vB Easy Archive - Where to buy top-ups?

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Where to buy top-ups?
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Posted by: awebber

Thanks to another helpful member here, I now have a TM PAYG SIM and Ecard.

Do I really need to carry the Ecard with me? It seems to save entering 16-digit codes and such but one less thing would be good (unless people find it a very useful feature).

What's the best place to buy the top-up? I'm only going for a week so the minimum £5 might be enough. Most of my calls will be back to NA, through the number I can't quite find to hand right now, though some will be to mobile and landline numbers while I'm there.

Are there discounters (like CheapPhoneCards in the US, or eBay sellers) who can be trusted to sell just the top-up? That's the other reason I'd leave the Ecard at home, if I buy £5 online and don't use it all, I won't be buying more at a shop in the UK.

Even if I buy it in advance, I'm thinking I should hold off adding the £5 until I arrive, to make sure nothing goes wrong with my phone, service works, SIM's okay, etc.

Thanks!
=aw

Posted by: mrcamp

Try ebay.uk. That's where I usually get my virgin UK topups.

Posted by: awebber

Great, thanks for the advice! I did look at ebay.co.uk but most are £10 or £20, which is more than I need. How long are the top-ups good for? I won't use more than £5 this trip and wonder how soon I have to return.

=aw

Posted by: lozza

The topups last forever. If you can pick up a T-Mobile signal in the US (I don't think prepay will roam with AT&T) you can use GPRS and spend a few pence every 179 days to keep the card active. The website also suggests it will roam on Rogers in Canada.

Be careful since the current T-Mobile sim even if never used will eventually be cut off (though this seems to be a year or so from when T-Mobile first issue them) before the first top up.

If you can't find a five pound voucher (I don't think they exist!) try to top up in the shop with e-topup, but I'm not sure if you can get £5 e-topups either. You could try registering your phone on 'my t-mobile' on the website, but I really doubt it'll take a non-UK credit card.

Also, rather than using a call through - have you considered a 50 minute bundle for £2. This works out at 4p/minute, which is a lot cheaper than even the callthrough.
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/...the-uk/bundles/

You can buy upto 6 bundles at any one time, does anyone know if that means you could buy say 150 minutes of the above for £6? Seems pretty good for someone who wants to call US/Canada directly without bothering with a callthrough.

Posted by: Jrott

A friend of mine is going to the UK next week, I just lent him an extra phone I had and gave him a new T-Mobile UK sim card.
I went to the T-Mobile UK website, registered the sim, giving my name and used my step daughters UK address. I was able to top-up the sim on-line using my American express card (thats registered in the US) Minimum top-up was £10.00
Once the card was topped up, I added the US, Canada calling bundle by texting
the letter A to 48011
This deducted £2.00 from the £10.00 total plus 60p total for sending the text twice from America. The £2.00 bundle gives you 50 minutes of calls from the UK to America and Canada (thats 4p a minute) If I waited and had him do the text when he arrived in the UK, i think the text might have been free. I added 2 of the £2.00 bundles so it worked out that he is going over with 100 minutes of calls back to America and £5.40 leftover for calls in the UK at 15p a minute. I believe that the limit on the bundles was 3 at a time. Again, there was no issues using my American Amex. Enjoy your trip

Posted by: awebber

Thanks for the info and suggestions. I'll reply to them all in one message.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lozza

The topups last forever. If you can pick up a T-Mobile signal in the US (I don't think prepay will roam with AT&T) you can use GPRS and spend a few pence every 179 days to keep the card active. The website also suggests it will roam on Rogers in Canada.

So the topups are fine but the account expires after 180 days of inactivity? Roaming in Canada just to keep it alive would be cute, depending what it costs. Or I might give/lend/sell (for airtime) to a friend to use.

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even if never used will eventually be cut off (though this seems to be a year or so from when T-Mobile first issue them) before the first top up.

Uh-oh!

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I'm not sure if you can get £5 e-topups either. You could try registering your phone on 'my t-mobile' on the website

I don't have it with me (boo!) but I thought something in the package said the minimum was £5. It could be old, in which case see previous.

If I can't buy £5 I'll look more closely at prices on eBay for £10 vouchers. Don't want to spend £8-9 on a £10 voucher if I can get £5 for £5.

Quote:

Also, rather than using a call through - have you considered a 50 minute bundle for £2. This works out at 4p/minute, which is a lot cheaper than even the callthrough.

