Moving to smartphone

peter021072

Most of what I need is based from PC and landline so I've managed with an old dumbphone PAYG Samsung as my mobile.  I only pay about £4/month landline calls mostly using an over-ride number to bypass BT landline, and my mobile is mainly used for PIN numbers!  However, more and more services require smartphones, so I was thinking of buying a cheap refurb smartphone and SIM. 

These look OK

Alcatel 1S 4G 32GB Smartphone Dual-Sim-Free 3GB RAM Unlocked Blue (No Accs) B+

Motorola Moto G62 5G 64GB Smartphone 4GB RAM Dual-SIM-Free Unlocked (No Accs) A

with this contract



Could you answer a few questions, sorry I have limited knowledge of smartphones!

Would I be able to use my old dumbphone PAYG sim in either of these phones?

Could I move my old mobile number using a PAC code?   It's an O2 number and buy PAYG minutes from them at present.  These use Vodaphone

km1500

yes you should be able to port from O2 to Vodafone without any problem 

regarding the sim - your current dumb phone does not use data of course and I assume you will need to use data in your smartphone so your old O2 sim may not be of any use.

I would keep the old O2 SIM in the old dumb phone and use it for calls or whatever and your new Vodafone SIM you should get a plan that is suitable for the smartphone and the usage you require

ballyblack

as regards mobile with 3gb/32GB is useless for memory

 At least 4gb/64GB or 128GB preferably

p00hsticks

peter021072 said:

Could I move my old mobile number using a PAC code?   It's an O2 number and buy PAYG minutes from them at present.  These use Vodaphone

Both me and my OH were also late coming to the smartphone game, although neither are very smartphone savvy - as you say, they are becoming more ubiquitous in their use for transaction approvals, parking etc.

 The one he has (bought SIM free) is a dual SIM one which allowed him to simply remove the SIM card from his old phone and put it into the new one, in addition to another one. He now has two phone numbers both of which will reach the same phone, with two separate PAYG set-ups with different companies.

Cisco001

I suggest looking for used/ refurb samsung A14/  A15. You got relatively long software support.

peter021072

km1500 said:

yes you should be able to port from O2 to Vodafone without any problem 

regarding the sim - your current dumb phone does not use data of course and I assume you will need to use data in your smartphone so your old O2 sim may not be of any use.

I would keep the old O2 SIM in the old dumb phone and use it for calls or whatever and your new Vodafone SIM you should get a plan that is suitable for the smartphone and the usage you require

Presumably the PAC transfer will have to be made after buying the SIM rather than during purchase?  Can both the original SIM and new SIM be on the same number. Having an expensive PAYG sim at 35p/min and another number to remember seems like an unnecessary complication. I really don't spend more than a few hours per month on the phone, although I might spend an additional hour a month on helplines which hopefully are included in the minutes or its useless.

Smartphones have up to now been unnecessary for me because I rarely use the phone or data when away from a fixed internet connection which would be covered under my own or someone else's landline contract. It's just that as more services require smartphones I'm almost compelled to use them.

savergrant

peter021072 said:

km1500 said:

yes you should be able to port from O2 to Vodafone without any problem 

regarding the sim - your current dumb phone does not use data of course and I assume you will need to use data in your smartphone so your old O2 sim may not be of any use.

I would keep the old O2 SIM in the old dumb phone and use it for calls or whatever and your new Vodafone SIM you should get a plan that is suitable for the smartphone and the usage you require

Presumably the PAC transfer will have to be made after buying the SIM rather than during purchase?  Can both the original SIM and new SIM be on the same number. Having an expensive PAYG sim at 35p/min and another number to remember seems like an unnecessary complication. I really don't spend more than a few hours per month on the phone, although I might spend an additional hour a month on helplines which hopefully are included in the minutes or its useless.

Smartphones have up to now been unnecessary for me because I rarely use the phone or data when away from a fixed internet connection which would be covered under my own or someone else's landline contract. It's just that as more services require smartphones I'm almost compelled to use them.

How long have you had your current sim and what do you pay/get?
You may be able to put it in your new phone, although some sims will not support 4g/5g and some very old (comparatively) sims will be too big (for several years sims have had push out sections to fit mini or nano sim slots.)
Your network can supply you a new sim (same number) if your existing sim is not compatible.
If you see a better offer you can take your number to a new provider, but it will take a couple of days to process. It is always safer to road test a new provider before moving your number as you may not receive as good a signal from a different network (or from a piggybacker).
Finally it is very difficult to gauge what you might need so steer clear of long contracts until you have a few months of usage to guide you.

PHK

Avoid that Alcatel like the plague, it’s slow and full of adverts. Of those 2 the G62 is the better bet. 

Yes you can transfer your number. 

Your old SIM might work depending on how old it is but you’d need to check your existing tariff is suitable for the new phone.