my lads after a bog standard phone, you know, like the good old days, phone calls, texts, no data.

he thought he’d found one for £11, but apparently it was 2G, hes got a three rolling sim for £8 a month, but he says that sim wont work with a crap 2G phone.

so…….. should he bin the three sim and get a 2G sim? (is there even such a thing these days?)  thinking about it, £8 is probs OTT for him now anyway as he doesnt want data.  he’d probably still want unlimited texts tho.

or would he be better served with a modern ‘crap’ phone and stick to his £8 3G sim?  if so, what ar ehis choices?

thanks

That makes no sense.  If he’s not using data then whether it’s a 2G, 4G or 47G SIM shouldn’t make a fig of difference, those are terms that all relate to the data network.  Any SIM bought in the UK is still GSM which is what voice and SMS require.

When he says it “won’t work,” what specifically doesn’t work?  Symptoms?  Error messages?

Three only have a 3G/4G network. They don’t have any 2G coverage. So it won’t work if your phone doesn’t support 3G.

All of the other networks still have working 2G coverage. So would work fine with a 2G phone. Though there may be some places where 2G coverage is lacking, compared to 3G/4G. Or if the 2G network is more congested, it could be less reliable.

Unless I’m very much mistaken, if the network is only 3G and above then it won’t work for data if the phone doesn’t support 3G.  Which the OP has said he’s not using.  So it’s an irrelevance, unless the original premise is incorrect.  The telephone network is still GSM (or I’ve greatly misunderstood how the 3G network works).

if two experts ^^^ cant agree on whether itd work or not, what chance has my donut of a lad got 😀

may be a moot point anyway, if he gets a crap 2G phone then he’d be better off binning the £8 three sim anyway as it includes data.

what sims would give him unlimited texts, and not at a monthly cost?  or if it is a monthly cost then cheaper than £8?

and what are his options for a modern non-smartphone these days?

ta

If it’s a 2g only handset it may not support the frequency bands used by three.

I’ve a brand new in box Nokia asha you can probably have for postage that I think will work. Send me a message and I’ll dig out the details. Nothing on the box suggests it’s locked version.

2G/3G/4G networks are carried on variety of different frequencies. While voice isn’t using the data element necessarily it still runs on one of those networks. The SIM authorises registration on the network. The bands are grouped into GSM, Hspa and LTE. Data is various protocols on top (GPRS, Edge, HSPA, HSPA+, LTE/4G,amongst others, but they’re generalised as GPRS/2G/3G/4G).

That said a 4G SIM will work on the others, but you can have a lower that doesn’t work on higher ‘G’. The phone itself also determines what networks it can work on.

Actually some voice may go over a higher rate protocol on better networks for improved quality and some have supposed HD voice, though only if calling someone else with the same.

What may cause a 3G SIM to not work in some phones is the SIM card size as these vary. But you can request a replacement SIM for the right size or use an adapter.

Anyway, Nokia 3310 3G. Redesign of the old classic, is a feature phone, not smart though can do some data, and works on 3G.

thanks chaps, and nixie, you got pm……

assuming he may bin his three sim, is his only realistic option PAYG?  or are there £5pm sims with unlimited texts say?

Giffgaff will give you unlimited texts and 250 minutes for £7.50 per month.

Point of order, I’m not an expert here. Thanks though.

Sadx- see if you can blag an old Tesco payg SIM off someone.  I have one c 10 years old.  You don’t have a min top up so it’s cheap as chips.  New ones you have to put a credit on every 6 months or they drop you.  Mines in an old Nokia- battery lasts a week.  Good luck