The joy of text from £10 a month

By JAMES CONEY FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated: 05:14 EST, 9 September 2009

Mobile phone firms are waging a text war - offering customers unlimited messages for as little as £10 a month.

Rivals T-Mobile and Virgin Media are offering customers as many texts as they want with a pay-monthly Sim card.

The battle for a slice of the lucrative mobile phone market continues

Virgin's Sim- only Supersize deal gives 200 minutes and unlimited texts for £10. Previously, customers received 200 minutes and 200 texts.

For £15 a month, callers can get 600 minutes and unlimited texts; for £18, they get 800 minutes and unlimited texts.

There are also unlimited calls to other Virgin Media customers.

The Sim- only deal comes with a 30-day contract, free voicemail in the UK and internet access from 30p a day.

However, despite being described as unlimited, there is a cap on the number of texts you can send in a month.

If you send more than 3,000 messages, you will have to pay more.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile, which this week announced a plan to merge with Orange, is also offering free texts for life on a £10-amonth top-up.

It is open only to customers who sign up this month or October to a Pay-As-You-Go contract from a T-Mobile store or online at its website.

j.coney@dailymail.co.uk