ASDA pay as you go - fantastic value (Asda Mobile Network)

Member Name: dmandrew

Product:	Asda Mobile Network
Date:	19/05/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 4p texts and 8p calls in the UK

Disadvantages: None that I can see

I have just switched to ASDA for my pay as you go mobile, and am delighted.

The thing that attracted me was a display in the store that quoted astonishing prices - 4p per text to any network, and 8p per minute to any phone in this country.

Having had Virgin as my phone provider since getting a mobile a few years ago, I had enjoyed the 3p Virgin to Virgin text service, but did not like having to pay 30p per minute for the first three minutes of most calls - this could easily mount up.

For 50p it was possible to get an ASDA SIM card. They offer them free of you top up at the same time, but I wasn't sure that I could easily move networks, so 50p seemed reasonable just to find out.

We have two fairly old Nokias. On one I could switch to ASDA straight away, but the other one needed unlocking. Luckily, I found a website that helped me to do this free.

Once you are with ASDA, you are on the Vodafone network. Where we work, this gives better reception, but that could just be a local advantage.

You can take your old number with you. To do this, you ring up your old provider. Virgin quizzed me about why I was moving providers, but they admitted that they could not compete with ASDA's PAYG price. Once I had given the Port Authorisation code to Asda, my number was restored to the ASDA network within about four days.

ASDA give you a bit of credit on your phone to get you started. It was meant to be 25p, but we ended up with £1! To get your balance, there is a number to dial, which gets you a text message. There's a voicemail service too, and you set up an easy top up by telephing ASDA.

Summary: Easy to set up and costs so little