The Great 'Back-up your mobile data' Hunt

MSE_Martin

It's the scourge of modern living, you lose your mobile and there goes everyone's phone number. Well there are solutions both technical and systematic to easily and cheapily solve this problem, so I'm throwing it open to MoneySavers to find the cheapest solution.

The solutions vary from simply organising yourself to write it down in a book every time, right up to www.synchyourmobile.com which for £13 a year allows you to back up your address book to the Internet at the touch of a button wherever you are.

So what do MoneySavers favour?

Click reply to enter the discussion

Edinburghlass_2

I bought a little gizmo, half price at a fiver from Tesco about a year ago and back up the phone book on my sim onto a freebie 02 simcard

redux

I just installed Nokia PC Suite [free], mainly to try Bluetooth and phone used as internet modem. Other phones can be connected with a cable, but some shops want £30 or £40 for a cable - must be cheaper somewhere though.

The program has the facility to manage the phonebook in the phone, but I haven't yet explored it much yet.

If a phone has a facility to copy to/from phone and SIM, then an old SIM could be used as backup, with the proviso that the phone may have multiple entries per name, and the SIM only one. I have not done this myself yet, but one or two friends been slightly confused by the results

stillnoname

I use my PC (Laptop) to backup all the data. I use the Nokia PC Suite and something similar from sony ericssons website.

I've used Nokia and Sony ericsson phones. All address book entries (and others which are not so significant to me - todos,etc) are backed up on the PC. I've synced using infrared (bit painful depending on location of infrared port on pc and phone) as well as bluetooth (the preferred way) - not cables as they're not included and they only seem invonvenient.

You need to set options on the PC software to ensure that all appropriate data is actually copied across.

I use outlook. That allows specific groups to be copied to specific devices. But even if you dont have outlook, you will be able to use windows address book. obviously, that has no concepts of groups - so its copy all.

I use a PDA which also syncs to the PC. I also use intellisync (free) from yahoo to backup contacts, etc on the internet (yahoo site).

So, effectively, I have same synchronised set of data on my PDA, phones, laptop and internet. Obviously, the PDA is easiest to synch - it gets done automatically when i put it on cradle. others, i have to manually initiate.

very useful i must say. if i update contact on phone, it gets across (and merged) to all other places in due course.

hope this helps someone.

mr_fishbulb

I got a datacable and software with my sony which automatically backs up whenever I put my phone on charge.

$17mma

Is that syncyourmobile a free serivce? I have three phones (dont ask) and really need to consider backing them up

nearlyrich

stillnoname wrote:

I use my PC (Laptop) to backup all the data. I use the Nokia PC Suite and something similar from sony ericssons website.

I've used Nokia and Sony ericsson phones.

Can you have both of these software suites installed at the same time? I have 2 phones and a similar set up to you but the SE doesn't seem to work when the Nokia data suite is installed. It may be the phone, K700i but I have never had issues with nokia.

pricefighter

$17mma wrote:

Is that syncyourmobile a free serivce? I have three phones (dont ask) and really need to consider backing them up

According to site its £12.99p a year.

MSE_Martin

Synch your mobile is £13 a year, i've added it to my original post

$17mma

But doesnt the Carphonewarehouse offer this as a free service to it's customers?

intel

nearlyrich wrote:

Can you have both of these software suites installed at the same time? I have 2 phones and a similar set up to you but the SE doesn't seem to work when the Nokia data suite is installed. It may be the phone, K700i but I have never had issues with nokia.

I wouldnt see why not you would just have to have different
USB cables for each phone as they have different connections...


P.S I posted the correct web address but my
post got deleted so well done intel :T for .com not .org