So I was thinking yesterday (potentially dangerous) about the ongoing situation with my parents and their $8million dollars in phone credit they never use.
(To catch anyone up, they’re both on PAYG, rarely use their phones but still have to put in a $10 phone card every month, Dad is sitting somewhere over $100 in credit that if he misses the expiry date, whoosh there it all goes)
Anyway, then it came to me, my moment of brilliance. Can anyone tell me if this exists?
You have a phone, you buy it, however much, and it’s PAYG, but instead of having to top it up, it’s linked to your credit card. So everytime you make a call, it just charges you. .50cents a minute, $1 a minute, whatever.
It probably does exist out there somewhere, like every great invention i’m always a step behind, but if it doesn’t…don’t any of you dare steal it! 🙂
(Or if you can make it happen, I’m happy to sell the idea off 😉
I'm pretty sure we have that in the UK… I certainly had a Vodafone data card that was billed like that a few years ago.
You can SORT of do that in the US.. both AT&T and T-Mo have plans that allow you to pay a fixed monthly fee, no contract, up front. Then beyond that amount, you get charged a per minute rate.
So for example, if you are on the 29.00 300 minute plan, and you go over, it charges you whatever the per minute charge is. You have to have a credit card on file to use this option.
Now, I THINK
See that's still more than the $10 a month they're currently paying, I was thinking no monthly fee (or a very minimal one) and they just get charged as they use the time. May only be 5 minutes a month.
So…lets get this straight…you want a service that you literally pay for what you use?
Like a petrol pump – but one where we can leave the forecourt for days or weeks before the attendant gets paid?
Your saying that we could use texts, mins and data before paying for them – yet kinda paying for them (via a credit facility)?
What happens if the credit card is a fraudulent one?
What happens if the payment channel cannot honour the usage?
What is the risk exposure to the vendor?
Ouch head hurts – this operator game is confusing 😉
What would be good is a similar system to the way Transport for London's automatic Pre-pay Oyster card works… when your balance reaches a pre-determined amount (eg: £5) it automatically tops-up another pre-determined amount from your credit/debit card… surely that's possible (if not already done)?
Virgin Mobile UK already offers a Payg service where one of the options is you can pay by direct debit..
http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=payasyougo.payment.options.shop.sm035
Already available on Ikea PAYG for one.
http://www.familymobile.co.uk/services/automatic-top-up
Dan – how does your balance exist?
Are you saying you pay a certian amount and that creates a balance that renews when your balance reaches a certian level…….?
Pretty sure you can do that with some of our MVNO's, like Virgin. You set up a Direct Debit that just takes what you owe out of your account each month. Fairly sure that's what happens, unless I've misunderstood.
t-mobile had a payg with auto topups didnt they? checks http://www.t-mobile.co.uk
its called U-fix
mind you ive never had any PAYG that i had to top up
ive an 02 and t-mobile one i top up about once every 6 months
no problem.
Sounds like your in the wrong country. Move your parents to the UK. If i recall correctly the minimum time for a top up is £5 within a 6 month period on other networks and £5 on vodafone i think. Only thing your parents would have to do is make one outgoing call or receive one outgoing call during that period. Heck, for the sake of it, your mum could ring your dad and vice versa once a month.
This is exactly what virgin used to do, and I always used to put my contract sims onto orange's virgin value promise, so still have a couple that work this way. There is no upfront monthly fee, the first few minutes each day are charged at a higher rate and then you pay the rest per minute, receiving a bill at the end of the month for calls made. Don't seem to do it anymore, I guess since payment is always in arrears, rather than up front, they do not get thhe benefit of interest.
Let's say you buy your card and start with £20 credit on it. You set up an agreement that if the balance ever falls below £5.00 – your credit card will be charged £10 for a top up.
So, on one journey your balance goes down to £4.56. They automagically take a tenner off your card and your new balance is £14.56.
You can, of course, top up with a larger amount at any time.
I think it's a great system.
Sounds like your in the wrong country. Move your parents to the UK. If i recall correctly the minimum time for a top up is £5 within a 6 month period on other networks and £5 on vodafone i think. Only thing your parents would have to do is make one outgoing call or receive one outgoing call during that period. Heck, for the sake of it, your mum could ring your dad and vice versa once a month.
This is exactly what virgin used to do, and I always used to put my contract sims onto orange's virgin value promise, so still have a couple that work this way. There is no upfront monthly fee, the first few minutes each day are charged at a higher rate and then you pay the rest per minute, receiving a bill at the end of the month for calls made. Don't seem to do it anymore, I guess since payment is always in arrears, rather than up front, they do not get thhe benefit of interest.
Let's say you buy your card and start with £20 credit on it. You set up an agreement that if the balance ever falls below £5.00 – your credit card will be charged £10 for a top up.
So, on one journey your balance goes down to £4.56. They automagically take a tenner off your card and your new balance is £14.56.
You can, of course, top up with a larger amount at any time.
I think it's a great system.
Dan – how does your balance exist?
Are you saying you pay a certian amount and that creates a balance that renews when your balance reaches a certian level…….?
Pretty sure you can do that with some of our MVNO's, like Virgin. You set up a Direct Debit that just takes what you owe out of your account each month. Fairly sure that's what happens, unless I've misunderstood.
t-mobile had a payg with auto topups didnt they? checks http://www.t-mobile.co.uk
its called U-fix
mind you ive never had any PAYG that i had to top up
ive an 02 and t-mobile one i top up about once every 6 months
no problem.
Sounds like your in the wrong country. Move your parents to the UK. If i recall correctly the minimum time for a top up is £5 within a 6 month period on other networks and £5 on vodafone i think. Only thing your parents would have to do is make one outgoing call or receive one outgoing call during that period. Heck, for the sake of it, your mum could ring your dad and vice versa once a month.
This is exactly what virgin used to do, and I always used to put my contract sims onto orange's virgin value promise, so still have a couple that work this way. There is no upfront monthly fee, the first few minutes each day are charged at a higher rate and then you pay the rest per minute, receiving a bill at the end of the month for calls made. Don't seem to do it anymore, I guess since payment is always in arrears, rather than up front, they do not get thhe benefit of interest.
Let's say you buy your card and start with £20 credit on it. You set up an agreement that if the balance ever falls below £5.00 – your credit card will be charged £10 for a top up.
So, on one journey your balance goes down to £4.56. They automagically take a tenner off your card and your new balance is £14.56.
You can, of course, top up with a larger amount at any time.
I think it's a great system.