New Phone/Contract - Range of options, advice needed please

Nurselayer

Hi MSE'rs

Until last weekend I was using a Huawei Y300 phone that pretty much did everything I needed. Unfortunately I managed to mislay it and so rang T-Mobile to have the phone blocked. Whilst I was chatting to them I discovered that my phone bill had increased significantly.

Until May 2013 I was paying £7.16 pm for 600 minutes, 500 texts and Unlimited Data. The following month it went up to £22.85 pm for the same and I've been paying that ever since.

My average use is 185 minutes, 262 texts and 300 mb data per month. I mainly use my phone for: making calls, texts, checking email, facebook, making videos, listening to stuff I've downloaded, taking photos, maps, some other apps. I don't do much gaming nor do I watch many movies, unless it's stuff I've recorded myself. I am self employed and my phone use is approx 50% business/50% personal.

I was pretty upset that T-mobile hadn't told me that my contract had ended and they'd put the charges up but they refused to even look at giving me any sort of a refund, saying “You should have known your contract was at an end in May 2013”. What they did offer me was the following:

Sim only 12 month contract, 500 mins, unlimited texts, 1gb data - £11.99pm
Or
24 month contract, 250 mins, unlimited texts, unlimited data, with a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini - £16.99pm

I went to Carphone Warehouse in Westfield Stratford and the girl I dealt with there was pretty useless, all she could offer that was comparable was:

24 month contract, 300 mins, unlimited texts, 300mb data, with a Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini - £15pm

Phones4U were much more helpful. The guy I dealt with there, Levi, suggested the following:

T-mobile sim only 12 month contract 250 mins, 500 texts, 500 mb - £8.99 pm
or
Orange 24 month contract 500mins, 3000 texts, 250mb with a Samsung Fame Galaxy and £113.76 instant cashback - £11.99pm
Or
Orange 24 month contract 500mins, 3000 texts, 250mb with a Motorola Moto G 16gb phone (paying an extra £100 for the handset) - £11.99pm

At EE the guy suggested that I should go onto 4g. He suggest that I buy either a Alcatel One Touch for £120 or wait until the EE Kestral phone comes out and buy that for £100.
He thought I should go for their business plan
Sim only 30 Day Contract, 500 mins, 500 texts, 500 mb - £12 pm

Finally I also used BillMonitor that I found through this site. It suggested that I go for:

Tesco Pay Monthly 24 month contract 250 mins, 5000 texts, 500mb with a LG Optimus L3 2Black phone - £7.50pm
Or
Tesco Pay Monthly 24 month contract 500 mins, 5000 texts, 500mb with a Motorola G 16gb phone - £12.50pm

As you might imagine, by now my head is spinning. Would the Galaxy Fame do what I need? Should I take that and pocket the £113? Or should I sell it on ebay, put that money with the £113 and buy a different handset? Should I take the LG Optimus for only £7.50pm? What's Tesco's coverage like? Is 4G the way forward and should I wait for the Kestrel to be released? Is the Motorola G phone worth paying the extra for and will 16gb be enough memory for what I need? Have I got it all wrong and should I be looking at something else entirely? Your advice and experience is much appreciated.

martin.cat

All depends what value you put on a new phone

The tesco deal provides a decent low end phone which is rated above its competitors so seems a good deal especially since they allow you to cap data and avoid costly out of allowance

If you buy an handset outright it does allow you greater flexibility

Three have sim only from £6.90 with 500mb but that doesn't allow tethering they do allow you to increase to 1gb for £3. Extra and £5 buys 1gb personal hotspot tethering. 4g is included as the network reaches you

Giffgaff is also worth a look 1gb sim is £10 a month and they do allow you to buy phones either out right or monthly. A s4 mini is less than £10 which is good fo a 4 g ready phone. There are also cheaper ones too

keith1950

Hi, Tesco use the O2 network so the coverage is usually very good.

Have a look at the reviews of the Moto G , it is a better phone than the price suggests.

4G is overrated at present....coverage isn't always good even if it is available in your area at all.

With 3 I can get UP to 22mb on 3G but their coverage can be patchy in places....I know someone on EE who only manages 10mb on 4G.

Of the phones you list the Moto G is the better all round choice at the price.

Nebulous2

I'd go for the Moto G at Tesco. My wife has one and it has been very competent. I use a y300 and quite like it, but the moto g would be a noticeable upgrade. L3 is pretty low end as is galaxy fame.

It has to be up to you though. 16gb is okay for me, I have about 7gb of music but don't really store anything else, some people could struggle with the lack of an sd card slot in moto G.

Nurselayer

Thanks for the help so far folks. Whichever phone I get doesn't need to be flash, it just needs to be competent at the things that I use it for.


I'm not 100% sure what tethering is, but if it's what I think it is (using my mobile as a modem for my laptop) then it's not something that I'd really do.


I'd rather not use Three - had a very bad experience with them some years ago.


I'm going to ring T-Mobile this afternoon and ask for my PAC code. Hopefully they'll offer me something better. Keep the recommendations coming though, they are appreciated.

Herongull

Why not go for Tesco Pay Monthly 24 month contract 250 mins, 5000 texts, 500mb with a LG Optimus L3 2Black phone - £7.50pm.

There is no point in paying for extra minutes, texts or data that you are not going to use.

Use the LG Optimus as a temporary phone - perhaps it is enough for your needs? Or perhaps you will find your other phone again?

But if in a few months time, you decide you need a better phone you can just buy one outright and put the Tesco sim into it and use the LG as a backup phone or give it to a friend or relative or sell it.

The Moto G is a better phone but it will cost you £120 extra over the 12 month period if you go for the Tesco 24 month contract. At present you can buy the Moto G 16Gb for £139 at Tesco, but in a few months time it will be cheaper or there will be another good deal on another great phone. Phones keep getting cheaper all the time or the spec gets better for a given price.