Advice needed on monthly contract

abbecer

Afternoon all,

I'm hoping you phone techies out there will help me. I currently have an old as the hills mobile which i just top up when i need to. I have started my own business so am making a lot more calls. I seem to be topping up all the time so i am wanting to switch to a contract. I know nothing at all about them. I have looked for x network calls, texts etc but they all sound appealing in their own way. I would be looking to spend about £30- £40 per month and would like to keep my own number if poss, as this is on my business cards. I wouldn't even be bothered about a snazzy phone and would keep mine if need be. I know i probably sound stupid but i've never bothered to learn anything about them as they don't interest me in the slightest. Please, please help me!!

Rebecca x :rotfl:

Reestit_Mutton

abbecer wrote:

Afternoon all,

I'm hoping you phone techies out there will help me. I currently have an old as the hills mobile which i just top up when i need to. I have started my own business so am making a lot more calls. I seem to be topping up all the time so i am wanting to switch to a contract. I know nothing at all about them. I have looked for x network calls, texts etc but they all sound appealing in their own way. I would be looking to spend about £30- £40 per month and would like to keep my own number if poss, as this is on my business cards. I wouldn't even be bothered about a snazzy phone and would keep mine if need be. I know i probably sound stupid but i've never bothered to learn anything about them as they don't interest me in the slightest. Please, please help me!!

Rebecca x :rotfl:

Hi Rebecca,

I think that first of all, whatever contract tariff you go for, it needs to offer sufficient minutes/texts for your needs otherwise it will be a waste of time.

You say that your business usage is the reason for deciding that it's time to switch from PAYG so I'm guessing that (a) a lot of your intended usage will be during the day time (b) the majority of your essential usage will be calltime (it's not very professional to communicate with clients by text) (c) the ability to call other networks within your monthly allowances would be very useful.

A couple of things that we need to know in order to be able to provide a sensible suggestion would be:

(a) Your current network - if you want to keep your current number, your best bet is often to request your Porting Authorisation Code (or PAC for short) from your PAYG service provider and simply take your number with you onto another network. It is possible to "migrate" your number from PAYG onto contract with your current network but you simply won't get a good deal from your network.

(b) An indication of how many minutes you think you may currently be using each month and whether you feel this will increase in time with your business.

If you can provide answers to the above two questions then I'm sure that there will be a package worth recommending...especially as you are prepared to pay up to £40/month.

regards,
Reestit Mutton

abbecer

Hiya thanks for your reply,

Yes most of my calls will be during the day and i will need to call other networks. Some texts would be handy for personal use but I don't need many. I am currently with Orange pay as you go. I'm not sure how many minutes i've been using but i have had to top up by £15 every week, plus i've had free evening calls to other orange users. My usage will increase as the business grows so i will need the flexibility to increase this as the need arises.

Many thanks.

Rebecca x :rotfl:

Reestit_Mutton

abbecer wrote:

Hiya thanks for your reply,

Yes most of my calls will be during the day and i will need to call other networks. Some texts would be handy for personal use but I don't need many. I am currently with Orange pay as you go. I'm not sure how many minutes i've been using but i have had to top up by £15 every week, plus i've had free evening calls to other orange users. My usage will increase as the business grows so i will need the flexibility to increase this as the need arises.

Many thanks.

Rebecca x :rotfl:

I suppose that the next question is whether you are happy to go with a free budget or mid-range handset on a contract deal where you can claim the maximum amount of money back over the first 12 months (the cash can sometimes be a little awkward to claim but, if you follow the instructions to the letter, it could save you a lot of money) or would you rather not bother with cashback and simply go for the best specified handset that you can find for free on a £30-£40/month tariff?

The former would almost always work out cheaper over the minimum term of the contract but the latter isn't always that much more expensive (after deducting the intrinsic value of the top-end handset included, should you decide to sell it on to cover some of your costs) and some people prefer to pay that little bit more for the peace of mind of knowing that they don't have to jump through hoops to fully benefit from the value of their deal.

regards,
Reesttit Mutton