Is Talktalk's £5 monthly smartphone offer too good to be true?

Roger1

My position: I use non-contract PAYG phones for voice calls normally paying single-digit pounds each month for our two phones. (We don't use mobiles much. ) When travelling, I use an e-kit SIM in an unlocked phone and use local SIMs in Switzerland and South Africa.

I saw an offer for a Samsung Galaxy Y for £5 monthly for 24 months offering 100 minutes, 500 texts and 200 MB monthly when ordered online at mobile.talktalk.co.uk. For £10 monthly for 24 months, you get 300/3,000/1GB and for £20 1,000/3,000/4GB. Other phones are available at higher monthly rates. Out of bundle rates are higher and calling outside the UK is expensive, as is roaming.

I've resisted smartphones until now on the basis that I usually have an adequate phone and my laptop with mobile internet when travelling. But I have seen people checking mail, maps and bus times with smartphones and wonder if the time has come ...

I'm assuming that the Galaxy Y is relatively old tech and I've seen recommendations in MSE for the Huawei Ascend G300 at £100 or less for PAYG.

Now I'm confused. Is the Galaxy Y a good deal at Talktalk? Has Talktalk's traditional poor customer service improved? Should I go for the G300?

Help! I'd be very grateful for help and advice.

grumbler

I don't think that their CS is capable of improving, but ignoring this it is a good deal as the phone alone costs about £70-£75 on PAYG and even more sim-free.

That said, G300 is much better in terms of specs and will cost less than £120 over 2 years if used with a free Ovivo sim (200m+500Mb). I am not sure that Ovivo will last that long though.

Another alternative to G300 is T-mobile Vivacity for £50+£10 (minus quidco) that is still better than 'Y'.

mikegahan

Hi
The trouble with the £5 deal is that the internet data usage would not go very far with a smartphone, unless you ere very disciplined. The Galaxy Y is a basic phone aimed at Young people. If you exceeded your quota you would pay a lot.

The G300 is a good phone but at the moment it is only available on Vodaphone. What I did is bought a smartphone at O2 for £100 and put a Giffgaff SIM in it which for £10 monthly(no contract) gives me 200 minutes, unlimited texts and internet. Smartphones at Carphone Warehouse or Phones4U tend not to be unlocked so you could do the same trick that way. Smartphones are great for checking your Gmail or other web based email, bus and train times.

Talk talk still has a poor reputation so I would be loth to sign up to them

spondon30

Cant comment on the G300 but I did not like the Galaxy Y. CPW do the Nokia 710 on Talkmobile 100/5000/250mb for £7.50 a month. Topcashback could bring it down to £5 a month. I've had both phones and the 710 is far superior to the Galaxy Y. But be aware that 250mb can soon be used up with regular use. Or you could buy the G300 and go with Ovivo with 512mb.

MillicentBystander

mikegahan wrote: »

Hi
The trouble with the £5 deal is that the internet data usage would not go very far with a smartphone, unless you ere very disciplined. The Galaxy Y is a basic phone aimed at Young people. If you exceeded your quota you would pay a lot.

The G300 is a good phone but at the moment it is only available on Vodaphone. What I did is bought a smartphone at O2 for £100 and put a Giffgaff SIM in it which for £10 monthly(no contract) gives me 200 minutes, unlimited texts and internet. Smartphones at Carphone Warehouse or Phones4U tend not to be unlocked so you could do the same trick that way. Smartphones are great for checking your Gmail or other web based email, bus and train times.

Talk talk still has a poor reputation so I would be loth to sign up to them

To be fair that is very easily remedied for £5 and maybe 10 minutes of your time. You are then free to use any SIM deal out there. But to use the 'free' Ovivo SIM deal no un locking is required. 500mb/mth data would be fine for the vast majority of people imo.

Roger1

Thanks very much for the quick responses, folks!

I really hadn't expected to be buying a smartphone in view of my limited phone use. However, your info is very inspiring, and a PAYG G300 or similar could be what I need. I'll continue to check deals.

mikegahan

I agree with Millicentbystander that the g300 could be unlocked, and that it would not need to be unlocked to work with Ovivo as Ovivo uses Vodafone. However it is problematic that Ovivo will last the course, as many commentators think it cannot sustain a free service

MillicentBystander

Roger1 wrote: »

Thanks very much for the quick responses, folks!

I really hadn't expected to be buying a smartphone in view of my limited phone use. However, your info is very inspiring, and a PAYG G300 or similar could be what I need. I'll continue to check deals.

The G300 is still available for a net £67 HERE. No-brainer imo. Frankly, it blows the Galaxy Y out of the water spec-wise.

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=4594&idPhone2=4117

billsavings

Its worth noting you cant subscribe to Talk Talk Mobile unless your a existing Talk Talk Customer.

http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/2043/related/1

Roger1

billsavings wrote: »

Its worth noting you cant subscribe to Talk Talk Mobile unless your a existing Talk Talk Customer

Thanks. That's the deal breaker! My interest in the deal just disappeared.

Thanks for all the advice. I have learnt that the G300 is probably the way to go. Thanks, all.