EE shower of ********

Discussion in 'Yellow Pages' started by hornmeister, Jun 17, 2019.

  1. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Grrrr bloody EE

    My dad has a PAYG phone. Very little used but he tries to make a call every month or so to keep it active. It's really for emergencies - he's in his 80s.
    His £10 credit has disappeared because they have some sort of renewing contract thing that sucks you PAYG credit unless you turn this function off (they don't make this clear enough). Complaints about this seem to be all over their forums.
    Load of bolix.

    I'm fed up with trying to sort it out to be honest. I'm on Giffgaff and I reckon a £6 a month rolling contract would solve this activity issue, but does anyone have any recommendations based on a similar scenario? Just needs a few minutes a month and txt ability no data required and I'm hoping the non smartphone he has is unlocked so we can use that.
     
  2. iamofwfc

    iamofwfc Squad Player

    As a spare mobile I use a three PAYG Sim card, put it in an old mobile, use that mobile for companies I don't trust and for cold calling, £10 seemed to have lasted forever, I think it is the 3-2-1 plan, you can view it online as well, so you can manage it for him.
     
    hornmeister likes this.
  3. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    That might well work. Only need to use it once every 6 months.

    Nice one cheers
     
  4. Not being a 'heavy mobile phone user' I have the same - it only costs me £5 per month. I'm sure it's called a Three Essential Plan.
     
  5. wfcmoog

    wfcmoog Tinpot

    just be honest and ask the forum for "best options for burner phones" instead of this **** n bull about a 'dad.'
     
    Optimistichornet likes this.
  6. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Keeping my burner phones active is easy as I'm generally texting my dealer at least a couple of times a day.
     
    Optimistichornet likes this.
  7. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    I don't know what you mean by "keep it active". Is this something to do with buying the phone from EE? If so, why not just buy a sim-free phone? Argos or eBay are good bets.

    I have done that twice and put in the 3-2-1 PAYG sim from Three. I last topped it up, with £10, in February 2018. I still have about £1.50 credit on it. There has never been any suggestion, so far as I am aware, that I would lose the number because I wasn't using it enough.

    As you can see, I get nowhere near £6 a month use out of it.
     
  8. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    If you don't use a PAYG sim within a certain period say 3 months. The provider disconnects it and steals your left over credit with the excuse that it's now inactive. Regardless of the phone.

    Only happens with PAYG. Obviously contract phones will keep rolling on whilst you're paying for it.
     
  9. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    OK, so why not buy him a phone which is sim- and contract- free?
     
  10. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    You should buy one-off in bulk. I get much better rates for a volume buy as dealer saves costs of packaging and delivery, plus less change of getting caught by the fuzz (ooer) for one transaction. However I admit it doesn't help keep your burner phone contract active. Every option has uppers and downers sides.
     
  11. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Contract free is PAYG thats the issue. PAYG sims needs to be regularly used otherwise they get disconnected by the provider and the number issued to someone else.

    for an emergency infrequent use only phone PAYG doesn't work. The one time you desperately need to use the phone the provide has disconnected it because they think its gone inactive.

    Paying for a contract phone that gets used for about 10 mins a year in total is obviously stupidly expensive.
     
  12. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Are you sure about this?

    Mrs Keighley uses her phone even less (fewer?) than I do. She has recently upgraded from the classic Nokia (!) to a Motorola. I'm not sure what sim she had in the old one, but it was PAYG. She was never disconnected, or threatened with that. She now has the 3-2-1 Three PAYG sim card in the Motorola and has used it about twice since she got it for Christmas. Again, no suggestion of disconnection. Similarly, her parents have contract-free phones and hardly ever use them. Not sure what sims they use but so far as I am aware there are no disconnection issues either.

    In any event. I'd suggest the Three sim. No need to pay even £6 a month - we don't.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2019
  13. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    Using it twice since xmas is probably what kept the sim active. My father probably had is phone turned off for 3 months or more. That's what killed the sim account on his first phone. Also you need to make a chargeable transaction a call to someone and wait for them to pick up otherwise it's not registered as a chargeable event.
    Varying networks have varying times that they'll allow a sim not to be used fro a chargeable event before they deactivate it and nick the credit. Anywhere from 1 to 6 months.

    Where EE are sneaky is that you buy a top up and it's credited against a monthly plan (instead of as a traditional PAYG infinte time credit) unless you tell them otherwise by text message. As such you lose the whole credit after 1 month unless you've texted stopack to 150 or some other such nonsense.

    From their forums
     
  14. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    Yeah, OK. And - thinking about it - her Nokia was dead as a dodo when we swapped for the Motorola, so perhaps she had been disconnected.

    But if I were you I would certainly consider the Three PAYG sim. As I say, I end up paying nothing like £6 a month for that - more in the region of £0.50!
     

Share This Page