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Which mobile phone network


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We want to purchase a pay as you go mobile phone but are unsure which network to go with.  We will want to use the phone from Northern France and when on holiday in Europe (particularly Spain this year) to telephone the Uk.  Has anyone any suggestions of which is the best network, both for efficiency and price per minute and text.

suey

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All the payg networks here have horribly short lives for the top-up cards.  So if you spend 10 euros it will expire after a month whether you use it or not.  Virgin seem to me to be amongst the cheapest, call wise.

However, if it's for emergency use only, and more texts than calls, then consider getting a Tesco one.  The continental calls are relatively cheap and your credit will last longer.

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To phone the UK from Spain, by far the cheapest way is to purchase a phone card when you are there.

They allow something ridiculous like 3 hrs for 6 euros.   The only problem is that you have to dial into their system first, before you dial the UK number from a phone box.

If you have a UK mobile, you can get your people to send you a text message which is free to receive and then phone them back.

Spain also has good deals on pay as you go sim cards.

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Hi Cooperlola, We have lived over here for nearly a year and I still use my 02 phone on payg.  Received a text yesterday from them to say calls from abroad will be 35 ppm and texts 49p !!!!!!!! As I only really use the phone for texts as we have a land line to the house this is very very expensive.  So any suggestions are gratefully received.  The reason I ask re calls from Spain, we are off there on holiday in February with friends who use Orange and they cannot phone the UK from their french Orange phone!

Suey

 

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I have a French Orange pay as you go phone & have been able to use it to call, text & receive calls from the UK.  It also worked, without problems, when we went back to Northern Ireland on holiday, in June.

I buy the 3 month cards (€25 + €5 free) & just top it up a day before it expires (they thankfully send warning texts, a week beforehand!)

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Tesco's texts are cheaper but the call rate is the same

http://www.tesco.com/mobilenetwork/shop/?page=extratariff

But what is also significant is the cost to receive calls - which can be quite prohibitive with many UK providers.  But looking at the other reply - it looks like Spain would be a better place to get a phone.  I must say I didn't know that, but the deals do look good from what the poster says.

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I don't know what offers are available in Spain now, but about 10 years ago I bought a Spanish sim card for about £10.   The special offer was an unknown amount of credit included.

When I checked I found mine had £90 credit on it and I used it for several years with just a small annual top up to keep it going.

France seems to be by far the worst country for mobile phone costs, so it's about time it was sorted out here.

There are other things which seem to be accepted in France such as annual fees for bank cards, there does not seem to be much competition going on does there?

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You can get cheaper calls with O2.

For £10 per month “My Europe Extra” gives you outgoing calls at 25p per minute to most European landlines and mobiles and incoming calls FREE – quite a saving if you can get your friends to phone you when you’re in Europe.

For £5 per month “Chosen Country Spain” gives you outgoing calls at 25p per minute to most European landlines and mobiles and incoming calls FREE but only from Spain.

You can get more info about these here:  http://www.o2international.co.uk/

 

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It's a repeat of the NRJ scenario-

Virgin PAYG validity periods have been shortened without notice - 10€ top ups will now last 30 days instead of 90 removing their advantage for infrequent users.

The old periods are available until November 11th as a special offer.

The three real networks continue to impose their will on the virtuals despite the record fines imposed by the EEC in 2005 for charge and market share fixing.

Steve

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