€20 monthly PAYG - Who provides the best value?

heathersonline

Hi All,

I've been with Vodafone since day dot, currently top up by €20 a month and use the free calls and texts to Vodafone (my wife is also on Vodafone so this works for us). I am basically spending most of the balance on data, so was wondering:

What is the best value available for the €20 these days? I'm thinking either Meteor (they match my €20 with another €20? Temporarily?) or Three (€5 for 500mb? Are Three to Three calls & texts free?)? Is there another alternative I'm missing? I'd like to keep the free calls & texts to whichever network I'm on (will port the wifes phone also!)

Thanks for any advice

Bob_Harris

If you are going to top up by a fixed amount each month, then you should consider Bill Pay.

heathersonline

Yeah I thought about the bill pay option, I'm kinda worried that once herself goes beyond the €20 the bills will just go up and up, and I could do without another unexpected bill coming in at the moment!!

ibFoxer

heathersonline wrote: »

Yeah I thought about the bill pay option, I'm kinda worried that once herself goes beyond the €20 the bills will just go up and up, and I could do without another unexpected bill coming in at the moment!!

Why dont you go for one of the sim only plans? You could go for example one of the 20 euro which gives you x amount of texts and minutes to other networks in addition to free same network texts/calls. You could then add a 1gb data add-on?

I think if you keep within the allowed texts/calls/data it works out around 30 euro

heathersonline

foxerv1 wrote: »

Why dont you go for one of the sim only plans? You could go for example one of the 20 euro which gives you x amount of texts and minutes to other networks in addition to free same network texts/calls. You could then add a 1gb data add-on?

I think if you keep within the allowed texts/calls/data it works out around 30 euro

Are all the networks offering those types of deals? I spent around an hour trying to figure out Vodafone 360 last night, just want something straightforward, pay €20/€30 and this is what you get, no messing around with registering for additional services every month etc

jordainius

Bob_Harris wrote: »

If you are going to top up by a fixed amount each month, then you should consider Bill Pay.

No, not for €20 a month. I've spent the last 6/7 years topping up by 20 a month, I've always had free calls or texts (or both) and I always find myself having plenty of leftover credit by the end of a month. So much so that I don't need to top up for usually two months in a year because I decide to let my credit run down before I top up again. And I've been averaging a spend of €200 a year on credit.

If I were on billpay on the exact same usage, as soon as I text or call another network that's my bill gone above €20. I worked it out based on an average months usage by myself and the €20 a month contract would amount to a bill of just over €30 when my average calls/texts to other networks are included. Comes to an average spend of over €360 a year.

OP, to answer your question, I'd say 3pay. I was on it for a while and it was great, 3000 weekend minutes, 3000 free texts, free skype (which amounts to free 3 to 3 calls), buy the €5 euro internet add on and your left with €15 a month for calling other networks on weekdays. Very good deal. I'd still be on it but my girlfriend wanted to move back to Meteor!

jordainius

foxerv1 wrote: »

I think if you keep within the allowed texts/calls/data it works out around 30 euro

which is just an extra €120 a year...

heathersonline

The 3Pay seems to be the way to go all right, though the 3 to 3 calls are not free right, only by using skype are the calls free? Does Skype use up much of the data allowance? If so, I suppose it kinda defeats the purpose

jordainius

heathersonline wrote: »

The 3Pay seems to be the way to go all right, though the 3 to 3 calls are not free right, only by using skype are the calls free? Does Skype use up much of the data allowance? If so, I suppose it kinda defeats the purpose

Skype is free on 3, doesn't come out of data.

Actually I'll elaborate a bit more; just like the calls and texts its free for topping up by €20. Also, you have to have 3G coverage or else you can't sign in. (But in the 3 months I was with them in the summer coverage wasn't a problem) The call quality of a Skype call is exactly the same as a "normal" phone call.

Mimikyu

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