The cheapest Pay As You Go mobile tariff

A question about : The cheapest Pay As You Go mobile tariff

What's the deal?

Asda has launched a new Pay As You Go price tariff offering the cheapest text and call rates on PAYGs. You can call landlines and mobiles at a flat rate of 8p/min and send a text for 4p.

It service piggybacks on Vodafones network so while it's a great deal for almost everyone anyway, if you're a Vodafone user as its recently upped its PAYG prices, you can make big savings and keep the same coverage.

Plus the credit does not expire. However you do have to keeo the account active by calling or texting at least once in nine months.

Get a sim card for 50p

To access the cheap rates you can either get a sim only deal for 50p, which means you simply slip the sim card into an existing unlocked handset (read how to Unlock Your Mobile) or you can pick up one of Asda's cheap PAYG handsets with sim from around £25.

UPDATE Wed 10 September

The Asda mobile sim out of stock online, though its still available in store (find your nearest store). Asda says it should be restocked by Thursday at the latest. To check just enter you e-mail and the worse case scenario is it'll e-mail you when its back in stock

How the call charges compare

In comparisons to the other newtwork's tariffs Asda is dirt cheap.

Is it always cheapest?

While its rates certainly are the cheapest, there are some deals where you get free bundles when you top up by a certain amount (e.g top up Orange with a tenner and you get 300 free texts)

This can mean those packages undercut asda (though its call costs are much cheaper) so it does depend on usage, however for low users this is still dirt cheap.

Keep your existing number

If you want to take your existing mobile number with you you can simply request to 'port' your old number to the new sim card which should be done in 2 working days.

Am I better off with PAYG or contract?

As a rough rule of thumb, use less than 150 minutes of calls and hundred texts a month and PAYG is cheaper, as the higher call cost is offset by the lack of monthly fee though this ignores the upfront cost, which is hefty with a high-end phone as PAYG isn't as heavily subsidised as contract. It also has the advantage that there's no bill, so no shock when you realise how much you've spent.

For full details on choosing the right system, read the Cheapest Mobiles guide.

To discuss this click reply....

P.S. Thanks to those already discussing this on the forum, we've started a fresh thread to link for the weekly email.

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Best answers:

