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Bewildered by choice - suggestions needed..

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My 5 year old Nokia 3210 has finally packed up. Dropping it last week has not helped and now I need a new phone.

I'm on PAYG with Virgin and have about £5 worth of credit left.

Having trawled round SIX different shops today the choices seem bewildering.

I'm looking for another PAYG phone (as I only want it for very occasional use) - not necessarily wth Virgin (as their help line and attitude are less than helpful as I found out today).

Are there any decent deals about?

I will not be able to trade in my oldie as it does not even switch on now (so the man in Orange told me earlier).
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Comments

  • jf2404
    jf2404 Posts: 471 Forumite
    100 Posts
    http://www.!!!!!!.com/index.asp Green box on the left hand side shows the top 5 PAYG, but click on any phone and then click on payg and it will show the price.
  • I know its PAYG you're after - but there's some cracking deals (some free) on contracts at present. The only downside is
    1) Credit rating needs to be ok to take a contract out.
    2) Most are cashback - ie you pay say £20-£30 pcm and get it back in stages say months 4,8 &12 of the contract. Some retailers may go to the wall in this time but the likes of Onestopphoneshop/E2Save and Carphonewarehouse are all part of Carphonewarehouse so are pretty secure.
    3) Be organised - to sent off your bills and collect the cashback.

    You could end up with a top of the range phone and xnet minutes for less than the cost of PAYG. Fair enough - if contract is not for you - just from my own experience I was paying more with PAYG and cheapie phones than now with a contract that was effectively free and a £200 phone.

    Here's a selection of current deals
    http://www.onestopphoneshop.co.uk/ourdeals.php?PROV=VODA&OFF=V6230I&TAR=CN20012
    Nokia 6230i - £8pcm with 200xnet minutes

    http://www.onestopphoneshop.co.uk/ourdeals.php?PROV=OR&OFF=3120&TAR=OVPR200
    Nokia 3120 - £1.33pcm with 200xnet minutes.

    http://www.mobileshop.com/mobile-phones/o2/pay-monthly/motorola-v220.php/PNEWO2V2200003
    Motorola V220 - Free with 200 xnet minutes

    http://www.mobileshop.com/mobile-phones/o2/pay-monthly/sony-ericsson-t630.php
    Sony T630 - Free with 100xnet minutes and 100 texts

    Apologies - if you feel like I've hijacked this thread - just it can be better moneysaving to get a contract rather than PAYG at present.
  • Wow! Thanks for the replies. I'm still bewildered by the choice but will look at the contract phones as well.
  • Edinburghlass_2
    Edinburghlass_2 Posts: 32,680 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Can't get much cheaper than this PAYG Virgin. No need to pay for a sim as you would already have your own.

    Can't help but feel you have been unlucky in getting aless than helpful cs at Virgin as I have always found them to be very helpful.
  • Having thought a lot more about your reply AllThatMularky, and spoken to a (disinterested) person at TheMobileShop it seems I would be miles better off going for a contract and claiming back the line rental.

    The Motorola V220 is a nice phone - and effectively it's free. My usage is never more than a few texts per month and certainly no more than 30 mins per month in phone calls so it's a great deal for me.

    The £25 initial line rental is also a form of savings 'cos I can claim it back - all in all a cracking deal!

    My other half is so impressed he wants one as well! His usage is the same as mine so looks like he'll be having one as well.

    If anyone else wants to know (cos I did ask...) if you don't wanna continue the contract after the 12 months you must give them 30 days written notice before the contract expires.

    You may also be able to save on insurance (the first 3 months is free) by checking if your household insurance covers it.

    Many thanks.
  • Just to save a further few pennies - https://www.quidco.com will give you £30 for each contract at the Mobileshop. So if you and your husband end up buying two - that's £60. Quidco - is a cashback scheme that you sign up and they receive money from Mobileshop for introducing the sale and forward that money to you - they take £5 for the joining fee.
    Be aware that the V220 is 200xnet mins for three months then 100xnet there after.
  • tonyg_2
    tonyg_2 Posts: 494 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    My 5 year old Nokia 3210 has finally packed up. Dropping it last week has not helped and now I need a new phone.

    I'm on PAYG with Virgin and have about £5 worth of credit left.

    Having trawled round SIX different shops today the choices seem bewildering.

    I'm looking for another PAYG phone (as I only want it for very occasional use) - not necessarily wth Virgin (as their help line and attitude are less than helpful as I found out today).

    Are there any decent deals about?

    I will not be able to trade in my oldie as it does not even switch on now (so the man in Orange told me earlier).

    Deleted_User

    I have had good and bad experiences with Virgin customer service - but it's a lot better than the competition.

    I would suggest that you think about buying a Nokia 1100 from Virgin. This is a great basic phone, but having just bought one I love it! As you are an existing Virgin customer (like myself) you should have 3 options - all from the Virgin web site.
    1. Reconditioned phone (guaranteed) "as good as new" £9.99 (including delivery and free headset)
    2. Exactly the same - but totally new - £19.99 and includes £10 airtime (so effectively £9.99) - also including delivery and free headset.
    3. New 1100 - £26.99 - but you get £20 airtime (so effectively £6.99) AND you also get a new SIM which contains £5 credit. Of course you can choose whether to bother to use this SIM or not. There is a separate thread here about this offer "Mega-cheap Nokia 1100." This offer may not include a separate headset - depends how much you hassle Virgin whether you get it or not!

    If you are interested and struggle feel free to contact me.

    Tx
  • Thanks again ATM. I actually signed up last night for the Motorola V220 so have missed out on the Quidco bit - but I'm still quids in with the deal so I am really pleased.

    There's no way I would use all those free minutes on a mobile phone usually so I'm gonna force myself to use them up instead of using my landline phone.

    Thanks also to TonyG. I did see the cheap PAYG Nokia phones you mentioned - especially the 1100. However, in the end I was swayed by the posh camera phone which in effect should cost me nothing!

    I have found out that my house insurance will cover the phone but not unauthorised use if stolen so I shall look around for cheaper insurance before the free 3 months expires.
  • Destiny33
    Destiny33 Posts: 1,226 Forumite
    Just been reading this thread and really fancy the motorola offer but can i ask a really daft Q pls as i've never been on a contract.

    What happens at the end? Do you just cancel the month before and get to keep the phone? then can you just use an old sim to go back to payg?

    Sorry to be thick would be very grateful before i commit myself
  • Destiny33
    Destiny33 Posts: 1,226 Forumite
    Guess there is such a thing as too stupid a question :( i'd love an answer if anyone would please help
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