Contract mobile phone with internet access

SammySue

Firstly can I say Merry Christmas to everyone on this site! It's my favourite site but then I guess that it is lots of peoples.

Anyway, I would appreciate any help with this problem.

I currently have a PAYG mobile phone with Orange and spend around £15 a month on it. (Due to a troublesome teenage son)!

I would like a contract phone whereby I can access and reply to my email on both googlemail and Microsoft Office Live. The reason for this is that I have 2 holiday rental properties and would like to respond to any queries when I am away from home. This would be in the UK mainly, although accessing it from Spain would be a bonus.

I have investigated quite a lot and it seems that a 3-mobile phone contract is the one to go for, on their X-series with an add-on. The trouble is, everytime I talk to one of their advisors (and I seem to have spent many hours on this), they always give me conflicting advice as to what add on I need.

They don't support MS Office Live on their phones but I could always forward my emails to MS Hotmail. I could also forward my googlemail onto MS Office Live and consequently onto MS Hotmail. ( I am sorry if this is as clear as mud)! I'm not sure if this helps, as I am not familar with MS Hotmail.

I would welcome any advice on this at all. As you can see, I am a deeply confused person!!!

Alec_Eiffel_2

You can access Googlemail through Opera Mini or through their Java app, both of which are free to download. Hotmail is accessable through Opera Mini, not sure about Live.

Cheapest/best packages are on 3 and T-Mobile.

SammySue

:T Thanks Alec!!!

That really helps, I didn't know that there was a mini version of Opera.

Do you have any idea what add-on I would need if I went with 3 and I use the mini-Opera to access my googlemail? Sorry, I know you have helped already but I keep getting different answers from their support staff.


Also, does anyone know if MS Hotmail would be suitable for forwarding my emails to from MS Office live?

Many thanks!

Alec_Eiffel_2

My GF has the bog-standard £5 per monh for 1GB add-on. Her 3 handset (a SE K770i) comes with a Google search application (looks just like Google does through Opera Mini) pre-loaded on the handset and she can access Googlemail using that (and I assume Hotmail would work also but don't quote me!!). She has never been charged over the £5 per month.

MORPH3US

Probably me being stupid, but I consider myself very IT litterate, but have never heard of MS Office Live... can you explain what it is please?

I know a friend of mine has the iPhone which has full internet access which is very good... for about £30 per month, she gets loads of minutes and texts plus unlimited internet (although the phone is £260 to start unfortunately).

Whatever you go for, i think you'll find accessing internet abroad on your phone extortionate!

I have an O2 XDA Orbit (pda, phone, sat nav etc) in one... again not cheap, but it does have Wi-fi so when abroad you could use that to access e-mail (as long as there is a hotspot) and in airport lounges etc...

M

Alec_Eiffel_2

MORPH3US, good point ref accessing it from abroad, I missed that. Though 3 do some sort of roaming deal if the country you are in also has a 3 network, this may cover data too but is another thing for the OP to look at!!

However I disagree with the info ref the iPhone, O2s cheapest tariff is £35 per month for 200 mins and 200 texts (not loads - though that is down to definition!) which is why I'd never go for one, even the highest tariff only give 500 texts per month. You're spot on about the data/net features though.

MORPH3US

Apologies, it may well be 200 + 200 for £35, it was only a quick convo with colleague when she was telling me about the deal... she def said it wasd free unlimited (probably acceptable usage policy) internet though which was the main thing the OP stated they needed plus it has Wi-Fi...

SammySue

Sorry for taking so long to get back and many thanks for all your replies!

MS OfficeLive is a free website builder with free hosting! Excellent for a novice like me.



Using my phone abroad would be an ideal luxury and wishful thinking. My mobile phone usage is quite low but I really do need this facility for accessing my emails for enquiries about the holiday rental places that I have.

It's good to know Alec that your girlfriend can access her gmail. Can she reply to it too? I will really need to do this.

Morph3us, in my dreams I would love an iPhone but it really is above my monthly budget. I dream about Blackberrys too!

Alec_Eiffel_2

SammySue wrote: »

Sorry for taking so long to get back and many thanks for all your replies!

MS OfficeLive is a free website builder with free hosting! Excellent for a novice like me.



Using my phone abroad would be an ideal luxury and wishful thinking. My mobile phone usage is quite low but I really do need this facility for accessing my emails for enquiries about the holiday rental places that I have.

It's good to know Alec that your girlfriend can access her gmail. Can she reply to it too? I will really need to do this.

Morph3us, in my dreams I would love an iPhone but it really is above my monthly budget. I dream about Blackberrys too!

Yes she can reply by logging into her googlemail on google's mobile web page. It's at www.google.co.uk/xhtml (you can get a good look at what it looks like on the handset - I access it through Opera Mini, but some 3 handsets come with it as a sort of preloaded link in the applications). You can also download a Googlemail Java application but I'm not sure how 3 would like it being used.

SammySue

That's excellent news Alec. Many thanks ! :T

Now I just to find a way of accessing my MS Office Mail and replying to it. MS will only let me forward the mail to another type of MS Mail such as hotmail. But I'm really unsure about how suitable this would be.

Alec_Eiffel_2

No problem. Perhaps a trip to the store might provide some more firm details than they're giving you over the phone. Good luck!