I did consider that, though I wasn't sure I could buy it from my existing airtime. Knowing now that I can, it could be worth it. Though I've seen at least two callthroughs that cost only 3p/min. It might be worth 1p/min not to have to dial both the 0775 number (for YCW) and then the NA number, assuming the Bundle allows direct dialling. Am I misunderstanding how much YCW costs?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jrott

I went to the T-Mobile UK website ...

Thanks for the detailed description. I may do that (will use a friend's UK address if necessary), would that tell me if the SIM has expired unused? Knowing from your experience that the bundle can come from existing credit makes it more appealing, I don't expect to use up a full £5 so I was concerned having to put in yet more money for the Bundle was wasteful.

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Enjoy your trip

Thanks, and the same to your friend!

=aw

Posted by: lozza

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The costs are fairly expensive - 55p/min, BUT you can just make 1 call, 1 text or 1 GPRS session and you're set again for another 179 days. Using GPRS the cost per year would be no more than 20p I suspect!

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I don't have it with me (boo!) but I thought something in the package said the minimum was £5. It could be old, in which case see previous.

If I can't buy £5 I'll look more closely at prices on eBay for £10 vouchers. Don't want to spend £8-9 on a £10 voucher if I can get £5 for £5.

Looks like you can get £5 top-ups

Question number 3 on: http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/...elp/topping-up/

Seems it doesn't even need to be an e-topup, also see..
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/...-up/electronic/
Although I'd take the e-topup card anyway (make sure it's the one for that number!) since you run the risk of the shop not having any £5 topups with the voucher payment - and judging by your ebay experiences this is quite likely!

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What's YCW? If you use a 3p/min callthrough from a T-Mobile phone it almost certainly WILL NOT be 3p/min, since the 3p/min is the quoted rate from BT residential landline. I'd get the bundle, it's pretty cheap.

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On all UK prepay packages any bundles come from the airtime credit. If you have an unlocked phone you can use then see if you can register on Rogers, if you can - you most certainly have an active sim still. If the SIM has never been used in the UK, I'm not sure if it'll work - but worth a try.

Posted by: awebber

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I agree that 55p after 170 days would be reasonable to keep the account alive. Outgoing of course, since incoming is also 55p, plus the cost of calling a UK mobile (at least 31c).

Would _receiving_ a text keep the account alive? That's free while roaming in Canada and US.

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Looks like you can get £5 top-ups.
[...]
Though I'd take the e-topup card anyway (make sure it's the one for that number!) since you run the risk of the shop not having any £5 topups with the voucher payment - and judging by your ebay experiences this is quite likely!

Yeah, it's just one more card. I guess the way it works is I present it to the shop with a fiver, they punch some buttons and swipe the card, which then adds the airtime? I don't expect to go over £5 but you never know. I don't know for sure what £10 goes for on eBay, but if it's about £8 that's certainly a better rate overall.

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What's YCW? If you use a 3p/min callthrough from a T-Mobile phone it almost certainly WILL NOT be 3p/min, since the 3p/min is the quoted rate from BT residential landline. I'd get the bundle, it's pretty cheap.

And I think it's worth 1p/min not to dialaround.

www.YourCallWorld.com/payg/ makes it sound like there's no airtime cost.

Quote:

I have an unlocked tri-band phone and I'll try it on the weekend. The SIM has never been used, I got it in a sealed package. No airtime with it (which I didn't expect as it was generous to be given the SIM as it was -- I'm not mentioning my benefactor's name as I was contacted privately).

=aw

Posted by: lozza

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I doubt it, I think it has to be chargable. I mentioned using GPRS since you'd only need to transfer a few hundred bytes of data to keep it active. Might even be possible to do it for 1p each time (so say 3p per year!)

If your phone can't do GPRS the next best thing would be to send a text to your own UK number - which will cost 40p/msg.

I'd do this maybe every 5 months since it'd be a shame to miss it by 1 day (though I'm not sure it's that strict!)

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That's exactly right. Just walk into the shop and say something along the lines of "five pounds on here mate/please" and they swipe the card and it goes on the phone. Should be on there by the time you walk out the shop - it's pretty quick. If you should forget to bring it to the UK you can pick one up in any of the stores offering topups. I've certainly seen loads of these cards available to be picked up free from Sainsbury's and Tesco's.

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www.YourCallWorld.com/payg/ makes it sound like there's no airtime cost.

