Help with choosing new mobile/contract

Spudsey

hi
I've currently got a very basic nokia phone on t-mobile. I top up £10 every month, this means I get all my text messages free the following month but have to pay for calls, which is fine as I text more than calling.
I then use £5 out of the £10 top up on an internet package for the month.
The web on my current mobile is rubbish, and I would like to be able to see the web better on a bigger screen. I quite like the idea of using email on a mobile too.
However I can't get on with these touch screen number pads so would like a keypad so looking at perhaps the blackberry curve?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Cycrow

Firstly, are you happen with t-mobile, or do you want another network, or not too bother which you use?
Also, do you want to stay on pay as you go, or go with a contract?

If you stick with pay as you go, you can buy the phone like the curve for about £100, abit less for 2nd hand, but you will need to add blackberry internet services which will usually cost you so much extra a month.

If you want to go contract, you have 2 choices, either go for a 24 month contract and get the phone for free (but at a slightly higher monthly fee)
Or you buy the phone the same as payg and get a sim only deal.

The contracts will usually come with so many free minutes, text and data

Spudsey

Cycrow wrote: »

Firstly, are you happen with t-mobile, or do you want another network, or not too bother which you use?
Also, do you want to stay on pay as you go, or go with a contract?

If you stick with pay as you go, you can buy the phone like the curve for about £100, abit less for 2nd hand, but you will need to add blackberry internet services which will usually cost you so much extra a month.

If you want to go contract, you have 2 choices, either go for a 24 month contract and get the phone for free (but at a slightly higher monthly fee)
Or you buy the phone the same as payg and get a sim only deal.

The contracts will usually come with so many free minutes, text and data

Happy enough with T-mobile, I never get any unwanted calls like my partner does on 02 and my in-laws on orange even though one of them are connected with T-mobile.
I would prefer pay as you go but if it does have to be a contract then I would pay at the most £15.00.
T-mobile have a £15.50 a month contract on a blackberry curve but the contract is 2 years, however I’m sure this time will fly by!

Cycrow

most/all contracts with free phones will be for 2 years, to help cover the cost of the phone.

if you have any spare money, it usually works out cheaper to by the phone outright, then you can continue to use the the payg, or a cheaper contract.

tMobile do the Curve for payg at £100 but with £20 of topup

Orrin

If you want to stick with PAYG Virgin Mobile have a good deal on the Blackberry Curve 9320 for £110 which includes £10 credit and Blackberry Messenger and Email free for 12 months.

For a cheap contract Tesco Phone Shop have the Curve free on T-Mobile for £7/month over 2 years but you only get 50 mins, 100 texts and 250 MB of data. It does come with the Blackberry services though.

If you do a lot of texting then Carphone Warehouse also have it free on their talkmobile network (uses Vodafone) for £10/month with 100 mins, 5000 texts and 250 MB data. Again this includes Blackberry services.

Herongull

If you want an inexpensive keyboard phone with internet have a look at Samsung Chat phones. I've never used them, but they have a keyboard like a blackberry and seem to be cheaper.

For example, you can get a "free" chat 335 on a £7.50 per month contract from Tesco with 250 minutes, 5,000 texts and 500mb.
http://shop.tescomobile.com/mobile-phones/pay-monthly/samsung/chat+335?deal=4169
I don't like phone contracts myself but at least Tesco let you cap them so you don't have the risk of huge bills if the phone is lost or stolen.

Or you can buy a sim free Chat 335 for £63 on amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-S3350-335-Mobile-Phone/dp/B004EBUWOU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1372180091&sr=1-1&keywords=chat+335

and then go PAYG. For example, Ovivo (PAYG) gives you a free allowance of 150 minutes, 250 texts and 500mb for free (yes £0) per month.

There are cheaper and more expensive Chat phone models and you may be able to get the 335 on better deals than the ones I've plucked out above.

Spudsey

Thank you all for the great info, I will take a look at each one that has been suggested.
Much appreciated

Frozen_up_north

You will see quite a few postings on this forum from people who have taken out a long term SIM + phone contract (typically 18 ~ 24 months) only to find either a much better deal, or they suffer a change in their circumstances resulting in them struggling to pay. Others have had trouble with the supplied phone and end up using another but paying over the odds for the "SIM" part of the package.

Many deals offer smart phones with a pityfully small data allowance, these either end up costing the user extra each month or result in the phone not being used to it's full potential.

Currently the market is quite volatile with the introduction of 4G and the merger between Orange and T-Mobile to form EE.

I personally would opt to use a SIM free mobile purchased outright and either a 30 day rolling contract SIM or a PAYG one, the former can be better value. At least this way you are not stuck for up to 2 years with your chosen package.

Orrin

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Many deals offer smart phones with a pityfully small data allowance, these either end up costing the user extra each month or result in the phone not being used to it's full potential.

A "pitifully small" allowance for one person may be perfectly adequate for someone else of course and if you're a frequent but modest data user (as the OP describes) then PAYG could be expensive.

I agree that many people would be better off on a rolling SIM only deal but there are still plenty of good value long term contracts around, depending on your needs.

Frozen_up_north

Orrin wrote: »

A "pitifully small" allowance for one person may be perfectly adequate for someone else

My point is that many folk move from text/voice on a basic phone to a smart phone and then find new uses for their phone.

One example being my other half. She had a basic Nokia phone until 3 months ago and said she didn't need anything except texting and a small voice allowance. Now she has gone from zero internet to 3 ~ 4 GB per month and she's a technophobe! The "new" uses include listening to internet radio at work, as the shielded building is hopeless for ordinary radio, watching catch up TV, Youtube and exchanging pictures/video via iMessage (free via the data allowance, not picture or MMS messaging). Plus some web browsing.

Many packages offer only 500 MB or 1 GB, which might seem a lot but can be used in a few days. Just as well we have unlimited internet use...