PAYG phone for internet and texting.

Jet

I have an old Sony Ericcsson which I've had for about 4 years and am on Orange and generally top up £10 a month and get the £300 texts and the 100mb of internet which I can use for some basic sites, this and facebook being the main ones. I don't use the phone for calls much and I like the Orange Wednesday deal.

I'd like to update my phone and give my old mobile to my son. I'd love an iphone, but to be honest, I don't really want to be tied into a contract and I'm quite happy with what I'm spending per month.

Any ideas on what would suit me, when I had a brief look the other day, I noticed the samsung monte and thought I could keep the PAYG deal I have already.

jayme1

orange san francisco

Stuart_W

...don't forget when looking around for deals, if you do stick with your current Orange deal, you can use your orange phone fund for a discount (text PHONE to 450 for free to see how much it is). It should be at least £12. You can use this in store at an Orange shop, online or over the phone.

Biggest_Mint

I'd say the Orange San Francisco, but I'd double check on how much data it uses in the background. However, you can turn data connections on/off whenever you please. It's a good phone, all the benefits of Google Android and great for browsing.

Jet

Thanks everyone, I will have a look at the San Francisco.

Stuart - I've got around £17 off a new phone, which is good.

Biggest mint - do all these sort of phones use data in the background? I'm wondering if 100mb will be enough in a month? It's ample for what I do at the moment, but to be fair, it is quite minimal.

Biggest_Mint

All the modern smartphones do really. Android and iOS definitely do. Not too sure on the newer Symbian models... I have 1GB on my contract and reach nowhere near that. I'm using a HTC Desire which is Google Android too.

Jet wrote: »

Thanks everyone, I will have a look at the San Francisco.

Stuart - I've got around £17 off a new phone, which is good.

Biggest mint - do all these sort of phones use data in the background? I'm wondering if 100mb will be enough in a month? It's ample for what I do at the moment, but to be fair, it is quite minimal.

Stompa

Jet wrote: »

...do all these sort of phones use data in the background?

Yes, by default, but it's very easy to turn it off.

benjus

I'm using about 100Mb a week with my Orange San Francisco, so 100MB a month would be a problem for me - but then I use it to look up lots of information, google maps for navigation etc. You could of course just keep data disabled and use it only when you really need it, and use Wifi wherever it's available. There are various apps you can install to monitor your data usage.

Have you considered switching to a rolling 30-day contract? These typically have higher data allowances.

Cash-Strapped.T32

Am very interested in that San Francisco myself; Only problem is I can't find anywhere that would do it for the same or less than I'm currently paying (£10 monthly rolling contract w/T-Mobile).

Best I can find is 15 quid a month for 2 years, which isn't even a starter, let alone the next best which is 25 quid for 18 months..

Even (far more expensive) phones like the HTCs are coming in at about £8-£15 per/m (factoring in various redemption deals) so being "exclusive" to Orange - at least out of the box - isn't doing much to impress me.

Stompa

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

...so being "exclusive" to Orange - at least out of the box - isn't doing much to impress me.

AIUI it can be unlocked for free very simply. There's a thread about it somewhere.

Cash-Strapped.T32

Yup, that's what I meant about out of the box, as with any phone after 5 minutes you have it unlocked to all networks, regardless of what network you're on at the time.


I was actually though referring to the fact that in the UK it's sold pretty much solely as the Orange San Francisco, and not the ZTE Blade (the actual make & model of the phone).
By virtue of being sold only on Orange it's well, sold only on Orange.

That's the bit that don't impress me.