On 19/07/2019 15:07, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 14:45:40 on Fri, 19
Jul 2019, MissRiaElaine remarked:
Networks have tried hard over the years to introduce their
equivalentÂ* ofÂ* "standing charges" to fight back a little bit. One
I'll beÂ* writing aboutÂ* later (in more detail) in another
subthread, is the O2Â* requirement thatÂ* PAYG phones wanting to use
the tube Wifi are toppedÂ* up at least once aÂ* month.

A standing charge equals a contract. Making someone top up monthly
isÂ* effectively forcing them onto one in all but name.
Â*It's a slight discount, because the typical top-up would be £10 and
theÂ* typical contract £30. And because you can stop any time you like
(apartÂ* from some more recent hybrid plans that include a
partly-subsidisedÂ* phone) it's not in any sense a "contract".

Semantics. In all but name it is. If you have to pay a certain amount
of money each month regardless of how much you use it, then to me it's
a contract.

It's vastly more than semantics. The whole point of the "contract"
system for mobile phones (and many other infrastructure accounts) is
locking someone in for a minimum period. The impossibility of resigning
early is the only thing about the contract that ever really maters.

You can have one-month rolling contracts, say £10 a month. Some
operators may call it PAYG but it's still a contract as far as I'm
concerned and I wouldn't touch one with a very long pole.

For my usage, PAYG with no topup required fits the bill. Why would I pay
more..?


--
Ria in Aberdeen

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