data allowance?

Grouchy

In a bit of a quandry. Need to buy a smartphone for the first time. Looks like I might have to go with o2 because it is the only network with half decent coverage where I am in the sticks. Problem is, what data allowance to go for? I've done some research but and filled out the usage calculators online but frankly find them not that helpful as I expect once I get one I will use it much more than my currnet payg.
o2 say 2gig should be plenty for me since I dont intend to watch telly/stream but ....it does seem like a 'how long is a piece of string' sort of thing.
Anyone got any experience/advice on this one on what they did?

Herongull

Buy the phone outright, then you don't need a contract. Choose a PAYG virtual operator on the O2 network and then you can try out different bundles until you find the right one with no risk of bill shock if you go over.

Have a look a Lyca - for £12 you get 500 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data plus free calls and texts to other Lyca numbers. If this turns out to far more than you need you can choose a cheaper bundle next month.

Far better than being tied into an expensive inflexible contract for either far more than you need or not enough each month.

With PAYG you can leave any time and you don't have to worry about huge bills £thousands if your phone is lost or stolen.

Frozen_up_north

Grouchy wrote: »

In a bit of a quandry. Need to buy a smartphone for the first time. Looks like I might have to go with o2 because it is the only network with half decent coverage where I am in the sticks. Problem is, what data allowance to go for?

You don't say where in the sticks you are... Check out Rootmetrics actual coverage (from real users) for data in your area from the four UK networks:
http://webcoveragemap.rootmetrics.com/uk

Actual data use can be surprisingly high, especially if you stream video from sources such as the BBC iPlayer and Youtube. 4GB, or more, per month is not uncommon.

Vodafone and O2 have much worse 3G data coverage than EE and Three in many areas around here (rural East Yorkshire), it's mostly painfully slow GPRS around 30 - 40 Kb/s as opposed to speeds up to 20 Mb/s on 3G, so be careful you don't paint yourself into a corner...

Grouchy

Thanks for the pointers. I didn't really think of payg as I thought it might be prohibitive and getting stung by large unexpected bills.
I will look into the buying the phone separpately (any recommendations?) and perhaps look at Pay as you go go go with o2 which looks reasonable and I think is month by month with no long term contract. Must say I find the network providers websides with their multitude of offerings very confusing, the EE one is unfathomable in its layout!

I checked that roometrics and where I live is a blank (no tests so far) LOL

thanks again.

grumbler

Grouchy wrote: »

I will look into the buying the phone separpately (any recommendations?)

Search the board for Moto G.

and perhaps look at Pay as you go go go with o2 which looks reasonable

More reasonable than Lyca or Giffgaff that use the same network?

BadBehaviour

Grouchy wrote: »

Thanks for the pointers. I didn't really think of payg as I thought it might be prohibitive and getting stung by large unexpected bills.
I will look into the buying the phone separpately (any recommendations?) and perhaps look at Pay as you go go go with o2 which looks reasonable and I think is month by month with no long term contract. Must say I find the network providers websides with their multitude of offerings very confusing, the EE one is unfathomable in its layout!

I checked that roometrics and where I live is a blank (no tests so far) LOL

thanks again.

With PAYG you don't get bills... the opposite really. You can't spend more than what you top up on the phone. Once that money is gone, you can't use the services until you top up again and you can't incur extra charges.

On PAYG you can buy bundles with a certain allowance of texts, minutes and data every month for a certain price and it will feel similiar to a contract, but without having to worry about going over your allowance and being stung with high charges. Also, you can go somwehere else whenever you feel like it.

There are providers like Tesco etc (mobile virtual network operators) which use O2 signal, therefore you can use them as well if you can only get good signal with O2.
MVNOs are usually cheaper than the network they piggy back on.

You seem to be looking at sim-only offerings (1 month rolling or 12-month contract)... PAYG is not a contract.