Asda Slash Payg Prices From 1/9/08. 8p a minute call. 4p a text.

[leighvamessage]

"Today (Wednesday 20th August) ASDA unveils a new flat rate UK pricing structure for its Pay As You Go mobile phone service, which is set to save 45million UK PAYG users £2.38billion a year. Calls will be slashed to 8p a minute and texts to just 4p, making it Britain’s lowest PAYG operator.   

This latest price cut will be a warm welcome to cash strapped consumers battling the credit crunch in the week that other call providers have increased tariffs. The new rates are 80% cheaper than Virgin Mobile and customers will be charged the same rate whatever time of day they call and to any UK mobile network or landline, with no hidden charges. 

Darren Blackhurst ASDA's Trading Director said, “We are totally committed to giving our customers the lowest prices in Britain every day of the year. We are giving customers the UK's cheapest mobile call plan that's simple to understand and a tariff with no hidden extras".

OFCOM research showed that in 2007, 99 billion minutes of calls were made from the UK's 74 million mobile connections - a rise of 91% in the number of minutes since 2002.  The new calling plan takes effect from the 1st September 2008 and is applicable to both new and existing customers "

http://www.asda-press.co.uk/pressrelease/241

[mobaholic]

You beat me to posting about this by some 4 hours LVM.      Congratulations ! 

The article that I came across was at http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/aug/20/telecoms.supermarkets?gusrc=rss&feed=uknews

You have quoted one startling statistic - that it will be cheaper than Virgin by 80%.
( I am not sure how that statistic was arrived at: even if you compare X-net charges of 8p and 35p, the latter is 77.14 % cheaper, not 80% !    )

However, what interests me most is the disparity between Vodafone's own PAYG charges - reported yesterday to be rising from 15p to 20p - and ASDA's cut from 16p to 8!  As ASDA piggyback on Vodafone, this surely shows just how greedy that network is, and how unjustified are its own pricing plans.         

Vodafone is now our second largest mobile network ( it was pushed into second place when the size of Telefónica, added to O2, put O2 in pole position ), but it has always displayed a nasty greedy side, and pricing policies based on what it can 'get away with' rather than what was really justified.  ( Incidentally its share price has been sliding recently, as city opinion is that it is too dependent on traditional calls and SMS, rather than the more expensive data services provided by other networks.  This too can be traced back to its greedy characteristics: although it has recently had to halve the cost of its 3 GB mobile broadband to £15 per month to match the opposition, the damage has been done - as T-Mobile's 'Walk'n'Web, and particularly '3's mobile broadband, have caught most of the market share for themselves ).

It has come up with some smart marketting moves ( like 'Stop the Clock', and Vodafone Passport ) which have pulled in some punters, but after its latest announced intended increases, it is surely time for PAYG users to consider alternatives like the one you have highlighted early this morning - at least for short calls where 'Stop the Clock' doesn't cut in.       

Thank you for your valuable post LVM.       

[leighvamessage]

I  recall reading that Stop The Clock is not available to new payg customers after the 1/9/2008.

[Dave]

I  recall reading that Stop The Clock is not available to new payg customers after the 1/9/2008.

I too have read that, but I think mh had existing users (perhaps numbered in the milions!) in mind.   

[leighvamessage]

I  recall reading that Stop The Clock is not available to new payg customers after the 1/9/2008.

I too have read that, but I think mh had existing users (perhaps numbered in the milions!) in mind.   

I was merely making an observation in case members were unaware.Perhaps they might have liked to get stc before its removed. I was not trying to guess his thoughts.

[Dave]

I was merely making an observation in case members were unaware.  Perhaps they might have liked to get stc before its removed.    I was not trying to guess his thoughts.

That's fine.  I certainly agree that any Voda PAYG users who haven't added Stop the Clock yet should make haste and do so while it's still available!   

Thanks.   

[leighvamessage]

Although i have yet to see a full rate card,i have heard on Asda Payg that  internet access will cost 20p per megabyte from 1/9/08,and also international calls to any country will be 20p a minute.