It does - but I can't see how that'll work. At minimum I think it'd be treated as a normal call - so 15p/min. Perhaps a prepay T-Mobile-UK user can advise you if they have tried it.

Quote:

Yes, although the sims are very cheap over here now, it's still very generous for items to be sent FOC.

If your phone registers on Rogers it might also be worth trying to send an sms to it - this should work with no credit. Try www.cbfsms.com (this is free, they don't spam or anything either)
If the phone registers and you get the sms you're absolutely 100% set, without a doubt.

When are you going and whereabouts btw?

Posted by: Jrott

Quote:

Originally Posted by lozza

If the SIM has never been used in the UK, I'm not sure if it'll work - but worth a try.

It will, at least it did with mine a couple of weeks ago

Posted by: mrcamp

Correct. I have both Virgin UK and Orange UK (used to) that I bought on ebay.UK brand new and worked here in the US out of the box. I did have to activate the Orange one by calling them from here but, there wee no problems doing that at all. They SMS'ed the number to me. Not aonly did both work, GPRS also worked out of the box. I still have the Virgin but gave the Orange to a friend. I only use the virgin card when in the UK or for GPRS access when I travel internationally, because they charge the same for GPRS roaming or not. Have not used my virgin card to make/receive calls in at least 3 years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jrott

It will, at least it did with mine a couple of weeks ago

Posted by: awebber

Put the SIM in my Rogers tri-band phone and after searching, it reported Rogers Wireless.

I tried cbfsms.com and got this message:

Quote:

Service Unavailable
Your ISP can no longer use our service due to abuse.

GizmoSMS.com said it sent the SMS but nothing's arrived.

Then we just tried calling 011-44-750-etc. from a landline and got a British voice saying, "we're sorry we're unable to complete your call..."

Should I be worried?

=aw

Posted by: awebber

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www.YourCallWorld.com/payg/ makes it sound like there's no airtime cost.

I wrote to YCW and got this reply:

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You only have to pay 3p/min for your call! The rates we advertise on Yourcall are instead of the 15p/min charge put in place by T-Mobile, so our 3p rate is inclusive of VAT and connection charges. We hope this will be of use to you.

I wouldn't be surprised if YCW is owned by TM or at least has relationship beyond what's obvious.

It means the choice is one of convenience: 3p/min to call the access number and then the number you want, vs. 4p/min to call directly.

Also the packaged LD at 4p/min has a 90-day expiry, which could be an issue. I'll probably buy 50min when I arrive, and if I run out the first day, buy more. But if it takes me until Friday evening to use them up (leaving Sunday morning) I'll probably switch to YCW. Don't expect to make lots of calls to lots of people, my experience in 2006 (with MobileWorld) is that it's much much cheaper for me to note the caller ID and call back (for 3p/4p/5p per minute) than to answer and have them pay 31c and up per minute from a landline in Canada. The wonders of technology!

I'm going to Oxford for a week later this month. Arrive Tuesday morning and fly back on Sunday morning.

=aw

Posted by: lozza

Quote:

Originally Posted by awebber

Then we just tried calling 011-44-750-etc. from a landline and got a British voice saying, "we're sorry we're unable to complete your call..."

Should I be worried?

=aw

They'll be no credit on the phone. If you PM me the number I'll try from cbfsms.com

Posted by: awebber

Thanks for the offer. I forgot it costs 55p to receive a call (though I wasn't going to answer it). Sent PM.

I just put the UK SIM back in my phone and there's no sign of the SMS I sent from GizmoSMS. I do see two old messages sent to my Rogers phone, I guess they're in the phone not the SIM?

=aw

Posted by: lozza

Delivered so looks good.

Posted by: awebber

I'm getting "text message received. From: +447775..."

I guess that means it's working, thanks lozza! I'll give out my number now without fear. And if I can pick up a £10 voucher cheap online, I'll do that too.

=aw

Posted by: lozza

Yes - you should be able to read it, I put a bit of text on there.

I decided to sms directly from my o2-uk mobile, since it is a lot more reliable than cbfsms (cbfsms isn't bad, but it wasn't offering delivery report to your number so decided against it) - Came back delivered within 10 seconds of the message being sent, so not bad. I'd forgotten cbfsms doesn't work from non-UK ISPs.

I guess Gizmo just doesn't work to UK numbers properly - so I wouldn't go round recommending that people try and contact you via SMS with that.

