Old phone advice?

[Monsieur]

I bought this Nokia phone about 15 years and it came with a SIM card which I loaded with £10 at the time and sent the very occasional text message from.
Seems now the SIM card isn’t recognised anymore.
My question is where do I get a SIM card from these days? I don’t want a monthly fee nor do I need any data as it’s just an old Nokia. Ideal solution would be something I can load with a fiver and send a very occasional text and, hopefully, have £4.50 on the SIM card in 10 years still.

Is there such a thing?
(By the way it’s not a drug dealers burner phone I had it in the car’s glove box for 15 years just as an emergency phone)

 

[Barnoe]

If you nip into any phone shop, ask for a sim only deal

They will give you just the sim card and you can choose from a month to month rolling deal that you can get out of any time
They will also do a cheaper deal but you have to agree to a 12 month sim only contract.

But you should be fine.

All major networks do this.

 

[Monsieur]

If you nip into any phone shop, ask for a sim only deal

They will give you just the sim card and you can choose from a month to month rolling deal that you can get out of any time
They will also do a cheaper deal but you have to agree to a 12 month sim only contract.

But you should be fine.

All major networks do this.

In town next week so I’ll take the phone with me, thanks!
Wasn’t sure if SIM cards were still available for older phones to be honest

 

[Barnoe]

How about this
Fiver a month, but only £2.50 for first 3 month

 

[Monsieur]

How about this
Fiver a month, but only £2.50 for first 3 month

Interesting but being a tight bugger I’d rather have a pay as go one with no monthly fee as I’ll probably only use it 5 times in 10 years

 

[Barnoe]

This has no contract, just pay for what you use.
1p per minute
1p per text
1p per MB of data

Comes with a £10 of credit on it too.

https://www.1pmobile.com

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Are you sure it's the SIM that's not working? They're switching off the old 3G signal - not sure a 15 year old phone will speak 4G.

 

[Barnoe]

Thats a fair point.

Check the Nokia Model and see if its 4G enabled.
if its 2G or 3G only that service has been switched off now.

 

[ronnie69]

From very vague memory of PAYG, another issue might be that if you don't use the phone at least once within a set period, the supplier will decide that you don't want or need the credit balance that you paid them for and may even turn off the number altogether. As such when you reach in to the glove box to use it on that once in a blue moon occasion, you may be SOOL. You would (I think) be able to make calls to the emergency services (provided the phone is 4g enabled as said above) but would not be able to call anyone else. Daylight robbery but there we are...

I don't recall if they even need to tell you they plan to turn off your number. May be academic if it's squirreled away in the glove box and will only see the light of day many months or years down the line.

Having said that, you must have to charge it up from time to time even though the batteries on those brick phones lasted aeons

 

[squibb34]

The OP's phone looks like Nokia 106 feature phone, which was originally 2G when launched in 2013. Famous for having around 3 weeks standby, they were ideal for oldies who only wanted a basic phone, rather than a fully featured smart phone with all the attendant apps & paraphernalia.

Later HMD Global (Nokia) 106 models, post 2022, are now 4G enabled & retail at around £30. SWMBO still insists on running a similar 4G feature phone for the glovebox/emergency, on a Pay/Go basis - it keeps her happy, but the only benefit is size & standby time.

 

[Santa-2512]

To keep any sim (& number) active, one phone call must be made / revcieved by said sim at least once every 6 months

 

[LOLGEOFF]

From very vague memory of PAYG, another issue might be that if you don't use the phone at least once within a set period, the supplier will decide that you don't want or need the credit balance that you paid them for and may even turn off the number altogether. As such when you reach in to the glove box to use it on that once in a blue moon occasion, you may be SOOL. You would (I think) be able to make calls to the emergency services (provided the phone is 4g enabled as said above) but would not be able to call anyone else. Daylight robbery but there we are...

I don't recall if they even need to tell you they plan to turn off your number. May be academic if it's squirreled away in the glove box and will only see the light of day many months or years down the line.

Having said that, you must have to charge it up from time to time even though the batteries on those brick phones lasted aeons

My phone on EE payg seems to keep working if I ring 150 to get my credit details, which of course is free, I've done this for years now and had no problems.

 

[Simon_100]

I use mine as a handy portable alarm clock.

 

[Paul G (BHT)]

Is there such a thing as a PAYG SIM any more, as in you put £10 credit on it and it stays on it until you have used it in calls or txts…. like it used to be many years ago?

Last time I had one in a spare phone £10 seemed to expire after a month even though I used it only once.

 

[wessie]

https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/top-up/ - you can put credit on the SIM and use it as PAYG. Does not expire but you have to make 1 SMS/call every 90 days or this applies.

37. You must make an outbound call or text in any 90-day period for your SIM to remain active. If you don't do this, the SIM will enter a restricted state which means you will only be able to receive inbound calls and texts. If this happens you can contact our customer service team to reactivate the SIM. If you do not make at least one chargeable call or send one chargeable SMS/MMS every six months (in either case that results in a charge against your Account or a deduction from the credit or bundle allowance recorded against your Account), then we may terminate this Agreement by giving you 30 days’ notice in writing that your Account will be closed and your SIM Card deactivated. If we send you such a notice, we will close your Account and deactivate your SIM Card at the end of the 30-day period. This will mean that you can no longer use the Services and you will not be able to make or receive calls (though you will still be able to dial 999) or send or receive text messages. If we close your Account under this paragraph 7 h), you will not be entitled to a refund of any unused credit or Allowances.

Giff Gaff has a similar PAYG SIM. Pretty sure this inactivity clause has applied to all PAYG for as long as I have used a mobile phone.

You can add a time limited top up e.g. if you want to use the SIM to provide data for navigation on a trip rather than using your main phone.

Just add a reminder in your calendar to send that text every 89th day.

 

[bowser]

fairly certain that phone will not do anything other than make a telephone call and then not everywhere, certainly wont do text or picture and no internet as stated the frequencies that it operated over have been switched off, you need a more recent phone