Nice People Thread Part 9 - and so it continues

PasturesNew

silvercar wrote: »

I
I assume your phone is coming unlocked ie you can use it on any network?

All the little outfits piggy back off the main 4, so it doesn't matter if you have heard of them eg Tesco mobile use the O2 network.

No idea..... I just bought a phone.

I've no idea how it works and you've now made me feel 200% out of my depth.

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

1] Ovivo piggy back on vodafone

2] You get the PAC instantly, you give it to the new company and the number switches some time the following day.

3] The phone may well be locked but you can buy an unlock online (for example from ebay) which will come with full instructions.

4] With an Android phone you are forced to set up a google acount when you set it up - do you have one already?

1] Whoosh ... but I think I want O2 as it's said to be best for this area.... but who ever knows the truth until it's too late!
2] OK
3] Should I do that today, or after I get home with the new phone in my pocket?
4] I have one, I was going to set up a new one and then set up my existing account to forward important emails to my 2nd account.... so phone only receives emails I want to receive/am waiting for. Otherwise I'd get email overload on the phone. e.g existing email might be pastures.new@gmail ... new one might be pnphone@

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

"will come with the card," - what card? I didn't buy a card, does a phone come with one?

Yes - the phone will come with a sim card - possibly preloaded with some credit, the idea being that you are tempted to use that card and thus Tesco can make more money out of you.

PasturesNew

This is really hard stuff.....

PasturesNew

I have got these two urls saved in my notes, to check for tariffs etc .... but I might be out of my depth even loading the sites:

http://billmonitor.com/
http://mobilife.com/

PasturesNew

I'll need a cover for it too ... so will pop into the 99p shop once I've got the phone, so I can check for size before I buy it.

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

1] Whoosh
2] OK
3] Should I do that today, or after I get home with the new phone in my pocket?
4] I have one, I was going to set up a new one and then set up my existing account to forward important emails to my 2nd account.... so phone only receives emails I want to receive/am waiting for. Otherwise I'd get email overload on the phone. e.g existing email might be pastures.new@gmail ... new one might be [EMAIL="pnphone@"]pnphone@[/EMAIL]

1) Just means if you go with that company it is vodafone signal strength that you need to worry about.
3) You need to wait till you have the phone - every phone in the world has a unique identifying number called an IMEI, it will be printed on the phone box when you get it. YOu will give this ID number to the person selling the unlock service on ebay and they will email you back a different code. When you put a sim not on Tesco mobile network into your phone it will ask you for this 'unlock code', you type it in and then the phone can work with any sim
4) Sounds very sensible. DW and I have one main gmail account which we share and it means suff gets very messy as we both use it for our android phones and on all the tablets etc round the house.

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

I have got these two urls saved in my notes, to check for tariffs etc .... but I might be out of my depth even loading the sites:

http://billmonitor.com/
http://mobilife.com/

I think the tariff conversation is too complicated to have as there are too many variables - hence my suggestion of the £20 one off fee tariff that gives you some calls, texts and data every month for ever - if it turns out not to be the right one after a few months then you have only spent 20 quid.

However this does of course depend on what signal is like where you live as although at home you will be able to use wifi for internet, mail etc you will presumably still want enough signal to make/receive calls and texts.

michaels

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'll need a cover for it too ... so will pop into the 99p shop once I've got the phone, so I can check for size before I buy it.

Should have multiquoted. I am pretty clumsy with my phones, often dropping it on to concrete but it seems to survive ok or be it with a few marks on the corners/edges. However I would recomend a 'screen protector' which is just a transparent film sheet which sits on the screen and means that only the plastic disposable film gets damaged when you put it in a pocket with your car keys. It may well come with one or two in the box.

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

3) You need to wait till you have the phone - every phone in the world has a unique identifying number called an IMEI, it will be printed on the phone box when you get it. YOu will give this ID number to the person selling the unlock service on ebay and they will email you back a different code. When you put a sim not on Tesco mobile network into your phone it will ask you for this 'unlock code', you type it in and then the phone can work with any sim

Right, I need to get this lot of malarkey in order .....
I am confused as to the precise order of things.
1[ Pick up phone, which will have a card in it. Do not use this.
2] Go home and go onto eaby, buy an unlock code.
3] Apply to current provider for code to keep my number

After that there's a whole raft of things I can't understand/put into order, and I can't even type the list of confusing bits. Here's one....

If I have a card in the phone, that I am probably not going to use, do I need to organise the data connection first, or do the unlock first?

If I am sitting at home holding the phone (never turned on) and the unlock code on my screen ...... how do I get from that point and through unlocking, choosing/getting the right service, getting my number changed over?