Mobile data without buying a pack or addon ?

[OLDCLICKER]

I have a SIM that is kept for emergency use. It is not used regularly enough to justify data packs. It's old but still works well for calls and texts. I was checking the rates for basic PAYG on EE's website, call charges (an exorbitant 35p/min) are listed, but for data it only mentions buying a pack. 

3-Mobile is much more straightforward - 1p/min calls and 1p a MB data and no expiry

I don't want something that expires after a month.

Is it no longer possible to use data on an EE PAYG SIM without buying a pack or addon?

[Northerner]

Hi @OLDCLICKER 

To stop the pack from renewing you just need to text STOP PACK to 150. This will  automatically stop your current pack and and allowance on that pack will be gone. If you need to make calls, send texts,use data when you are not using packs you’ll need credit on the account to pay for these services.

Thanks

[Chris_B]

@Northerner  @OLDCLICKER Data has to be purchased as a bundle you can not use credit to pay for data on the fly. data bundles last 30 days from the time of purchase. 

[OLDCLICKER]

Thanks for the responses. It's as I feared - EE really, really don't want people using their PAYG SIMs under the traditional use it and pay for it with credit model.

Compared to 3 Mobile, EEs call and SMS charges are truly exorbitant - 35p vs 1p. Also 3 offer a daily data addon - 50p for 120MB for the day. 

I keep the EE SIM in an old emergency mobile I have in the car. Only used occasionally if I forget my main mobile, and then only really for voice and text. I use a 3 SIM as the second SIM in my main dual-SIM mobile for the relatively rare occasions when Vodafone doesn't have data connectivity and 3 does. I aimed to swap the 3 SIM for my EE one as the EE network is better. Their silly attitude with forcing packs/addons has scuppered that. Oh well.

[Chris_B]

@OLDCLICKER  And what happens when your device uses data in the background and your charge for that data usage even through you could be fast asleep in bed will you just turn round and say you wasn’t using it.      

[OLDCLICKER]

Oops, just noticed I was looking at an old Three Mobile price list on their website. Prices increased a few months back and are now 10p / min calls, 10p per text and 5p per MB. 

Still a lot less expensive than EE, but not as dramatically.

Their data packs have also changed:

1 Day Data Add-on 1 day £5 Unlimited
1GB Data Add-on 1 month £5 1GB
3GB Data Add-on 1 month £7 3GB
6GB Data Add-on 1 month £8 6GB

Sorry...

[OLDCLICKER]

Chris_B - I'm well aware of mobiles using data in the background and know how to limit it. I wouldn't expect to get something for nothing if my device uses too much - data usage alerts are set differently for each of my SIMs anyway. 

Not really needed with my 100GB Vodafone plan (£9.50 / Month) but I definitely watch my data when my mobile is set to use data from SIM2.