Samsung S3... Contracts and Three + PAYG

BeZ_2

Hi,
I've been thinking of getting the S3, looks like it does everything I want to do so looks the best option.
On Orange the Panther 18 is £31 a month 18month contract, £149.99 for the phone, so total of £707.99. This only has 750mb of data though and I tend to get close to the 1gig limit on my current phone... so a Three contract? Free phone, 24months £34 a month so £816 total... this is unlimited net and they also do this on PAYG... £500 (amazon) for the phone but £15 a month, so I can keep the phone for as long or little as I want or Mazuma it when something new comes out next year...
Does anyone have experience of the Three network? is reception and speed decent (live in the midlands)... they offer unlimited net at what looks like a really good price but I only have experience of 02...
can see an 'all you can eat' being good for things like netflix etc...

Cheers

adamc260

If you go to dialaphone you can get the Panther 31 plan for far less than £31 a month.

They do 4 months free line rental plus cashback sites are offering about £50 cashback

BeZ_2

Thanks, I'll have a look at dialaphone

Fifer

BeZ wrote: »

so a Three contract? Free phone, 24months £34 a month so £816 total... this is unlimited net and they also do this on PAYG... £500 (amazon) for the phone but £15 a month, so I can keep the phone for as long or little as I want or Mazuma it when something new comes out next year...

Or buy a SIM free S3 for £500 and set up a recurring Giffgaff £10 a month goodybag for unlimited internet and texts, 250 minutes plus free giffgaff to giffgaff calls (and no contract).

BeZ_2

Never looked into GiffGaff, although its advertised during Big Bang... certainly looks the better offer. Never heard of them really though so not 100% sure about coverage.. anyone have any opinions about them? think i will go with them if it turns out to be a decent provider...

grumbler

Giffgaff is budget O2. Signal is the same, but CS is minimal.
Search the board and you'll find loads of information.

Fifer

As grumbler says, O2 network and coverage, great pricing but limited CS. Looks great if everything goes well, but not so good if it doesn't, although with no contract tie in, you can bail out to a more reliable service at any time if you don't like it (with one caveat - some people appear to have problems porting their number in or out which could be a short term problem for anyone affected who needs to keep the same number. I don't know how widespread this is).

Notmyrealname

Three has the best 3G network for both coverage and speed. I was a lorry driver and have travelled the entire country so I reckon I've got more of an overall view than someone who rarely does travel. On Saturday evening just after I got my 3S I did a speed test using the Speedtest.net app and got 3337kbps down, 2335kbps up and 83ms ping.

Just tested it now for you with 2 bars and got 4937kbps down, 2279kbps up and 104ms ping.

Compare that to Orange in my town where the cell site is so overloaded that it takes 10 minutes to load Google.com and is quicker on 2G.

Notmyrealname

Fifer wrote: »

Or buy a SIM free S3 for £500 and set up a recurring Giffgaff £10 a month goodybag for unlimited internet and texts, 250 minutes plus free giffgaff to giffgaff calls (and no contract).

How is that a bargain? Over 24 months it costs £740. For an additional £76 the OP can have 2000 minutes a month and also be able to tether their phone which you can't do on GiffGaff thus limiting the actual value of "unlimited" internet.

latecomer

maybe they dont need over 250 mins or tethering in which case your option would be paying more than required.

Fifer

Notmyrealname wrote: »

How is that a bargain? Over 24 months it costs £740. For an additional £76 the OP can have 2000 minutes a month and also be able to tether their phone which you can't do on GiffGaff thus limiting the actual value of "unlimited" internet.

For anyone who doesn't need tethering, wants an unlocked phone, doesn't want to be tied to a 2 year contract, wants a bloatware free phone or wants unlimited texts, it (as you point out, answering your own question) is £76 cheaper, saves an unlocking fee and potential contract termination charges. If you don't fall into those categories, it doesn't. Isn't it nice to have options?