advice for newby onchanging network

treeze

Hi...I have always been with 3 since having a mobile about 6 years ago..yes,I know,I'm 54 and not mobile savvy at all so need some help:)I have a nokia phone and a contract which ends in August.My daughter's recently had a lot of problems with them involving phone calls for bills she doesn't owe and after promising it had been sorted,received another this week. Anyway,I was only with 3 because she and my other daughter were and now they're leaving I was wondering what other companies offer. I don't have a high-tech phone and use it mainly for texts,short phone calls and just to check my mail and facebook. I mainly use my laptop for internet. My current plan is essential internet 300,so I get 300 mins a month,5000 texts and 250mb data. My bill comes in roughly about £19 a month and I want to stick at around that. I don't need anything fancy..don't listen to music on it or download stuff. Anyone have a contract or know of a good deal with other networks? I'm pretty clueless about phones. Thanks

grumbler

How many minutes and texts do you actually need?
In fact, Three is possibly the best network for low users: Pay as you go - 3-2-1, but there are other options if you post more details.

Herongull

You can get a lot more than your current contract for around £10 per month on PAYG.

But perhaps you don't need that much?

Do want unlimited free calls and texts within network?

martin.cat

Firstly these days most plans have cross network minutes so you no longer need to be on the same network as your daughters
Do you want a new handset? If so you will most likely be tied in to a 24 month contract and to be fair £20 will get you a good mid range phone even the new HTC mini comes in around that
There are some good deals on sim only contracts (no phone) I myself pay £8 for 1000 minutes UL texts and 3GB data but was lucky enough to secure £8 discount so shop round
The key factor for me which you need to check is network coverage. Where I live I have no Vodafone signal and O2 is marginal I am now with T Mobile (EE) after previously being with 3
The change over is fairly straight forward. You will need to contact your provider and request a PAC code if you want to keep your number which I am sure you will. The code is valid for 30 days and at that point acts as your notice to leave. If you don't use it you stay connect and need to instead cancel the contract. If you use the PAC by giving to new network it normally takes a day or so to get up and running. You will pay your old provider for the full 30 days notice period so you may wish to use late on to avoid having and paying for 2 contracts.
Don't think customer service is any better elsewhere as that's now not provided by most call centres
Hope that helps

Herongull

There is still an advantage to being on the same network as your family as most PAYG virtual providers are free within network. If this was your main usage you could end up paying virtually nothing per month eg White Mobile

Cisco001

Do you need new phone?

£19 is too expensive for the allowance

treeze

Hi everyone,yes I would like a new phone,I'm not that fond of this one. I kind of need the number of minutes I have now,although I mainly text.I certainly don't want to pay for each text and worry about sending them. I usually use about 200 mins a month,mainly as my daughters usually ring me!

grumbler

treeze wrote: »

Hi everyone,yes I would like a new phone,I'm not that fond of this one. I kind of need the number of minutes I have now,although I mainly text.I certainly don't want to pay for each text and worry about sending them. I usually use about 200 mins a month,mainly as my daughters usually ring me!

Then you have to say what exactly you want from the new phone.

Cheapest smartphones with 250m+5000t+500Mb cost just 24x£7.50 at Tesco Mobile:
http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/mobile-phones/samsung/galaxy%20young/tariff?deal=11351
http://shop.tescomobile.com/pay-monthly/mobile-phones/lg/l3%20ii/tariff?deal=11335

What were you paying £19 p.m. for that your aren't fond of?
Your daughter mainly calls you, but you still need 200 minutes?!

treeze

I need my minutes as I ring my elderly dad every day. I need my phone for texting,phoning and a small amount of internet..checking my mail,facebook and that's about it.I prefer a phone with a mixture of touch screen and keypad..that's why I chose my current phone out of the three or four to chose from.I want something quite simple. That's all I do except take a few photos.

martin.cat

If you upgrade phone just be aware that your will probably use more data. So make sure you know how to turn off set wifi only and monitor usage. Otherwise you may get stung by out of allowance charges

If you do get a smartphone it's likely to be an android though with your budget you could get an iPhone just about which some find easier to use. With android phones they basically they operate the same though manufacturers add to the basic operating system like HTC with their SENSE overlay. The difference with the phones is the spec. Storage processor camera etc. I find ram is where most cheap phones fail.

The moto g is probably the pick of budget phones and tesco do that and they operate a data cap which is useful to avoid unexpected bills to worth a look.

If you want something better have a look at the new HTC one mini 2
http://m.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/htc-one-m8-mini-1241518

grumbler

treeze wrote: »

...I prefer a phone with a mixture of touch screen and keypad..that's why I chose my current phone out of the three or four to chose from....

Just keep your old phone then as such phones are close to extinction.

You can try Samsung Chat for the same price and with the same allowances:


EDIT: the screen seems to me not touch-screen (I am not sure).

The only other new smartphones with keyboard I see are Blackberry Q5 and Q10 that are more expensive:
http://www.omio .com/phones/blackberry/q5/deals
http://www.omio .com/phones/blackberry/q10/deals

[IMG]http://assets1.!!!!!!!!!/images/phones/samsung/ch@t-s3350-black-x-large.jpg?1300027386[/IMG]