You should be able to put the £10 topup on your phone from Canada (it costs nothing to call the automated line directly)

Looks like you're all set, enjoy your trip

Posted by: awebber

Thanks for that, and thanks for your help earlier! I may top-up from here, or I can do it easily enough when I land. Do you mean it's free to call the automated line from my TM phone from here?

=aw

Posted by: awebber

And I forgot I can actually read it for free!

... thanks for the message (just read it).

=aw

Posted by: lozza

Free to receive sms pretty much anywhere in the world.
Sending sms to the UK (from anywhere) is usually subject to interconnect charges. Last heard these were around 3p/msg, although some places offer free sms/very low cost sms to UK networks using routes that avoid interconnect charges.

Posted by: lozza

Quote:

Originally Posted by awebber

Thanks for that, and thanks for your help earlier! I may top-up from here, or I can do it easily enough when I land. Do you mean it's free to call the automated line from my TM phone from here?

=aw

It should be free, try calling the topup line now (I think it's 150) - if it connects then there's no way they can charge you since there's no credit on the phone.

I don't think you'll be able to speak to customer service free of charge (I'd bet money on it!) but you should be able to go through the limited menus.

That's the beauty of a PAYT with no credit on it, there's no way you can end up running up a bill by just mucking about with it

EDIT: Just been to http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/services/...ping-up-abroad/
And says

Quote:

By phone

Provided you've registered your credit/debit card details with us before travelling, you can top up while you're abroad by text or calling +44 7953 966150.

You might not be able to connect to that number, also says you need registered debit card. Seems a bit daft though, if it's chargable - how on earth are you meant to top up!? So I'd try 150 first, see if it connects. I don't think I've ever used a T-Mobile UK prepay abroad, but it's been OK with Vodafone and O2 prepay.

Also try 360 since this is also mentioned on the website as the interactive automated number. If all these fail just take the voucher with you and do it when you land in the UK.

Posted by: awebber

Thanks, I'll try those when I get a voucher.

Here's an interesting twist, I think a great opportunity.

On ebay.com, I can set SMS alerts for items I'm watching, but only US carriers are listed. On ebay.co.uk, I can do the same but only UK carriers are listed. And on ebay.ca, I can only set IM alerts, not SMS (Rogers incoming texts are free, so this appealed).

Since I can receive free SMS messages on TMob UK while in Canada, I (think) I can stick my SIM in one of my unlocked US handsets (which I don't use in Canada), let TM UK roam on Rogers and send it ebay.co.uk SMS alerts!

Unfortunately while I brought my UK SIM to Ottawa with me (in case I get a voucher), I left my US handsets in Montreal, so I can't test this right now.

=aw

Posted by: awebber

Hmm, this IM option isn't looking so good. I installed the latest Yahoo IM client so I could receive notifications. When I try to set one up, eBay takes me to Yahoo so I can authorize it to access my account! I'm guessing it's something to do with being able to bid directly from the "you were outbid" IM message, but allI want is to receive a message like from anyone else!

I don't really want eBay accessing my Yahoo account, though I trust them.

=aw

Posted by: awebber

Quote:

try calling the topup line now (I think it's 150)

I tried calling 150 and got a message that my home cellular company doesn't authorize them to offer this service. It was in French and English, so I guess it was from Rogers, about TMUK.

Same message when I called 360.

On the MyTM it only seems to offer credit card top-ups, so I'll take my voucher with me and do it when I get there.

=aw

Posted by: lozza

Sounds like it - since otherwise you should get the T-Mobile woman, which is in English only.

Something to do while waiting for your bags to turn up

Posted by: Junglizt1210

5 pounds in a week calling the US? You'll need a bit more than that if you're dialing directly without a calling card. Especailly if you plan on making 20 min+ calls.

Posted by: awebber

Was that reply for me? I just got back and spent about £8 of a £20 voucher (for which I paid £15 on eBay

). That includes £2 to buy a block of 4p LD minutes that never came and ~70p to test same (more on those below). I couldn't get the internet access to work, and didn't try text or picture messages, though they gave me 5 of each free.

www.YourCallWorld.com worked like a charm, 3p/min total cost to call Canada, i.e. no airtime charge on top.

On arrival, I put in the SIM and activated the voucher. Then I ordered the 50min/£2 (4p/min) International Bundle and got a text message back that it would be added to my account "within 48 hours". Which was a disappointment but I had the YCW number for 3p/min.

