No idea about phones - please help

gwen80

Hi

I currently have a contract with vodafone although I'm currently out of contract if that makes sense. I pay monthly £10.70 for 100 minutes and 500 texts. I don't have a landline in the flat and I'm going over my minutes a lot, but I've bought credit on Skype and I'm going to try and use that more. I had a very basic phone and it now seems to have completely died this week. I'd like a smartphone, but I have no idea what they do/what I'd use or how much to spend on one. The other thing is I don't want to be tied into a contract so I was thinking of getting a Sim only thing and then buying the phone separately, but I have no idea which phone and to a lesser extent which Sim?

Thanks

Gwen

Humphrey10

Which phone?: depends how much you want to spend. £70 or £700? Also what do you want it for? Just to be a phone? Or do you think you will use lots of apps? Will you play games on it?
Which operator?: choose one that you know has good reception in the places you want to use it.
Which plan?: depends on how many minutes, texts, and how much data you want.

grumbler

gwen80 wrote: »

I currently have a contract with vodafone although I'm currently out of contract if that makes sense. I pay monthly £10.70 for 100 minutes and 500 texts. I don't have a landline in the flat and I'm going over my minutes a lot,

First of all stop paying this ridiculous amount (plus extra) for 100 minutes. If your phone is locked to Vodafone get Ovivo sim for £20 one-off (150 minutes free every month) or Talkmobile 1-month £7/£10 contract with 250/500 minutes.

If the phone is unlocked check other options (see sticky at the top of the board)

gwen80

Humphrey10 wrote: »

Which phone?: depends how much you want to spend. £70 or £700? Also what do you want it for? Just to be a phone? Or do you think you will use lots of apps? Will you play games on it?
Which operator?: choose one that you know has good reception in the places you want to use it.
Which plan?: depends on how many minutes, texts, and how much data you want.

This is the thing. I don't think I want to spend a fortune, but if it can do things that make life easier then it may be worth it.

Obviously I need to make calls and send texts. I'd like to be able to browse the internet - smart phones can do that, right? I've never had a smartphone so I'm not sure what they're capable of. I have no idea if I'll use lots of apps. I've never used an app, so I don't know. Same with games, I might play games, but I don't know what games there are so I don't know.

In terms of operator ideally I'll need one with good reception at home, at work and at my Mum's. Is there a website that can give you an idea of network coverage? I'll look into that.

In terms of minutes, I think I could do with about 300, if not more, but I've been using Skype a bit for calling particularly with getting massive bills as I've gone over my minutes. My last bill was about £55 :eek: That and the fact the phone has died means I need to sort this out now.

Thanks!

G

gwen80

grumbler wrote: »

First of all stop paying this ridiculous amount (plus extra) for 100 minutes. If your phone is locked to Vodafone get Ovivo sim for £20 one-off (150 minutes free every month) or Talkmobile 1-month £7/£10 contract with 250/500 minutes.

If the phone is unlocked check other options (see sticky at the top of the board)

I'm not sure if the phone is locked to vodafone, but it's died now so I need a new one anyway. I should have gotten an upgrade ages ago, but I don't want to now as I don't want to be locked in to vodafone again. Hence I'm looking at buying a phone (I want an unlocked one) and getting a SIM only deal.

I'm looking into Talk mobile's network coverage at the moment. Are they part of TalkTalk?

prowla

You should be able to get a new phone "free" (ie. calculated into the price) if you take out a new £10+/month contract (probably with a minimum lock-in of 24 months).

iPhones are the Rolls-Royce, but are accordingly overpriced, and the Samsung Android phones are much more reasonable and OK.

What's Android? At the moment there are 4 key groups of mobile phones: the iPhone which is proprietary and operates under Apple's IOS operating system (OS), Blackberry which run their own OS, Windows Phones such as Nokia's (which are awful and to be avoided), and a selection of manufacturers who run the Android OS.

prowla

Incidentally, if it is just a basic phone, many phones will happily use your old SIM as-is.

Most of the phone operators "lock" the phones they supply into their networks, but you can easily (ie. free or for not a lot of money) get them unlocked.

grumbler

gwen80 wrote: »

I'm looking into Talk mobile's network coverage at the moment. Are they part of TalkTalk?

They are owned by CPW and use Vodafone signal.

gwen80

prowla wrote: »

Incidentally, if it is just a basic phone, many phones will happily use your old SIM as-is.

Most of the phone operators "lock" the phones they supply into their networks, but you can easily (ie. free or for not a lot of money) get them unlocked.

Yes I know I could just get a new phone and stick my existing SIM in it, but the £55 bill I've just gotten means that I'm looking for better value if I can get it. Plus if I'm getting a smartphone I assume I'll need data?

How would you go about getting a phone unlocked?

gwen80

grumbler wrote: »

They are owned by CPW and use Vodafone signal.

What's the difference between 2G and 3G? Which would I need?

Thanks!

grumbler

Yes, for mobile internet you need a smartphone.
Unlocked new handsets are usually called 'sim-free'.
Normally only networks sell their phones locked. Third parties like CPW/osps/e2save/mobiles.co.uk and p4u/dial-a-phone sell mainly unlocked phones even on PAYG/contracts, not only sim-free.

2g is an old slow technology, no good for mobile internet. Modern phones normally have both 2g and 3g. The most expensive ones have 4g as well (with a very patchy availability ATM).