Buying a cheap but smart phone for my wife's birthday!

Wh05apk

parallax_20 wrote: »

The reason why its out of stock on the £10 tariff is probably because that offer has ended. much in the same way as the Desire for £10 was shortly pulled after getting much attention. I wouldn't want to speculate if it would come back in stock at this price range.

It is out of stock on all plans, I think once it is back in stock the £10 deal will return, I think the desire rates have just been hiked up because of excessive demand, t-mobile and other providers have all hiked their rates in the last couple of months.

wolvesinwales

fuzzybear01 wrote: »

My husband has a Tmobile pulse which looks very much like an iPhone in shape, this was £149.99 on PAYG at Christmas time

I've got this phone and love it on a £10 a month contract (24 months)
100 minutes
Unlimited Internet
Unlimited texts or another add on
The phone cost £35 but i got £80 Quidco cash back, the cash back is down to £20 now though.

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-monthly/t-mobile-pulse/mobile-tariffs/

Beatlefan

Thanks for that. :T Looks like the TMobile Pulse & HTC Wildfire both come with internet boosters, which should help boost the internet signal where we live. Although it's not so much of a problem at home, cos she uses the PC at home for Facebook, etc. And the local town seems to have a good internet and phone signal for all networks, so that's good.

Just two things I'm still not sure on:

1. If I buy a smart phone outright and want to do PAYG, do I still need to pay a tariff to one of these providers - or can we just top it up as and when we need to? Or is a tariff the only way to get the calls, texts and internet access?

2. When I'm looking at the signal strenghts, are these phones classed as "mobile phones" or "mobile broadband"?

Many thanks for any help. :T

flyingscotno1

Beatlefan wrote: »

Thanks for that. :T Looks like the TMobile Pulse & HTC Wildfire both come with internet boosters, which should help boost the internet signal where we live. Although it's not so much of a problem at home, cos she uses the PC at home for Facebook, etc. And the local town seems to have a good internet and phone signal for all networks, so that's good.

Just two things I'm still not sure on:

1. If I buy a smart phone outright and want to do PAYG, do I still need to pay a tariff to one of these providers - or can we just top it up as and when we need to? Or is a tariff the only way to get the calls, texts and internet access?

2. When I'm looking at the signal strenghts, are these phones classed as "mobile phones" or "mobile broadband"?

Many thanks for any help. :T

The booster is just T-Mobile jargon for giving you an inclusive tariff. It won't increase signal strength.

1. If you buy a smartphone and use PAYG you won't need to have a monthly contract on it, you can just keep topping up. The reason you need to use a pay monthly tariff is that it is usually the best value. Smartphones are data hungry, they use a lot of internet and it is difficult to get a package on PAYG that won't see you eat credit as internet tends to be expensive on PAYG. (Giffgaff is an exception but how long will it last...)

2.Looking at signal strengths, you want mobile broadband to see for the high speed internet, how good it will be, and mobile phones for calls/texts and anything else.

gjchester

Beatlefan wrote: »

Thanks for that. :T Looks like the TMobile Pulse & HTC Wildfire both come with internet boosters, which should help boost the internet signal where we live.

An internet booster is just a data allowance, it won't help if you have a poor or no signal. (it's not a physical device)

Beatlefan wrote: »

1. If I buy a smart phone outright and want to do PAYG, do I still need to pay a tariff to one of these providers - or can we just top it up as and when we need to? Or is a tariff the only way to get the calls, texts and internet access?

2. When I'm looking at the signal strenghts, are these phones classed as "mobile phones" or "mobile broadband"?

Many thanks for any help. :T

You can go PAYG but all smart phones use data, data cen be anything from £5 a month for 500MB on a contract, to £4 per MB on some PAYG tarriffs.

You may find you need to topup a lot more than once a month

Mobile strengh is usually phone coverage (2G) Data coverage is classed as Mobile broadband, if you want to make a call mobile stregnth will do, if you want to use the smart phones features mobile boradband is what you are looking at

Beatlefan

Thanks for the clarification on the PAYG and mobile broadband. I get it now, thanks. :T:A

I got the HTC Wildfire from 3Mobile in the end - £20 a month, but with £80 cashback (although I've since read some horror stories on MSE about 3 not paying out on cashback).

Thanks for the advice everyone, looks like a nice phone. :A:D

Beatlefan

The HTC Wildfire arrived today!! :j Really quick turn-around! It's my wife's birthday tomorrow and am sure she'll love it. Good timing too as the battery on her old phone is barely holding its charge anymore.

Quick question - 3 Mobile sent me two SIM packs with the phone:

• "Your Pay Monthly SIM Pack (for 3G phones)"
• "PAYG SIM - free texts and internet with every top-up"

I assume as I'm paying £20 a month, then I use the first SIM pack? I guess they send the other one out as a routine, but can't think she'll need it. :undecided

Thanks again for your help. :A

Beatlefan

Sorry, I've just checked online - it says the deal includes a free PAYG SIM "for a friend", so that's why it's included!

Sorry, one follow-up question - the website says the deal covers:

300 minutes (anytime, any network)
5000 texts
500MB internet
5000 Three-to-Three minutes

Is that during the lifetime of the contract or per month? The texts works out at 200 per month, so that's reasonable, but 300 minutes call time is only 5 hours, which doesn't sound a lot over two years?? Thanks. :A

Raven

Beatlefan wrote: »

Sorry, I've just checked online - it says the deal includes a free PAYG SIM "for a friend", so that's why it's included!

Sorry, one follow-up question - the website says the deal covers:

300 minutes (anytime, any network)
5000 texts
500MB internet
5000 Three-to-Three minutes

Is that during the lifetime of the contract or per month? The texts works out at 200 per month, so that's reasonable, but 300 minutes call time is only 5 hours, which doesn't sound a lot over two years?? Thanks. :A

Thats your allowance every month and you can check your usage very easily on the phone by going through the browser to . . . . .


. . . . . "Planet 3" > "My3" > "Check My Usage"



Doing this is free and attracts no data usage/charges. Although with 500MB data you've got loads to use.



The free PAYG sim is useful to give to a family member if they have an unlocked (or 3 phone, maybe your wifes old one is a 3 mobile) as you can then talk to them for free using your "5000 3-to-3" minutes. We give a couple to my wifes Mum and Dad and I top up every 3 months for them and my wife chats away for hours using her free 3to3 allowance.





Raven

Beatlefan

Thanks Raven, that's really helpful! :T

Wow! 5,000 texts a month!! My wife likes texting - but that's a lot, even for her!!

She's going to love this new phone in the morning - just wrapped it ready. Thanks again.