from European are more than reasonable: 8p texts to UK, 7p per min incoming calls when roaming in Europe. Going with this Tesco deal would probably balance out the benefit of the free O2-to-O2 calls and the free overseas texting thing.

I would, however, rather stay with O2 if possible. So, with perhaps a bit too much extraneous background detail above (!), the main crux of the advice I'm seeking here is: How much would O2 CS bother listening to keep a £15-a-month SIM only customer of five years, and how likely is it that I would manage to get maybe 200 MB of data from them added onto my tariff? If they flatly refuse, I may for the time being just try using wifi when out and about; I have admittedly managed for five years with just 1MB a month. Or I may just get itchy feet and switch to Tesco, loathe as I would be to become a Tesco customer (but safe in the knowledge that I'd be able to keep my nigh-on faultless and very very satisfactory O2 network coverage).

Thanks very much for tips, and apologies for the prattling nature of this post!

[GJD]

Ah right, thanks very much for this, Knight and Perksie!

I had registered at o2wifi.co.uk, but I went down to McDonald's and then on the O2 shop with a view to activating the account (apparently you have to do that from an O2 wifi connection?)

I hadn't realised those deals were available, as I was looking under "My O2" and then "Change My Tariff", and they weren't showing up anything to do with data, and the deals there looked pretty rubbish (e.g. the Unimited Calls/Unlimited text/No Data listed in "My O2" is £46 v. £20 ["normally £26"]). I wonder why those prices are so way-out? I'm on a SIM-only tarif.

Could I just phone Customer Services and switch onto one of these special offer tarifs? With the 2GB one I could just ditch the "3" dongle I sometimes use if working away from home (within UK) and access internet via the phone tethered to the PC if there's no wifi available.

I'm a bit confused though by the small print on http://www.o2.co.uk/tariffs/simplicity . It doesn't say how long the £25 2GB/unlimited text and mins offer lasts for. Is it available to take up until 2nd Jan or does it revert to £31 on 2nd Jan even if you buy it now? And the £20 On and On offer -- does that revert to £26 after 12 months, or does it go on and on? (The other two offers with the footnotes no.1 and 2 I see are for 12 months then the price goes up).

Losing the inclusive texting from abroad thing might not be such a big deal now as it's only 8.5p for a text to the UK from Europe. Incoming calls in Europe are only 7p a minute. I keep outgoing calls to an absolute minimum when abroad!

I'm not sure about PAYG though (I have paid monthly for 17 years ...) and not sure what the Sim Swap line would entail.

I've just checked my current tariff and it's £15 a month, 200 minutes, unlimited O2-to-O2, 400 texts and 1 Megabyte of data. I've just looked through and the most I used of O2-to-O2 calls in a month in the past year was about 100 mins.

Sorry this is all a bit garbled and disjointed, but many thanks for your advice!

[GJD]

Just wondering if Customer Services would allow an existing SIM-only customer (now out of contract for five years) to switch to a SIM-only contract that is being offered to new customers?

Many thanks.

[perksie · Accepted solution]

Of course you can, and any new discounted contract you sign up for will remain at that price for 12 months.

Just make sure you know what's included in any new deal.

[GJD]

Thanks very much for all the advice!

I've decided to go for a real bargain:

300 UK minutes (vs. my current 200)

500 O2 minutes (vs. my current unlimited)

Unlimited texts (vs. current 400)

100 MB data (vs. current 1 MB)

£10.50 a month for 12 months (vs current £15.32).

So I'll be saving £60 a year and getting a lot more than I get now. I looked at other networks that offer better deals, but I thought -- no! Don't risk changing networks if I've had no problems in five years! I know that Orange is (or used to be) deplorable where I live ...

Many thanks again!

PS The reason I asked for advice in the first place because in MyO2 there is a "Change Your Tariff" link and an "Upgrade" link. One offers crappy tariffs and the other offers good ones. The word "Upgrade" is deceptive -- I didn't click on it until after reading the advice here!

[Liquid]

It is very deceptive isn't it haha. Always go for a new tarif rather than upgrade you tend to get a much better deal. At least that's what I've found.

Glad your sticking with O2 our commission is in the post (I wish)

[jonsie]

Seems a good tariff for the price, just a shame about the overseas texts, but as you say, texts from Europe are very affordable and won't make a big dent in your bank balance.

Glad you got it sorted:smileyhappy: