[3GScottishUser]

Looking around the deals now it's amazing that 3 have any PAYG customers.

Take a 60 minute call to another mobile network...

On WePay (3) it'll cost 60 X 30p = £18.00 (Anytime) (5p inbound call credit only up to the value of top ups) - so if inbound generates maximum benefit the 60 minute call X/Net is £15.00

On Vodafone Smartstep with Stop the Clock its 3 X 30p + 57 X 5p peak = £ 4.75 or 90p off peak if you have not spent 3 mins that day or just 15p if you have.

On T-Mobile its 12p per minute = £ 7.20

Fresh is 15p a minute so = £ 9.00

Tesco Extra is 10p per minute so £ 6.00

Is it any wonder 3 have to give away handsets to gain prepay customers?

Little do they realise they are paying way too much for the calls... or maybe they will and the landfills will soon be stacked high with ZTE's and Moto c975's.

The PAYG market is a minefield just now so you have to check the details to get the best deal... as ever.

[Hands0n]

The PAYG market is getting really hard to keep tabs on and truly understand. Headline rates are very misleading, in the main. Off-net (i.e. to another network) is, as you rightly say, a total minefield. On-net rates are very attractive, and items such as Vodafone's Family (£5pcm for all you can eat between five numbers) is astonishing value - if you are in that particular market.

And thats the rub; you have to do your own personal analysis of how you use your mobile to then have a template to hold up against the various networks' tariffs. There is, clearly, no one single PAYG deal that is a fit-for-all.

I once tried to assemble a spreadsheet to help others decide the best PAYG tariffs. I gave up after it being near-impossible to align the different tariffs for comparison purposes.