The key thing when you buy a new Virgin SIM card is to progress from the starter tariff to either the Big Data or Big Talk tariff ASAP. The easiest way to get onto one of the Big tariffs is to do a £10 top up on your new SIM card and then phone Virgin to request being put on a Big tariff. Then to show willing it is probably a good idea to top up by £10 on that month and also by £10 on the following month. Six months after probably the first, second or third top up you will qualify for a CPW PAYG upgrade so long as you made at least one 30p phone call in the previous 90 days. The good thing is that six months later you can make another PAYG upgrade so long as again you have made a 30p phone call in the previous 90 days. I top up my PAYG SIM by £10 at least twice a Year and so I can not guarantee that you can continue to buy phones every subsequent 6 months without making more £10 top ups.

I've read criteria here in the past, but the reality is that it can be quite random. I have a Virgin SIM that hasn't had a top-up in years that I've had a few PAYG upgrades on in the past, whilst an active O2 SIM with top-ups has never been granted a PAYG upgrade.

The last PAYG upgrade I did online for collect in store went through the whole process online with a printout at the end with reference number and everything, only for the store to say "nothing on our system with this reference number so can't give it to you" even with the printout in their hands! (got sorted on the phone with a lot of grief).

All this leads me to suspect the CW system really isn't up to the job - take advantage if the random number generator says yes!

The criteria for Virgin upgrades which is most often quoted on Hot UK Deals is that you need to have topped up your phone by £10 at least 6 months ago and that you need to have made a single 30p call in the last 90 days. This strategy works quite reliably with my older virgin SIM. However, it did not work with a Virgin SIM that I was sent a Year ago because I was stuck on the Starter tariff. I did two consecutive monthly £10 top ups earlier this Year so that I could move onto the Big Data tariff. I am confident that I will finally be able to upgrade using this SIM in July.

ha ha - I know what you mean (I bought one via upgrade for 99p - last year), bought this for the slightly better camera :smiley:

+1

The Y3 has a quad core 1.3 GHz processor which is potentially twice as fast as the Y330's dual core 1.3 GHz processor. The Y3 also runs Android Kit Kat which is much more secure than the older Android Jelly Bean in the Y330. The biggest downside is that only 1.55 Gb of its 4 Gb of flash memory is available for Apps, which is storage for about 6 apps. You can move some Apps to your memory card but you need to install them first to your phone's flash memory which can get complicated.

What phone network is she on?

Topcashback offering £5.25 cashback so you're in the black if you qualify.

£5 for a online / offline GPS, Dash cam, Nanny cam, Security camera, Intercom, IP Phone, Remote audio playback (connect to your amp like Chromecast Audio), Mp3 player (aux / bluetooth), Wifi remote control for compatible electronics, Wifi mouse / keyboard for HTPC, RDP to home PCs (TeamViewer), Retro Emulator (connect a gamepad), etc, etc...
Yeah - complete waste of money!