Cheapest Mobile Article Discussion

Catbells

In October I have to get new phone, contract and so on. I've been paying around £25 a month for 18 months on a very old Nokia phone as my upgrade one smashed on the granite floor and I wasn't insured.

My needs are mainly texts and internet. It looks as though I am overpaying at the moment as I keep getting texts from T Mobile saying things like - "Your remaining Flext allowance on 20/9 was £150, to use until your next bill". Have no idea what Flext is but suspect its internet use which I cant access on my dinosaur phone. Any advice appreciated.

grumbler

Catbells wrote: »

...I cant access on my dinosaur phone. Any advice appreciated.

What advice?
Re Flext see
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/sim-only/
http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=PRICE_PLANS1

Re the new handset I don't think that you posted any information for asking an advice on it.
"texts and internet" is far too vague information for giving any advice on a a tariff either. You can get 125minutes, unlimited texts and 500Mb on 1x£7 sim-only contract with Virgin. Combine it with a £100ish sim-free smartphone and it will cost you just about 18x£12.

Huawei G300 is a very good value for money and is very popular ATM.

Don't forget that you have to give 1-month notice to cancel/change your current contract.

blackburn_w

talk mobile have a deal a samsung galaxy ace for free £7.50 a month 250 mins 5000 texts and 500mb data, it runs on vodaphone, my wife got one yesterday and im thinking off getting one and dropping my 02 tariff by £10 and canceling in dec, as my phone is broken.

Catbells

grumbler wrote: »

What advice?
Re Flext see
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/sim-only/
http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=PRICE_PLANS1

Re the new handset I don't think that you posted any information for asking an advice on it.
"texts and internet" is far too vague information for giving any advice on a a tariff either. You can get 125minutes, unlimited texts and 500Mb on 1x£7 sim-only contract with Virgin. Combine it with a £100ish sim-free smartphone and it will cost you just about 18x£12.

Huawei G300 is a very good value for money and is very popular ATM.

Don't forget that you have to give 1-month notice to cancel/change your current contract.

Thanks. Firstly the handset. I am not handset savvy. The handset I currently use is very old. Just want something I can access the internet on which I currently can't.

"Texts and Internet" means I only use my phone for texting and would like to access internet - I don't use my phone for making a lot of calls. But I'm not sure what a lot means. Its all comparative I guess. Probably not more than two/three a day.

The Virgin Package sounds good but I dont want a high up front payment. Is a sim-only deal the same as PAYG deal?

You say combine it with a sim-free smartphone... How do I do that? Two separate deals? Sorry I told you I wasn't very savvy on this.

grumbler

Catbells wrote: »

...
The Virgin Package sounds good but I dont want a high up front payment. Is a sim-only deal the same as PAYG deal?

It's a contract that you can cancel at any time by giving a 30 days notice. For the fixed monthly charge (usually by a DD) you are getting the fixed monthly allowance and pay extra only if you go out of the allowances.

You say combine it with a sim-free smartphone... How do I do that? Two separate deals? Sorry I told you I wasn't very savvy on this.

You just buy a sim-free or a PAYG phone and use it with the above sim-only contract. If the phone is PAYG it has to be unlocked or locked to the same network.
The above mentioned G300 is usually PAYG locked to Vodafone, but is easy and free to unlock. Search the board for 'g300'.

24x£7.50 contracts with a smartphone are a good value to, but the phones are more basic than G300 and it's 24 months. CPW and Talkmobile have such deals.

Catbells

grumbler wrote: »

What advice?
Re Flext see
http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/sim-only/
http://support.t-mobile.co.uk/help-and-support/index?page=home&cat=PRICE_PLANS1

Combine it with a £100ish sim-free smartphone and it will cost you just about 18x£12.

Huawei G300 is a very good value for money and is very popular ATM.

Again many thanks. Can you explain what a Smartphone is? Also what is the difference between a Smartphone and an Android phone (and for that matter my current Nokia phone which I dont believe is either Smart or Android)?

The £100ish ball park you give for the sim free smartphone - is this brand new or second hand?

grumbler

Smartphone is a phone-size computer with a good screen, capable of making/receiving calls and doing everything that basic phones do. There are four main platforms running different operating systems: iOS (iPhones), Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry. Nokia smartphones used to have their own OS (Symbian?), but new Nokias run Windows mobile.

G300 is believed to be ATM the best value for money Android. Yes, it costs new about £100, but you can get it cheaper with some efforts.

HugoRune_2

Hi, first off I am not knowledgable about mobiles/networks/contracts etc. in any way.

I have been on an o2 payg contract for ages, but I would like to go on to a monthly contract as I'm likely to be using my mobile a lot more in the future. I am not overly fussed about a new phone but will get one if it's a good deal. I do want to keep my current number and I will want to be using it for email/internet but not excessively.

Been looking at the links here which sound cheap, but after a while coming across things like PAC codes and other things I dont understand I find I have a headache (I dont even know if I currently have a smart phone or not - it's a HTC something or other).

Can anyone recommend in very simple terms what I need to do to get a low cost monthly contract with my existing number with the least hassle possible?

I have a quidco account btw.

Thanks

grumbler

HugoRune wrote: »

I have been on an o2 payg contract for ages,

PAYG is an antonym of contract.

Been looking at the links here which sound cheap, but after a while coming across things like PAC codes and other things I dont understand I find I have a headache

PAC [STRIKE]code [/STRIKE]= Porting Authorisation Code [STRIKE]code[/STRIKE] - you use it to port your number to another network should you decide to change networks.

(I dont even know if I currently have a smart phone or not - it's a HTC something or other).

Now HTC make only smartphones. Don't know about ages ago, but smartphones have changed dramatically after iPhone was launched in 2008(?).

You have to chose between a contract with a phone and a sim-only contract with a sim-free phone. The former will tie you in for 18-24 months. The latter will be more flexible, but will require a bigger upfront payment and will possibly cost a little more in total.

What are your airtime requirements in terms of minutes+texts?
What's the budget in terms of either a total cost over 18-24 months or upfront payment + monthly cost?

Very decent smartphones cost about £80-£150.
Good sim-only contracts are available for £7-£12 p.m.

For an examples of contracts with basic smartphones see 24x£7.50 contracts at http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/pay-monthly/deal-finder?&filterAvail=MONTHLY&filterFeatures=SMARTPHONE_SYMBIAN

mazza111

Just called virgin to end one of my contracts with them, they enticed me to stay with.

Blackberry Curve 9320, Phone insurance for 2 years usually costs £7.99/month, unlimited same network txts and calls, 200 mins, 500 texts ,bb email and msger for a massive £8/month :T

Was seriously going to leave them this time, but ideal for my 16 yr old son, who's now had his bb for close on 2 years. He rarely calls or texts, just really uses the bb messenger. His old bb has had more housing replaced due to his clumsiness :rotfl: