# What's the cheapest pay as you go phone you can buy?



## familyguy (23 Aug 2012)

Hi

Just wondering what is the cheapest basic phone you can buy?

I went into a carphone warehouse and they want €40 for a basic handset but you don't get any free call credit.

Basically a friend of mine is coming to Ireland for a few weeks and he's a complete technophobe, he asked me to pick up the cheapest pay as you go phone I can find so he can make and receive calls and send the odd text message while he's here. Nothing fancy required.

Would Tesco be the place to look? I know they're doing phones now.

I haven't bought a phone for a long time so was just hoping to get some help with this, thanks.

(sorry about the title typo - won't let me edit it.)


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## flattea2 (23 Aug 2012)

I dont mean to be funny but why dont you look at the various companys websites?


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## reddanmm (23 Aug 2012)

The post office have a basic phone for 34 euro with 10 euro free credit . Buy instore or online . 
Do any of your family or friends have any old phones lying around if so you will only need a new sim card .


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## familyguy (23 Aug 2012)

flattea2 said:


> I dont mean to be funny but why dont you look at the various companys websites?


 
Well it's because I'm at work and most of those sites are blocked. And I've just moved house so I've no broadband connection at the moment. 

I don't have any old phones I could use unfortunately.


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## dereko1969 (23 Aug 2012)

Could they not use their own phone and just buy a local sim card - i thought O2 or Tesco were selling them for a fiver.


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## demoivre (23 Aug 2012)

dereko1969 said:


> Could they not use their own phone and just buy a local sim card - i thought O2 or Tesco were selling them for a fiver.



I think the phone needs to be SIM free for you to be able to do that.


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## Mrs Vimes (23 Aug 2012)

I got a pay as you go in Tesco for €30 a few months ago which came with €20 free credit (although I possibly only got that credit because I ported my number to them). If you top up by €10 you get an extra €10 free credit.

There is a thread on here about different payg options.


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## AlbacoreA (24 Aug 2012)

Harvey Norman

€24.99 Samsung E1080 Sim Free Mobile Phone
€19.99 Alcatel One Touch 228 - Sim Free Mobile Phone

Tesco

Nokia 100 Pay As You Go €19.99

PowerCity

SAMSUNG E1080 MOBILE PHONE 
No Contract 
 €19.95

Theres lot of contract phones around for not much more. Some places also have offers on like this...

http://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/category/Clearance-Listings/333.3


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## flattea2 (24 Aug 2012)

Ask your friend to ring his network and check if it is SIM locked.

If not, he can just get a pay as you go SIM card here.


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## AlbacoreA (24 Aug 2012)

Just to note...



> Visitors from the United States and Canada:
> 
> If you are using a GSM/UMTS phone network and you have a triband / quadband handset, your phone should work perfectly in Ireland. For example, in the United States AT&T and T-Mobile and in Canada Rogers use GSM/UMTS networks.
> 
> ...


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