Pay Monthly SIM vs PAYG SIM

[olippold]

Hi,

I am on a pay monthly SIM deal that has just expired, as has my wife's, and we are exploring new options. I'm currently paying about £20 for 20Gb, and my wife pays £13 for 250Mb, but I share my data with her. None of the current SIM deals seem appealing, as they are all offering huge amounts of data, which I simply don't use. However, the PAYG deals look much better (for example, my wife could get 5GB for £10), though I am not offered these as an upgrade. I have two questions therefore:

1. What is the difference between pay monthly SIM and PAYG SIM, since with both schemes, you seem to be paying monthly?
2. Is it possible to move from pay monthly to PAYG?

Thanks,

Oliver

[bristolian]

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@olippold wrote:

1. What is the difference between pay monthly SIM and PAYG SIM, since with both schemes, you seem to be paying monthly?

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Pay-monthly is a contract-based arrangement whereby you use your phone as you see fit, and receive a monthly bill for your usage. Your allowance & plan is charged for in advance, your additional usage in arrears.

PAYG is a non-contractual pre-pay method whereby you need to have credit or allowance on your phone in order to use it. You could drain your available credit to zero, and still receive calls & texts, but be unable to initiate any.

You can add recurring packs to a PAYG plan, which may be what's confusing here. You will need to have available credit in order for a chargeable pack to be renewed. On pay- monthly, bundles & add-ons are simply added to your monthly bill.

Pay-monthly is an ongoing arrangement with a minimum term, usually 24months. Once you've seen out the minimum term, then one option you have is to cancel the contract but convert your number to a PAYG scheme.

[XRaySpeX]

1. With a Pay Monthly contract you are committed to paying a monthly fee for at least a min. period, usually 12, 18 or 24 months, whether you make use of it or not. With PAYG, altho' you may elect to pay into it every month & use its resulting allowances, you are not obliged to. You may stop & start it any time you want. Alternatively you can top it up whenever you want & use the SIM for calls & texts but not data as normal PAYG at standard per-unit rates paid for out of your standing PAYG credit balance.
2. Yes, call CS & give 30 days to cancel your contract & move it to PAYG.