I've had a dual SIM phone for a few weeks and I'm really beginning to see the advantages of having one.
However, I have a main mobile number and don't want an alternative number, if I can help it. So, to keep things simple I've been toying with the idea of getting either a PAYG SIM for emergency use, or a data SIM card to go into my phone's second SIM slot.
For an emergency SIM, I can't fault Vodafone's network: I have never lived anywhere in the south of England where there isn't a good Vodafone signal for calls and texts. Looking at Ofcom's coverage maps, it's clear that Vodafone does have the best coverage for many miles around north Hampshire.
But Vodafone PAYG is stupidly expensive! They have hidden their new (July 2016) PAY pricing away on the Vodafone website so that you can't discover that it'll cost you 55p per minute!
Anyhoo, Vodafone are just too expensive and my thoughts were to try one of the few Vodafone MVNOs as an alternative - Talkmobile.
Talkmobile have come under a lot of fire over the past two years for really bad customer service (unexpected billing charges, crippling people's credit ratings through putting defaults on their credit files, etc.), so I am a bit wary of them.
Seeing how I won't be using this spare SIM very much I wanted to know how long my PAYG credit would last if I used Talkmobile, so I went onto their webchat.
I never got an answer to my question: All that the CS adviser wanted me to do was take out a SIM only contract with them. She refused to answer my question about PAYG and kept badgering me with their SIM only "deals".
I soon gave up and closed the chat window, as it was clear that if this is what Talkmobile's customer service is like, I (and you) would be better off giving them a very wide berth.
Talkmobile, you can't expect customers to put any faith in you if your customer service is this bad.
