O2 UK Replaces Classic Pay-As-You-Go Plans with New Bundles

Mobile operator O2 UK appears to have scrapped their Classic Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) plans for new customers in favour of a refreshed range of Big Bundles, which include unlimited calls and texts as standard; these require you to top-up every month in order to get the allowance.

Previously customers had a selection of either the old Bundles or their Classic PAYG plans. Under the Classic plans customers only paid 3p per min for a call, 2p for a text and 1p for a MegaByte (MB) of data, which was fuelled by a £10 top-up and you simply purchased an additional top-up once that ran out. Good for occasional use that’s what many PAYG users tend to seek.

However, upon visiting O2’s PAYG page today, the Classic plans have vanished and instead the operator has refreshed their Big Bundles in order to make them more attractive. The new bundles all come with unlimited calls + texts (even on the new entry-level £5 option) and seemingly bigger data allowances, which still include a useful data roll-over to the next month for any unused allowance.

The new tariffs start from as little as £5 a month, although O2 states that their “minimum top-up amount is £10” and of course you have to top-up each month in order to get your allowance (stretching the definition of PAYG).

O2 Big Bundles (PAYG)

Nina Bibby, CMO of O2, said:

“Our new Pay & Glo campaign highlights how our new and improved Big Bundles offer the freedom and flexibility of being contract free whilst still being able to benefit from all the brightest bits of O2.

We want all our customers to be able experience the full range of benefits of being on O2, whether they choose a fixed contract or a Pay As You Go tariff. We understand that for some customers, having the freedom and flexibility of being on a contract-free tariff is important. Our Pay As You Go Big Bundles now offer customers the freedom to talk and text as much as they would like, while choosing the data they want.”

By comparison EE tends to sell PAYG access in “packs” (similar to Big Bundles) that expire every 30 days, which cost from £10 a pop (2GB of data, 100 mins and unlimited texts). Vodafone also have a similar approach but with a more attractive entry-level allowance, although they also offer a classic “Pay As You Go 1” plan that charges 20p a minute, 20p a text and 20p for every 5MB of data. This might sound like a lot but once you’ve spent £1 in a day, you won’t be charged a penny more until midnight.

Alternatively Three UK now appear to be the only one of the largest four major networks to still be offering a more traditional PAYG plan, which charges 3p per min for a call, 2p for a text, 1p for a MB of data and there are add-ons for extra data (mobile broadband) if you want (e.g. from £10 for 4GB – lasts for 30 days).