[mobaholic]

Thanks for your OP, and for your informative replies LVM.       

For your information, and that of members, I have now found an Asda press release which confirms most of the figures that you have kindly provided.       

( Unfortunately some of it is in jolly small print, and I can't see anything about NGN pricing at all !      )

See:-   http://www.asda-press.co.uk/pressrelease/241

[mobileman]

Whilst agreeing with the comments of LVM and mh about the Asda price changes appearing to make it the best value Pay & Go offering going ( from September ), it may be poignant to observe that such possibilities show just how extortionate the main networks actually are.


To quote a comment made on another forum site:-

Which goes to show just how much the networks overcharge PAYG, if their Virtuals can cut prices and still make a profit.

If there was any real competition between the networks, Virtuals would not be able to exist.

Too true!

[mobaholic]

This service is now live, and some details of it can be seen here.       

Strangely the website says nothing about the cost of calls abroad, but if you pick up a leaflet from an Asda store, it confirms that "Calling abroad from the UK is only 20p per minute - that's to any country whether it be a mobile or a landline."       

However, there is still no mention of charges to call NGN's such as 0845, 0844, 0870 or 0871.       

I suppose we are expected to just guess these !       

[mobileman]

While LVM and mh have concentrated on aspects of the Asda pay & go service which make it the cheapest offering on the market currently, there are some more negative aspects which have not been mentioned to date (apart from the lack of info. about NGN costs etc.)!   

Firstly Asda have very quietly dropped their 10% bonus for topups in store or over the phone.   

Secondly, whilst their data charges appear exceptionally attractive as they display them, they are by no means the cheapest in this field if one wishes to use a lot of it: they simply don't offer a package.   

The basic figures stack up well for them: O2 Pay & Go £7-50 per MB; T-Mobile £7-48; Vodafone £7-17; Orange £4; Virgin £3(?); '3' £1; Asda 20p.  That sure makes then look the cheapest, doesn't it?   

But now consider packages: on O2 Pay & Go the web bolt on costs £7-50 per month for up to 200 MB, which makes its effective cost just 3.75p per MB; and '3' Pay & Go gives 2 GB of browsing on the mobile for just £5 per month ( 30 days ) - effectively just 0.25p per MB!   

Guess who gets my money for my monthly mobile browsing package!   

[mobaholic]

Thanks for your input mm.       

BTW the Asda mobile terms and conditions are here, and there is a pdf download for their Code of Practice here.

There has been some discussion on other sites about whether the Asda coverage is a good as Vodafone's or not.       
Most assume that it is, but some question it as there is no clear statement anywhere that I can find about whether Asda have access to Vodafone's 3G coverage, or if they are limited to much poorer 2G only.       

If LVM or anyone else knows the answer to that, please post below.  Thanks.       

[HiPD]

Does anyone actually have an Asda SIM?  If so, please will they answer the question about NGN charging for all interested.  Thanks.

[mobaholic]

Reading on other telecoms sites I have come across an alleged catch with this deal:-       

SMS when roaming cost 42p irrespective of which country you're in or you're sending to.       

I don't know if anyone can confirm this or explain it ?       

Why is it that mobile networks are so useless at publishing full pricelists ?       

[mobileman]

According to a post on another group, there is now some information about NGN pricing on the Asda Pay & Go tariff:-

I got a quick reply from Asda:

: Re your e mail, the charges for 0800, 0845 numbers is 8p per min,  0844 is
: 35p per min, 0870 depending on what number follows can be different prices
: eg. 08708 and 0870128 are 8p, but 08701, 087060 and 087062 are all 35p per
: min, and 0871 again can be different charges eg. 0871141 is 59p (fixed rate)
: and 08716 and 087170 are 35p per min.

Looks a bit of a dog's dinner.  I've never heard of differential charging
on 0870, only 0844 and 0871.

Not a very tidy picture, let alone an appetising one!