"Brian A" <no_spam_bca1000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4lslv2de7cko6tufq4pvb94fgabg5nqkmn@4ax.com...
> On 16 Mar 2007 12:29:25 -0700, "dg" <drgreen2k@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>I am finding that I don't need all my free minutes and texts from my
>>contract plan, and may not use any some months.
>>
>>I've seen some good offers from various PAYG plans, so I am
>>considering moving to one of these.
>>
>>There is a potential big cost saving, but are there any disadvantages
>>in moving to PAYG?
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>dg
> Disadv.
> 1. Sometimes you have to pay to access voicemail.
> 2. You might run out of credit.
> 3. You have to pay to complain to customer services.
>
> Adv.
> 1. You might save money if you are a low user.
> 2. No looming bills.
>
> Depending on how much you need there are various offers worth looking
> at.
> The T-Mobile Flext - sort of between a contract and PAYG
> The PAYG is 12p/min to landline or mobile and capped at £1 to the Net.
> At 12p/min works out cheaper than Virgin tariff if you do less than
> about 6 mins a day.

Surely it depends on how many voicemail calls you receive. Isn't Virgin now
unique in terms of offering free voicemail access (other than the
T-Mobile/One2One Standard Plan which some people still have)? In any case
free voicemail access in not something to be ignored. Also Virgin direct
debit PAYG offers cheaper roaming charges than Virgin pure PAYG (and iirc
the cheapest roaming data rate of any provider). Most of the disadvantages
you cite are absent with Virgin direct debit PAYG (10p to call CS).

The T-Mobile £1 GPRS capping is very, very attractive though - it certainly
steals the thunder from Orange World. I was with someone recently who used
it to access the internet during a long train journey. The amount of data
that was downloaded was really quite scandalous. And it only cost £1. It
begs the question - why do the virtual T-Mobile providers charge such silly
amounts for GPRS access?

Gareth.