Low use Sim Card

[Gadget]

Having recently had problems with unwanted visitors we have put an alarm on the workshop and a series of infra red beams around the yard, they have external bells/sirens which will hopefully encourage our visitors to leave. The next step is to install a couple of diallers to alert us but we don't know what sim to buy. We are told that a cheap pay as you go will eventually switch off with no use and we feel that a pay monthly one would be an expensive way to go.
The question is; Are there any one off payment Sim Cards that will remain active with little or no use?
Thanks G

 

[Mur Huwcun]

You can get sim only pay monthly deals for less than £5 a month now, if you’re with BT broadband have a look at their mobile sim deals. Very good discount to be had by adding a sim to broadband

 

[Spartacus]

just put it in a phone every month and fire of a text or make a phone call to yourself for a few seconds? Or set it off on purpose so it calls you?

 

[Clive]

We use Tesco PAYG sim's in our gates - you can put £10 on it and set it up online to auto top up when credit falls below a set level

they don't expire when not used either but you can set most gate and alarm systems to send a text to you once a month etc to keep a sim active

 

[Steevo]

I think if you text or call the sim that counts too.

 

[HDAV]

There are specific ones for security applications http://www.quicksafe.co.uk/security-sim-cards-c32/quicksafe-security-secuirty-gsm-sim-payg-p57

a mate uses them on flood alarm systems installed all over the countryside. I’ll ask where he gets them as I’m sure at echeaper than the link but similar set up.

 

[JWL]

As said before, if you're with BT they have a £5/month sim cards

 

[honeyend]

I have a PAYG on my energiser. I can not remember when I last topped it up and it still works, I have had it about three years, I send it a text most days.

 

[A1an]

I have a sim card in both the Biomass and Hydro boiler/powerhouse, they are used to alert me of faults and alarms.

I went with Vodafone who have the longest 'idle' period of all the providers that I can use in this area.

They require a chargeable CALL, not a text, to be made once every six months. I have an old Nokia in the powerhouse that I pop the SIM in and dial my own mobile once every six months. I put a tenner in them March '17 and they still have 6 or 7 quid in them.

 

[eyezwideopen]

Giffgaff, no contract and you control the budget, just get a £5.00 permonth package

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Giffgaff, no contract and you control the budget, just get a £5.00 permonth package

£60 a year is a lot to pay to keep a SIM alive for a few text messages!

Loads of setup and/or usage options to keep a £10 top up going for months and months. You typically only need to send a text (or make an outbound call) every couple of months to keep a standard SIM alive from any of the majors. Either do it manually from a spare handset or setup the host device to do it. Easy peasy.

The only time I’d pay big money for a SIM is for a fixed IP address SIM - again these are usually sold by systems integrators like Wireless Logic for Machine-2-Machine (M2M) control in a fleet of devices rather than a one off where they are bloody expensive and other methods (Outbound VPN) can get the same result.

For a simple on farm job like these security beams or an alarm just get an Asda or Tesco SIM and chuck a tenner on it.

 

[honeyend]

May PYG sim card must be five years old, I think I have only ever put about £30 on it, as I use it to turn the electric fence on and off. It still works, I used to day, as I haven't topped it up it no longer sends a text back, but the sim is still responding to the text, the number comes up on the screen and turns off the fence.
Its Tesco mobile which is O2. So is it still working because its an old sim?

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

May PYG sim card must be five years old, I think I have only ever put about £30 on it, as I use it to turn the electric fence on and off. It still works, I used to day, as I haven't topped it up it no longer sends a text back, but the sim is still responding to the text, the number comes up on the screen and turns off the fence.
Its Tesco mobile which is O2. So is it still working because its an old sim?

How often do you text it (and it responds)? There’s probably still credit there. Have you checked?

 

[honeyend]

There is no credit, or else it would send a text back to the phone that sends the command, but it is still receiving the text and acting on it.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

There is no credit, or else it would send a text back to the phone that sends the command, but it is still receiving the text and acting on it.

As long as it works, then ask not why....but it could just stop one day too. I found my old Sony Ericsson T610 the other day in a box of junk. Had an old EE sim in it, last topped up and used about 12 months ago. Phone still had charge though. Unfortunately the SIM was kaput. Hey ho.

 

[f0ster]

voda switch it off after only about 8 weeks, tesco mobile on 02 if you can get a signal,

 

[J B]

It's all a bit of a grey area this cut-off time.

I *think* that the networks stipulate that you *may* be cut off if your phone does not undergo a 'chargeable event' within X days.

When DD1 upgraded her phone on Three maybe 7 (?) years ago she was given a free PAYG sim card to put in her old phone 'to give to a friend or family member'
DD2 had free 'three to three' calls and used to phone home to this number as it cost her nothing.
We never put any credit on the phone in it's whole (5 year?) lifetime so presumably an incoming call was sufficient to be called a 'chargeable event'

 

[Pilgrimmick]

Asda do one that does not run out if not used, no need to top up monthly etc.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Asda do one that does not run out if not used, no need to top up monthly etc.

They’re pretty good actually if you’ve got decent EE reception. I use a couple in a remote metering application which sends a meter reading (text message) every day back to the “cloud” portal.

A single £15 top up is enough to cover one years worth of daily updates (text messages). Far better value than the inclusive SIM which the service provider was willing to sell me on a 24 month contract that worked out at £8.80 per SIM per month.

 

[upnortheast]

Couple of trackers here have a Lycomobile sim in that a £10 top up lasts over a year