I assumed I'd get another text message 2 days later, telling me the Bundle was active. When I hadn't, after 4 days I tried a 30sec call to Canada to see if it was added without notification. My balance went down about 70p so I'm sure it wasn't added. I tried calling "150" but they wanted 25p to speak to an agent so I decided to deal with it later.

I want to email and ask for the £2.70 back. What's the best place to contact?

Thanks. And thanks for the advice that got me to this point. I'll be keeping my balance alive with a 55p call from Canada every 5mos, so this could turn into a long-term relationship with this number (and this voucher!

).
=aw

Posted by: lozza

Hope you had a good time, sorry to hear about the fact that you got robbed for the bundle.

I'd email customer service - see http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-advice/contact-us/ and ask for the credit to be reapplied. They hopefully will 'as a goodwill gesture'

Good news about the yourcallworld - 3p/min is a bit of a bargain all things considered.

Posted by: awebber

I think 3p/min was a fantastic bargain considering it included airtime! Never heard back from TMobile on the bundle, guess it wouldn't cost anything to ask them again.

Yesterday I kept my account alive (balance now £11.35) by plugging the SIM into my unlocked phone and making a 0:59 (thought it was 0:55) call for 55c. I'm on vacation right now so I used the minute to call home and check my vmail.

Thanks again to everyone for the advice. To confirm, is the requirement for keeping account alive every 6 months, or every 180 days, or is it something else? I'm going to build a month in for safety but I know I procrastinate.

Thanks!
=aw

Posted by: lozza

This is an old thread, back to life

It's every 180 days to make a change to the bundle. I take it you mean 55p? T-Mobile's roaming rate in NA is cheaper than all the other UK networks as far as I know, but roaming in NA is rediculously expensive - something I've never understood.

Although I am with o2, I have a spare T-Mobile that I use on their Web n Walk daily rate option (since T-Mobile's data rates are much better, as is their 3g coverage)
I've never had an issue of them cutting a sim off, but I would use it at least every 175 days or so, just so they don't give reason to. Generally if you forgot for 6 months and say tried to pick the sim up 8 months later, it'd still work - but for 55p is it really worth the risk? If the sim gets cut off through none-use you definitely won't get the credit back, so keep it diaried up

T-Mobile customer service seems to be reasonable, at least by phone. If you asked them once and didn't get the answer you wanted, just ask again! However, ycw seems like the best option for you now since you've proven that works and it's not bundle based. At the end of the day, they stole £2 off you, but it's not much considering it's such a good deal otherwise.

Hope the TM sim gives you many years of good service yet. If you ever need to use data in the UK, it is definitely the way to go on prepay here. I've had 500MB in a day (on their 40MB FUP!) for £1. Data speeds are excellent too on HSDPA.

Posted by: awebber

Yes, sorry, it was 55p for the call. They actually do roam in Canada too, I think I saw somewhere that they roam on Rogers (of course). Anyhow, I've set it to a reminder every 5mo to make another call.

Thanks again for the advice, I plan to use this SIM (and this same top-up) for many years!

=aw

Posted by: lozza

I just read the thread over and seen that I sent you an SMS as a test when you were roaming on rogers all those months ago. Am surprised, most UK prepay roams in the US (On T-Mobile and AT&T only) but not in Canada on Rogers.

As an aside, I was roaming on a cruise ship in Alaska and I got a welcome text saying "Welcome to the Isle of Mann" (an island just off the coastline here) - I didn't try making any calls to see what the call charges would be.

I've noticed you said you couldn't get the internet access working. It works great on my N95 but I've never got it to work on my (now very) old 6310i - and using the same settings (sent from the t-mobile website) - Also although you're not meant to use WnW daily rate when tethered to a laptop, it's always worked for me.

Posted by: awebber

I was able to call Canada from here for that 55p ($1.09). Ironically, roaming on Rogers in the US seems to be 95c/min, which is cheaper but not by much. On this trip we only brought one US SIM, so in an emergency I'd be tempted to use the UK phone: even though it's 14c more, it's paid for and I may never use up the full balance.

=aw

Posted by: JEFFJAGUAR

I understand the YCW 3p vs 4p on the bundle is no big deal but what I do is program the YCW number into the phone and for frequently called numbers, I program the YCW number followed by 2 pauses and then the number with the #.......no big deal of course.

BTW the bums at Orange UK have just raised the Orange Call Abroad price from 5p to 7p/minute to call the USA or Canada. Bummer