Any advice appreciated with regards to sorting out a new mobile tariff

Inigo_Montoya

Hello

I have a very old cellnet SIM card with about £35 worth of credit on it - O2 (previously cellnet I believe) said they would be willing to transfer this credit if I go for a new O2 deal - it would be a PAYG deal as I am a VERY light user of mobile phones

Now I also have an NEC e313 phone conneced to the "3" network on a PAYG tariff and from what I have read it would appear the cheapest way to get connected to O2 would be to unlock this phone and buy an O2 SIM card ?

On the assumption the above is correct then :

First question - where can I get information about unlocking this specific phone as cheaply as possible ? I am willing to have a go myself if that is cheapest option

Second question - where is the cheapest place to buy an O2 SIM card ? Also am I correct in thinking such a SIM card can be set up with ANY O2 tariff by calling O2 customer services and requesting the chosen tariff (and getting a new phone number assigned to it as well)

Third question - Tesco use O2 as there network provider and one of the Tesco tariffs looks to be cheaper than O2 - is setting up a new SIM card on the Tesco tariff & transferring the credit onto it a possibility or would O2 not allow this ?

Any advice appreciated as Im pretty ignorant when it comes to mobiles

thanks

Inigo_Montoya

Well that got a lot of replies ...

1st question - Ive found an unlocking kit (software & cable) for £16 here
http://www.mob453.com/unlocking/nec-unlocking-kit-p-39.html?language=en
Ebay is potentially cheaper but also potentially more hassle i.e. having to win one cheaply and hoping it is as good as the kit above (I'd also rather have the kit than send my phone to someone)

I'd still be interested in knowing if any website sells the software & cable for cheaper than £16

2nd question - Ive found an active freebie O2 SIM website and applied - now have to wait 28 days and keep my fingers crossed - would still like to know where the cheapest place to buy one is (ebay?) if anybody knows

3rd question - has to be an O2 SIM not a Tesco SIM

seaniboy

old cellnet payg tarrifs are generally alot cheaper than o2 ones so keep it !

Inigo_Montoya

old faulty disconnected SIM & 49p a minute anyway IIRC

gizmoleeds

Inigo_Montoya wrote:

2nd question - Ive found an active freebie O2 SIM website and applied - now have to wait 28 days and keep my fingers crossed - would still like to know where the cheapest place to buy one is (ebay?) if anybody knows

The cheapest place is:

http://shop.o2.co.uk/student/o2uk/jsp/tariffs/selectSimOnlyTariff.do?tariffPageView=SIMO&pageTab=SIMOPayAndGo

...where they are 99p.

Inigo_Montoya wrote:

3rd question - has to be an O2 SIM not a Tesco SIM

Is that a question? If you mean "does it have to be an O2 SIM not a Tesco SIM?" then the answer is yes. O2 wouldn't just transfer your credit and number to a Tesco sim.

tightrs

a friend of mine had an old sim in a philips phone and was given a free nokia 1100 to change tariffs and got to keep his free phone call to his best friend number

Inigo_Montoya

appreciate the link to the 99p SIM - I think I'd rather just buy one at that price rather than hope I get the freebie ones

One more question - the SIM linked to is on the ONLINE talkalot tarrif which requires a £10 monthly top up to stay active

Am I correct in thinking I can change this over to the OFFLINE tariff via a text message i.e. see
http://www.o2.co.uk/productsservices/tariffs/pay_go_talkalot/0,,112,00.html
which does not have this obligation ???

gizmoleeds

Inigo_Montoya wrote:

One more question - the SIM linked to is on the ONLINE talkalot tarrif which requires a £10 monthly top up to stay active

Am I correct in thinking I can change this over to the OFFLINE tariff via a text message i.e. see
http://www.o2.co.uk/productsservices/tariffs/pay_go_talkalot/0,,112,00.html
which does not have this obligation ???

Sorry, should've mentioned - the "£10 minimum top-up" is just some seriously bad wording on O2's part. Ignore it. It actaully means to maintain the 100 minutes you need to top up £10 a month. (If you don't top up £10 after a month then your minutes just expire until your next top).

To keep the sim active and maintain your credit you only have to make a call every 6 months.

I don't know why they put that there - it is categorically not true.

Inigo_Montoya

ok thanks again - its VERY misleading and I bet intentionally so

Steve_xx

Tesco tariff looks good to me. You can have 3 favourite numbers at the 10p all day rate, one of those numbers could be 02 access to 18866/1899/1815 for onward dialling.

But it seems you do have to buy a handset to be able to opt for the 3 free numbers.

http://www.tescomobile.com/tariff.aspx

Edinburghlass_2

The Tesco Value sim is good if you only text at 5p per text.

http://www.tescomobile.com/valuesim.aspx?pc=22&us=1&h=1

:xmassign: