Help choosing cheapest mobile?

Tate65

Buying a new mobile is a complicated thing, as not only are there so many deals/tariffs but there are lots of cashback considerations - e.g. from the retailer plus from cashback sites like Quidco.

So I'd appreciate some pointers as to how to get the cheapest phone that meets my modest spec.

Basically - I currently have a Samsung D500 mobile on PAYG with Orange. It does all I need it to do, but I need to replace it as I've had it a few years and buttons are stopping working.

I currently only top it up with £10 every few months, as I use it pretty much exclusively for the following: texts, small amount of Internet, receiving calls, using it abroad occasionally. I don't use it for making outgoing calls, other than the very, very occasional quick call.

So what I need is something that's cheap, though preferably not the worst looking brick out there, so I'm not after a 'cheapest at all costs' mobile - just a cheap one that still looks reasonable and works reliably. I could be persuaded to pay a bit more for a phone that looks good, has a better display, a better camera, etc - but not an excessive amount extra.

So to reiterate, I don't need to make calls, I do send texts, I do use GPRS, I do want it to work abroad (especially the Internet and texts).

So can anyone recommend any deals? I expect that it may be cheaper to get a contract phone and at the end of the contract switch to PAYG, so I'd need to be able to do that.

Quidco can pay cashback for some retailers, so that might help reduce the cost. Plus some retailers give money back in stages.

However - if I was to get money back in stages it would have to be a company that made it easy to do it - I didn't get my 2nd repayment from e2save and think these can be made deliberately difficult to actually get your money back.

So I may prefer to pay more for a phone where I don't have to get money back in stages by jumping through hoops, unless it's a big difference.

Any suggestions of places to get a good deal?

Leopard

Vodafone is currently offering £130 cashback on a monthly contract purchased through Quidco, and Nokia itself is offering a 30% discount through Quidco.

The Voda offer ends on Thursday (31 July) and the 'phone would be locked to Voda.

A 'phone purchased from Nokia would be unlocked and unbranded.

These two offers are worth factoring into your calculations.

More generally, the Sony Ericsson K800i is now inexpensive: it has both GPRS and G3 (which you'd find is a worthwhile improvement), it has a decent 3.2 MP camera and it has a fine reputation.

Good luck!

baby_bronagh

i've ordered a nokia 1208 (PAYG)from tesco direct price £17.97 and that includes a £10 top up which will be activated within 48hrs of activating your phone + free delivery on all their mobile phones.
They also have motorola F3 for £11.96 (NO TOP UP WITH THIS ONE).Don't forget quidco !
hope this helps

hotkee

Nokia 6300 - I got it for bro 12 months ago on 11 months free from phones4u, he likes it, it does actually feel robust so not likely to break easy and isnt too bad, the reception is good etc... - 2megapixel. Deal now is 9 months free on 12 months (tenner a month in affect, 700 mins anytime, 250 texts)

Tate65

Thanks everyone - that's very helpful!

The problem with the PAYG from Tesco is that while they're cheap, they don't really do what I need - e.g. no GPRS Internet access and only dual band. Unless you spend more on a more expensive one, but then the contract phones elsewhere look good.

Hotkee - I'd been looking at the 6300 from Phones4U since I started this thread, as it looks a decent deal. It's either 9 months free on a 12 month contract with Vodafone (=£120 for the last 3 months) or 14 months free on an 18 months contract (also =£120 for the last 4 months). So the latter would be better as it'd cost the same plus you get the included minutes and texts for 18 months instead of 12.

Also, you get £60 back from Quidco, so it'd be like paying £60 over 18 months, or £3.33 a month on average for the 18 month contract, with 400 minutes and 500 texts included every month - so less that I'm currently paying by topping up my current PAYG phone with £10 every few months! So that would really be like no extra cost, but I'd get far more texts to send (as I currently hold back as I pay for them) and included minutes that while I don't need, could be used if they were free.

Better still, though - Mobiles2YourDoor.co.uk are offering the 6300 for £30 a month on a 12 month contract and with 10 months free! So that's £60 - but you get £55 cashback from Quidco, so effectively for £5 you get a new phone, 150 minutes a month and 500 texts a month for a year! Wow!

The only thing is that I'm wary of these places that offer money back in staged payments if you jump through hoops sending them your bills at specified periods. I never got my 2nd payment from e2save despite sending the bill, and I didn't chase it up as it wasn't really worth that much. I'm sure they make it deliberately complicated and expect people to fail to get their money back.

Anyway - I can see that the best deals come from doing that, but I don't know of Mobiles2YourDoor or their reputation. I've heard they're related to Phones4U, but don't know if that's good either!

At least Phones4U is better known & bigger, so hopefully (though not necessarily!) more reliable so if I do decide to go for the 6300 I might still go with them as while £60 is more then £5, you do get 18 months of calls/texts rather than 12. But I'll have a closer look at people's experiences with Mobiles2YourDoor first.

Oh, one other thing, I'm used to Orange - so would also need to find out what the other networks coverage/reliability was and their Internet charges (including when abroad - when I use it the most) when using GPRS before getting a contract with them.

hotkee

I would only enter into a cashback deal with well known brands, carphonewarehouse or phones4u (direct). I have also used Dialaphone (twice I think now) - and recently they were taken over by phones4u.

At the end of the day the phones4u deal is pretty good (still not as good as what I managed to get for my bro 12 months ago, 11 months free on 12 months :rotfl:, looking to get him new deal now its torture trying to decide).

As I am looking for a mobile my bro, 6300 he already has so I was also checking out the Sony W910i from dialaphone, its gone up in price was going at about 10.92 a month for 12 months, been bumped up to 17 GRRR.