Virgin Media VM665: Affordable Alactel flip phone £30 on pay-as-you-go

If you’re in the market for a super-budget phone on pay-as-you-go, then Virgin Media’s VM665 should sort you out.

The VM665 is a sleek-looking oval flip phone that’s made by Alcatel and costs just £29.99 plus a £10 top up.

Thanks to the expandable memory (up to 8GB with a microSD card) and the 3.5mm headphone jack, the VM665 can also double as an inexpensive MP3 player. There’s also an FM radio as well, should you get bored of your playlists.

Other features of the VM665 include a 2-megapixel camera (no flash), access to Facebook and Twitter social networks and email (Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail). The VM665 is not a 3G phone (GPRS only) so Facebooking on the go could be a bit of a slog. There’s no Wi-Fi either.

Topping up £10 a month on Virgin Media’s Addict pay-as-you-go tariff sees you getting 300 free texts.

Topping £15 a month will earn you unlimited texts and 1GB of mobile web use – perfect for occasional Facebook updates on the go, which could otherwise be pretty costly over GPRS on the normal rate of 30p per day for 25MB.

Calls to UK landlines and mobile numbers on Virgin Media’s Addict tariff cost 26p per minute and texts normally cost 10p per message.

This rate falls to 8p per minute and 8p per text on Virgin Media’s Simply 8 plan. You can sign up for if you’ve got any additional Virgin Media services in the home (broadband, TV or landline services).