Best UK PAYG

[Bassey]

Living offshore, when I am in the UK I am classed as "Roaming". It's not as expensive for calls and texts as, for example, continental Europe but data charges are pretty horrific. So, can anyone recommend a good PAYG deal that I can pick up next time I'm in the UK for mainly data use?

Nothing massive. Checking emails, updating SatNav, QuickGPS tables etc. I would have thought 10MB would be enough but the more the merrier.

I don't want to have to top it up every month. Something that allows me to keep it active by putting £5 on every six months but then get a decent data bolt-on for the odd month I am actually in the UK.

At home I get one-off bolt-ons of 100MB for £5 or 1GB for £10 on PAYG. Something similar would be perfect.

[firstbuddha]

i would have thought a TMobile PAYG SIM would be ideal for you - as the bolt-ons appear to be suitable for you.
TMobile UK PAYG - 2x Free SIMs
Usual cost of surfing is £1 per day. But you can get a WnW 5 day pass for £2.50 (so half price surfing).
More pricing information is available from TMobile - Pay As You Go

[Bassey]

Cheers, that does look perfect. If I'm over, more often than not it tends to be for a long weekend so being able to top-up, say, a fiver and get unlimited Internet plus a couple of quid left for calls and texts would be ideal.

[firstbuddha]

with the added benefit, calls TO Isle of Man are 10p to landlines and 20p to mobiles

[Bassey]

Ooh. I've just been on the '3' website and they do data for 50p a day or £2.50 per week! However, it says this is to be activated via a function on the handset, which presumably means I can only get it if I use a 3 handset. So TMobile still looks best.

[neilm]

The '3' deal is good. You can have the £2.50 per week or £5 per month Bolt-on for unlimited web access.

If you don't have a 3 phone, you can apply the bolt-on from a 3 account on the web.

The only caveat seems to be that some devices can't access data if off 3's own mast coverage. They use Orange for this service, and it seems that smartphones can get data 'roaming' but some Pocket PC's can't.

Jim and I both have a 3 PAYG SIM for this purpose- his S730 can roam onto Orange for GPRS, but my Orbit2 and Ameo can't.

The good thing about these bundles is that you don't have to buy contiguous service- you just buy the bundle when you need it, and then renew it next time you need once it has expired.

[Bassey]

Yeah, that's how I'm used to it working over here. I can choose to have it apply each month - taken from credit on the 1st - or I can ask for it as a one-off.

So it still sounds like '3' would be great but a bit of a risk if it doesn't work with my phone. TMobile allow me to top-up or apply add-ons online or via a free (if I'm in the UK) customer services number and, again, the add-ons just apply as a one-off. I can also get a half-decent Nokia phone for £20 incl P&P on TMobile; which would make a great replacement for my ancient T68i pub-phone.

Anyway, I'm not over until the end of next month so I'll order one in a couple of weeks.

Cheers guys!

[firstbuddha]

why can't you get the two free TMobile SIMs, use your existing devices and just text TMobile when you need to apply your bundles?