• This isn't a cheaper deal - but many may find it more convenient (and cheaper, depending on call types) - a Lebara SIM will charge 10p flat rate for calls and texts and 10p for intl texts.
  Where it wins for me - is its low costs to numbers abroad - so if you need to ring abroad its probably moneysaving - a few examples:-
  * Poland: fixed line 4p per minute and mobile 9p per minute
  * USA fixed line 4p per minute and mobile 4p per minute
  * India fixed line 5p per minute and mobile 7p per minute
  * China fixed line 4p per minute and mobile 4p per minute
  * Pakistan fixed line 5p per minute and mobile 7p per minute
  * Australia fixed line 4p per minute and mobile 15p per minute
  So there's no need to call special numbers etc - its a virtual network -ie it uses Vodafone network in the UK so fairly comprehensive coverage.
  The only annoying thing for me is its cheaper to ring friends in the States than my mate across the road - just have to wave at him..
• Does anyone know of a current deal like Vodafones stop the clock for PAYG? They have now stopped this, but I only ever make calls from my mobile after 8pm, and this is great for me - 15p to phone a landline for up to one hour, and no monthly line rental or standing charges.
• Can anyone see whether the credits from a top-up have a finite life and if yes, how long they last? I can't find anything on their website that mentions this.
  This is key for people who make few calls. If a £10 top up gives you call credits that expire after, say, a month, then if you make 10 minutes of calls that month the effective rate per minute is £1.
  Edit:
  Ah! Reading Arachna's original post more carefully, it says credits don't expire. Still can't see it on the ASDA website, however.
• From their web site:
  I have not used my Lebara Mobile for a while and it has now stopped working. Why is this?
  We automatically deactivate SIM cards if you do not use them to make a call or send a text for more than 80 days. Unfortunately these SIM cards cannot be reconnected and the mobile number also stops being available for you to use after this time..
  Now, from their T o B:
  2.5 The Services supplied under this Agreement shall continue to be supplied for 80 days following your last use of the Services provided that you have sufficient call credit except in the event that this agreement is terminated earlier in accordance with clauses 10. At the end of such period the Services will cease to be available to you regardless as to how much, if any, unused call credit you have remaining on your account.
  2.12 Usage of the Lebara Mobile SIM Card and Service is limited to fair and reasonable usage. Our Services and tariffs assume fair usage of the Service by you. In the event of fair usage not being sustained on your account, Lebara Mobile reserves the right to review the rates and tariffs applied to your account or to terminate the Services and in this event, such termination shall be deemed to have been made by you.
  (how is fair usage defined?)
  2.13 Lebara Mobile may have to alter the number of your mobile phone, or any other name, code or number associated with the Services.
  2.14 The Customer may not make certain types of calls using the Products and Services. Please refer to Lebara Mobile’s Customer handbook and/or Lebara Mobile’s website www.lebara-mobile.co.uk for details. Special Rate Services are not available unless requested through the Lebara Mobile Customer Service.
  (not sure quite what they mean by that)
  2.15 All incoming voice calls which are not answered or which are received when the product is busy, switched off or out of coverage will be automatically diverted to the Lebara Mobile voicemail Services (provided the Customer has activated it) and this functionality may not be altered. In the interest of other users, we must limit the number and duration of the messages that can be left on your voicemail service. Please note that confidentiality of messages cannot be guaranteed. You must not (nor allow others) to record any abusive, obscene or hoax messages likely to cause offence.
  2.16 Lebara Mobile shall always display the Customer’s telephone number to such persons.
  (does this mean number cannot be withheld?)
  2.23 The maximum call length is 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.
  (Ha!)
  3.4 The Customer agrees to observe and comply in every respect with the terms of the Agreement and all relevant codes of practice on number portability as may be issued from time to time by the Government or Regulator or other competent authority.
  (what????????)
  3.5 Services must not be exploited commercially to the detriment of Lebara Mobile or any third party reselling may only occur upon the prior written consent of Lebara Mobile. Enterprises, which are affiliated with a Customer are also considered third parties within the meaning of this clause.
  (So can only be used by personal customers not business customers)
  4.5 The call charges for International calls are stated and charged per minute and will be rounded up to the next whole minute. Therefore the minimum call charge shall be for one minute at prevailing rates.
  (per minute billing - what a con)
  4.6 The call charges for National Mobile and Landline calls are stated and charged per minute and will be rounded up to the next whole minute. Therefore the minimum call charge shall be for one minute at prevailing rates.
  (same for domestic calls)
  4.7 The Customer will be given due notice of price increases for Services of Lebara
  Mobile, which can be implemented at any time and can be effective from any date. If the Customer continues to use the Services after the entry into force of changes in prices, the new prices will be considered as accepted. Tariffs for roaming and prices for value-added services, special services and short numbers may be amended at any time.
  (they can put the prices up as they please)
• Vodafone isn't as good a network as made out, IMO. I think o2 is a better network, esp for coverage indoors.
• The PAYG were out of stock at Clapham Junction, but managed to find one at Beckton. As I purchased Ј10.00 'Top-Up', the Sim was free and came with Ј1.00 credit, so a great bonus.
• Well I went to my local Tesco yesterday and bought a PAYG Simcard for 1p. They charge 20p a min for calls or 10 per text, BUT this is half price on your 5 favourite numbers. ALSO when you top-up with Ј15 you get 500 free texts or 150 free mins. Can anyone beat that?
• I may have misundrerstood this, but has anyone else noticed that Asda are making a feature of the fact that they charge 20p per mb for gprs/data. I was comparing that to Virgin's charge of 0.5p per kb. Now if I have understood correctly, that makes Asda's per kb charge 0.0193 - please feel free to correct me if that is not the case.
  The roaming charges on this are slightly better than Virgin within the EU for making and receiving calls, but their text charge at 42p is much higher than Virgin's 25p.
  Still worth it for within the UK though, especially for gprs (provided I got that bit right)...
• Can anyone please confirm if the ASDA sim will allow pop access to emails over gprs (on payg, I believe virgin and orange do, O2 doesn't, not sure about any others). Many thanks.
• Can anyone confirm the minimum call charge, or if there is a lifespan on the top ups?
• I am a Vodaphone user because, where I live it is the only network giving coverage. If I get the new Asda sim will it work in my (unlocked) Vodaphone handset & will I be able to transfer my credit?
  Thanks
  Parole
• If the handset is unlocked it should work fine.....as far as transferring the credit I doubt very much you'll be able to do that..asda rent the airspace from vodaphone so are a seperate company nothing to do with voda