Smart phones (e.g. HTC Wildfire) - Internet costs + PAYG or contract?

Unicornucopia

Advice please:
I spend a lot of time connected to the internet for pleasure (social networking sites, games, news, e-mails, you-tube and information gathering). This is all done from home via my PC and a wireless internet. My ISP is AOL but I am changing to O2 a.s.a.p. now I've finally managed to squeeze a MAC code out of them.

My current mobile is on a PAYG deal with O2 which will allow me £5 a month off any broadband deal I take up with O2. I currently spend about £60 a year on my mobile (yes, Martin would be proud of me!). Later this year I shall be on extended leaves away from home for two to three weeks at a time and I would like to keep in internet contact. I do not have a laptop or equivalent.

After much research into smartphones I quite like the HTC Wildfire (size/looks/capacitive screen) but O2 direct do not offer this as an option. Mobiles.co.uk do but I have read other threads which has discouraged me from using them.



So, irregular internet access required, O2 preferred, minimal ongoing costs essential: £15 a month is affordable as is £20 if I can use cashback sites to reduce overall costs.

• PAYG or monthly contract?
• Buy a data package or just pay for internet usage as I go?
• HTC Wildfire or something else (e.g. Orange San Francisco?).
• Presumably I could use the phone to connect wirelessly to my home wireless internet (and wi-fi points externally) without it costing anything?

Many thanks for any responses

jayme1

don't sign up to a contract if you don't need it.

what I would do is buy the phone you want (orange SF is a very good choice (better than the HTC wildfire IMO (higher res screen is important for web browsing))) then unlock it and put in an O2 PAYG sim, then top it up as the £5 saving on the o2 broadband requires.

there are a couple of options first is the 'Text & Web PAYG' tariff this gives you 500MB data and 300 texts if you top up every month (very good thing about this is that you are still left with the £10 top up to use on anything else ie voice calls)

or you can just just choose any PAYG sim (or the one above) and if you don't top up the required £10 every month then you can buy 500MB data for £7.50 of your top up.

this would be much much cheaper than any pay monthly lock in.

(and the orange SF has wifi so you can go nuts at home without wasting any mobile data, and 500MB should be perfectly fine a month, you would just have to watch the video streaming, perhaps install 3G watchdog to moniter your data usage)

GreenSaints

Hi,

I second buying the phone and putting whatever sim card you want. You have more options if your circumstances change and generally is cheaper in the long run.

Though just keep an eye on your data allowance - 500mb is soon eaten up with YouTube and FB photo looking! I always swap to wifi when I get home and turn off data when I don't need it...... or when my battery is going to die!

wrenlegs

Im so glad I found this thread!
OK. I bought the SAnFrancisco in orange last week. Been a PAYG orange customer for years and their coverage works for me (and got me the good price on the phone!) My £10 top up has gone in a week! Im guessing thats because I have been testing the apps. So firstly, if I key in my Wifi password does this mean that I can use the internet on my phone for free since it will be going through my home broadband? Secondly, what SIM should I get so that I dont cane my internet on my phone when Im not at home? Is there anyway I can 'tap' into free wifi when Im out and about? How can i check that Im using free internet as opposed to using my phone funds? Sorry for all the Qs - Im fidning it harder than I thought to understand my new android:o Sorry for all the Qs...

JJ_Egan

I key in my Wifi password does this mean that I can use the internet on my phone for free since it will be going through my home broadband

Yes if you use home wifi its free . Likewise fre internet wifi in places like coffee shops etc .



jje

wrenlegs

JJ_Egan wrote: »

I key in my Wifi password does this mean that I can use the internet on my phone for free since it will be going through my home broadband

Yes if you use home wifi its free . Likewise fre internet wifi in places like coffee shops etc .



jje

Brill - thanks for that. How do i make sure that its using the free wifi as opposed to the mobile internet?

wrenlegs

Its amazing how much you learn on these forums - 45 mins later and Im nearly there with the best SIM option for PAYG. Im going to go with Giffgaff. Do I need to unlock my orange SF handset? How do I do that? I think I need a PAC from Orange. It all seems a bit scary - the big move from Orange to an unknown network. Will the signal be ok? How will I tell?

caileag

wrenlegs wrote: »

Brill - thanks for that. How do i make sure that its using the free wifi as opposed to the mobile internet?

I have a widget on the phone (can't remember if it was an app, but tend to think it was part of the Android operating system) which allows me to easily turn wifi and/or mobile data off and on. I normally leave both off (which extends the battery life as well) and then just turn wifi on when I enter the house - or coffee shop or similar - and the mobile data on if I need to use it.

That way, there are no nasty surprises on data use!

wrenlegs

caileag wrote: »

I have a widget on the phone (can't remember if it was an app, but tend to think it was part of the Android operating system) which allows me to easily turn wifi and/or mobile data off and on. I normally leave both off (which extends the battery life as well) and then just turn wifi on when I enter the house - or coffee shop or similar - and the mobile data on if I need to use it.

That way, there are no nasty surprises on data use!

THats a really good tip !:beer:

Unicornucopia

Thanks for all the advice - very helpful, and it is likely to save me a lot of money. Hoping to get the phone tomorrow - just in time for my birthday!

PlasticMan_2

Hi there,

The Orange San Francisco is a brilliant phone for the money. Unfortunately part of the reason it's so cheap is because it's totally Orangified (my word) and locked to Orange.

For anyone that's a bit confident and just a bit techy the software can be totally wiped and replaced with the latest version of Android without the Orange branding. See this thread for links:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/40577194#Comment_40577194

Installing a custom rom (as described on those links) will unlock the phone so you can use any SIM, but if you are a bit worried about turning your phone into an expensive paperweight there are other places to get phone unlock codes, to unlock it without changing the operating system. (link)

Just to clarify, a PAC code doesn't unlock your phone for other SIM cards; it has nothing to do with the phone. It's to allow you to "port" your phone number and use that number on a different network. If you don't mind changing your number you don't need a PAC code. Just unlock your phone as described above and put a different SIM in it.