Mobile Network Comparison

A couple of months ago we reported on the T-Mobile rip-off tactics of secretly removing Lycamobile numbers from its inclusive package of voice minutes. Following up on that article, we can now reveal that T-Mobile erroneously list UK-based 07 mobile numbers that were originally issued by LycaMobile as “international” in order to allow their billing systems to charge customers extra.

Like 3, Vodafone and Orange, LycaMobile issue phone numbers on the 074 range (specifically the 07404 prefix code) and T-Mobile automatically charges customers for calls to these numbers even if they have minutes remaining. While some customers have managed to get one-off refunds by complaining and threatening to call Ofcom or CISAS, it seems this is an official T-Mobile policy that is here to stay regardless of its dubious legality.

T-Mobile have thankfully advised the full range of numbers that are not included in their allowances and have confirmed that the additional charges are specified in their Terms and Conditions of service:

Unfortunately this doesn’t fix the ethical issue of it being utterly unpractical for the average user to check whether a phone number is on the blacklist before dialling. Indeed, we would have thought that it would be a completely reasonable assumption to assume that all UK mobile numbers are allowed for inclusive minutes. The regulators have made it clear that mobile tariffs have to be transparent and nobody could claim that T-Mobile’s advertising about this is at all transparent. In any case, Ofcom, clearly indicate that “numbers 071 to 075 and 077 to 079 are UK mobile numbers”.

A potential solution if you are a Lycamobile user would be to try to request a PAC from another SIM and port in a non-074 number and see whether this addresses the issue. You could even use this opportunity to get a new personalised Gold phone number.

Here at Mobile Network Comparison, we’re always working hard to give you the best information possible to choose a great PAYG tariff. Unlike other comparison sites, we make sure we cover every option available to ensure that you don’t miss out on an offer. That’s why we look at things like unlimited data and unlimited texts and point out the offers that are truly unlimited as opposed to those that just claim to be.

We also pride ourselves on the articles and features we regularly put out. For example, we’re really chuffed that we’re now able to offer you professionally-cut Giffgaff micro-SIMs posted out to you absolutely free of charge. Best of all, we’ve arranged for you to get £5 free credit on all our micro-SIMs so Giffgaff becomes even better value on your iPhone 4S or iPad. Of course, we also still offer £5 free credit on our regular Giffgaff SIM cards which are also completely free.

We’ve got an update on the new Giffgaff data-only goodybags and have updated our Giffgaff review with all the relevant information. There’s also a great new article about how to get special Gold phone numbers absolutely free by using a deal that Family Mobile offer. Once you’ve chosen your premium number, we have instructions on how to port it away to your preferred network.

We are always on the lookout for new deals and even brand new mobile networks that can save you money. We also go back and check the latest changes in the prices we publish as well as contact networks to get the latest straight from the horses’ mouths. These are some of the many behind-the-scenes updates we’re constantly working on to ensure that you get the latest and most accurate information all over our site especially on our sortable price comparison table. We also update our individual reviews pages regularly with the latest pricing for texts, calls and mobile data. In fact, we even made a small tweak to our list of mobile network reviews so that the networks are ordered alphabetically allowing you to find what you’re looking for quicker.

These are just some of the minor tweaks and little information updates we’re making to the site all the time to help you keep ahead and accurately compare all the mobile networks. And of course, we love reading and replying to your comments every day and try to help in any way we can 🙂

We’ve been working hard to set up our latest service – professionally cut Giffgaff micro-SIMs suitable for use in iPhones and iPads. Following the announcement of the data-only goodybag so that you can use iPads on Giffgaff, we thought it was about time to invest in a SIM cutter and offer our readers specially pre-cut micro-SIMs. You’ll be pleased to hear that we’re offering this service for no charge whatsoever and we’re aiming to ship them out within one working day by First Class mail so hopefully it won’t take too long for the postie to arrive so you can start using your new micro-SIM. Best of all, every one of our Giffgaff micro-SIMs comes with £5 bonus credit completely free so you get even better value. To order yours today, just head over to our dedicated Giffgaff micro-SIM page and submit your order.

On the same page you can read a detailed guide on getting an iPhone working with Giffgaff as well as tariff comparisons and rates for data bundles. We’ve also answered some other questions including ones about micro-SIMs in general and using Giffgaff on an iPad. And rest assured all our micro-SIMs are professionally cut by specialised tools rather than scissors so they are guaranteed to work. Get your Giffgaff micro-SIM right now 🙂