One of those choices you always seem to put off. Why not ditch the monthly contract and go for a pay as you go phone, or just a sim-only deal like GiffGaff? You may find it saves you £30 a month.
When choosing which mobile phone provider to use, it is important to consider the benefits of what contract or pay as you go plan you hope to use. Whatever your needs, a good place to start is having the option of unlimited texts.
For many people, the option has been to use pay as you go phones, where you top up credit as and when you run out. While this may seem convenient, as it does not lock you into a contract, it can actually become quite costly over time.
It's great if you're on a strict budget as once you have had your calls - then you can't continue any phone calls or texts. Rather than running up debt and making calls you can no longer afford, this gives you no choice.
If you’re using a pay as you go SIM card, you may feel as though you have to be very careful with using your minutes and texts, as your credit does run out. Perhaps you’re pulling the trick of waiting for a friend to call so you don’t have to use any of your credit to be in contact, or maybe you're stuck in a hard place without any credit to call a friend or family member.
However you look at it, it seems there ought to be better alternatives to pay and go plans.
Lets firstly ignore the greater expense of a monthly contract. Wether it's £15 or £50 per month, it's a monthly outgoing you cannot simply stop.
Contracts may offer a bit more security in terms of the fixed tariffs for unlimited texts or call, they also provide an array of benefits. However, ultimately they tie you down for a significant amount of time, often 18 to 24 months. Whether you know where your life is headed, or not, being tied down to a contract can be quite an obligation. More than that, if your phone breaks/goes overboard/blows up you will have to get a replacement phone on that network.
Happily, there is a midway between the security of one and the flexibility of the other.
Giffgaff, a mobile phone company works on a pay as you go SIM-only plan. Here you can get the great deals of a pay monthly contract rate, but without having to be tied down to a contract. The beauty is that also you can change or cancel your plan anytime you like. No contracts and no tieing you in to 23 more months of the same service.
They piggy back the O2 network, so you also get a pretty good network coverage.
As you can see from the image below - they have a range of packages and frequently add extras on top (for no extra charge). For example in July 2018 you can get 1GB extra data for no extra cost.
* Correct as of 6th July 2018
If you’re only in it for texting, you can get their £5 monthly goodybag to have access to unlimited texts. Their £10 goodybag, will allow you to make unlimited calls landlines and GiffGaff mobiles within the UK as well as have unlimited texts and 3GB of data for a month. Unless you are streaming the football or watching TV - this is quite a lot of data you'll be getting - alongside the unlimited texts and calls.
Going for a GiffGaff SIM could be a smart option that will save you a lot of money in the long run. At any time you top up as much as you like, as and when you please.
You can start using your new SIM straight away by going to giffgaff.com to request your free SIM card pay as you go deal, which will be conveniently sent to your home address. You can even port your existing number over to them within a few days.