Vodafone PAYG

I am on one of those prepay credit plans with Vodafone, top up €20 a month to have "unlimited internet and calls" Anyway during the past two weeks we have been 7 days without power and my phone wasn't letting me access the internet so I assumed that i had used up my allowance of "unlimited"
I topped up by €20 but as my coverage as so intermittent when i checked my balance and it had 0 i assumed i hadn't had the coverage to top up so went and topped up yet again by €20.
So last Friday again without power and unable to access internet i checked my account balance was 0. I got in touch eventually with the vodafone operator and he told me that once you are on a plan, when you top up by 20€ on this plan that you reactivate it and whatever balance was left since the last plan is not carried forward. so instead of having 60 on my account i now had just the 20. He told me everyone knows this and it is listed on the site on the terms and conditions?? dose everyone else know this?
You can top up by 5,10,15,25 whatever and it will be added to your account but the magic number of €20 no, that just reactivated your offer

You mean this?

I just topped up - why do I have no credit?​

Your pay as you go plan will be activated every time you top up by your top up amount or more in one transaction. €20 / €30 will be used to activate your pay as you go plan allowance depending on your chosen plan. As a result, your balance will appear as €0.00 on your account but you will have activated your chosen top up offer.
For Example, on Extra Unlimited when you top up by €30 or more in one transaction, the €30 is used to activate your allowance of unlimited calls, text and data and 100 international minutes.

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Sounds a bit like how other fixed price plans operate where you buy a monthly membership/subscription for a fixed price that gives you your monthly calls/texts/mobile data allowances and doesn't appear as cash credit on your account thereafter. Unlike other pay as you go services where you top-up your cash credit balance and that is used to pay for services as you use them.

There are probably better value pay as you go/SIM only packages available.

aerobubbles said:

He told me everyone knows this and it is listed on the site on the terms and conditions?? dose everyone else know this?

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I have Vodafone Anytime 10,000 any network minutes and texts and 10Gb of data on Ready to Go mainly because I like their coverage. Top up by €20 every 28 days. Each month they send me a reminder text which confirms exactly what the guy told you. It also confirms my carry-over data if there is any left over. I use the home wi-fi mostly.

If you check back on your phone if you have any of their reminder texts you should be able to check it. Just looking back at mine and it says each month:

Remember if you top up by €20 or more in one go before the expiry date, your offer will reset and your remaining allowances will not carry forward at the time of top up. It then gives a link to the relevant T&Cs.

ClubMan said:

There are probably better value pay as you go/SIM only packages available.

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Within the range of options available, are some options better than others, particularly in terms of coverage.

Even within the same provider, the service seems to differ. I’m with 3, paying about 35 a month. Coverage can be patchy unless in the most favourable circumstances. My wife is also with 3 on a business account but paying over 60 a month and has no coverage issues whatsoever.

Yeah, unfortunately, this is the way Vodafone PAYG works, if you top up by the €20 or more (assuming your plan is €20), then your 28 days is reset. Theoretically you could top up €20 today and then €20 tomorrow and all you will get is 29 days in total for €40

You can get SIM only 5G all data, calls, texts for 13-15 a month why pay more?

Those PAYG plans that reset your credit when you top up are a joke. You're paying to throw away your credit. People shouldn't give these companies their custom.

AlbacoreA said:

You can get SIM only 5G all data, calls, texts for 13-15 a month why pay more?

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Because in some areas the coverage on the cheaper plans is dreadful. Isn't it a case that some companies only piggy back onto other's masts so coverage can be bad?

If you're using the same mast coverage should be the same unless they throttle or lower priority on it.

If you're getting better reception or service then fair enough. I suspect that no longer true in many cases. Depends on your location.