abz123 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Maybe it's my age... Can someone explain to me in British speak what the various different mobile tariffs are e.g. Cap, Post Pay etc. I'm presuming Cap is PAYG and Post Pay is a "normal" contract? What sort of thing would equate to my 300 minutes and 200 text messages per month in the UK? Can I go SIM only and bring my old but reliable quad band phone with me? Which providers have best coverage (Perth) and are calls to other networks still charged for in Oz or part of free minutes? Really trying to work out what the best thing to do is when we arrive at the start of March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Maybe it's my age... Can someone explain to me in British speak what the various different mobile tariffs are e.g. Cap, Post Pay etc. I'm presuming Cap is PAYG and Post Pay is a "normal" contract? What sort of thing would equate to my 300 minutes and 200 text messages per month in the UK? Can I go SIM only and bring my old but reliable quad band phone with me? Which providers have best coverage (Perth) and are calls to other networks still charged for in Oz or part of free minutes? Really trying to work out what the best thing to do is when we arrive at the start of March. My wife has a 'cap" she pays $50 a month and that allows her $250 worth of calls and texts. anything over the $250 and she has to pay the extra, This is on a contract. The PAYG phones give different deals depending on what you pay, and on some tariffs, it is not carried over to the next month. There now thats as clear as mud :biglaugh: took me ages to get my head round it, and someone will probably come up with a better explination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abz123 Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 That's what I just don't get! You pay $50 for $250 of calls & texts. Is that just their way of saying you get so many free minutes and free texts for $50? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 That's what I just don't get! You pay $50 for $250 of calls & texts. Is that just their way of saying you get so many free minutes and free texts for $50? Yup if that is the way you want to describe it. But be careful because some minutes dont count - so if you were calling international for example that would not be included in your cap for some providers. You can also get rollovers (just to add to the confusion) where if you dont use up your allowance it will roll over to the next month and so you can use more next month - it does get very confusing!!!! Caps are contracts - usually for 24 months here as well! PAYG is where you pony up for $20 or whatever you top up with and you keep on making calls or texts until your money runs out then you top up again. And your top up money may only last for 30 or 60 days - all depends on the provider. You can bring your own phone with you for sure but make sure you get it unlocked before you leave UK because getting them unlocked here is nigh on impossible and almost as expensive as buying a new phone! You can pick up sims pretty much anywhere but places like Dick Smith have a range of providers rather than wandering into a Telco shop where you will get just that Telco. All the telcos have coverage maps on their websites but it does depend on where you will be living as to which one to go with - Telstra has the best coverage but I have yet to meet anyone who actually LIKES Telstra - they are expensive. Optus is the next biggest and Virgin use the Optus towers so they have the same coverage. 3 is essentially central metropolitan and its coverage outside of those areas roams (expensively) onto Telstra. There are all sorts of plans and provisos - for example I get free calls and texts to other Virgin mobiles but the tarrif for non Virgin calls can rack up. As the DH also has Virgin that works for us - so just make sure that all in your family are on the same network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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