42 and never had a mobile phone - help please!!!

bexsta-star

Being one of the very few people in the western hemisphere who does not possess a mobile phone I have eventually decided to take the plunge and purchase said item. Looked on the site for info and basically HELP can anyone just give me a bit of plain old advise. This is what I want - something with a camera to photograph kids, probably PAYG but not adverse to contract. Have no phone already so free phone with a contract may be a good idea. Some games as get addicted to silly such things. Will only be texting teenager/hubbie/ mother/ and occassionaly friends - can't see me having the time to report "am getting in car/off bus/watching tv" etc. Phone will be more for emergancies/ weekends away rather than general chit chat (probably light to medium use). Also would like something stylish but not to flash (teenage daughter will borrow it otherwise and it will never be seen again). Battery life - I surpose the longer the better. Can't think of anything else although I do know that I start to go a bit lightheaded when reading about anything overly technical such as ipods and mp players so really fancy phones are a no no.

It is sale time so if anyone out there has spotted a bargain/anything interesting please please let me know. Thanking you all in advance.

Nile

Hello bexsta-star

I'll move your thread to the 'Mobile Phones' board.

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Regards

Nile

diamonds

emergency/ light to med usage you say ? best deal....

https://www.talkmobile.co.uk - sim only - £6 a month for 50mins/50 txts, first 2 months free, 500 free texts between other talkmobile customers ( so grab 2 ) they run off Vodafone so good coverage nationwidebut ask others round your area on Vodafone

grab any Vodafone/unlocked mobile pop talkmobile sim in & bobs your uncle

international calls are allowed from your mins aswell, aswell as ability to buy bundles of mins/texts etc for them months you know your usage will increase but your basic will be £6 a month



£6 a month on payg will not buy 50 cross network mins call time, payg txts on all networks will cost a minimum of 10p each so 50 texts will be £5.00

I'll go seek a cheapo Voda mobile for you, also check out Asda mobile instore as thier phones run off Vodafone too


great deal @ £60 http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5473584/Trail/C%24cip%3D1500006463.Office%2C%2BPC%2Band%2Bphones%3EC%24cip%3D1500006865.Clearance%2Boffice%2C%2BPC%2Band%2Bphones.htm

basic @ £25 http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5473560/Trail/C%24cip%3D1500006463.Office%2C%2BPC%2Band%2Bphones%3EC%24cip%3D1500006865.Clearance%2Boffice%2C%2BPC%2Band%2Bphones.htm

inbetween both £38 SE W200 on homepage http://www.asda-phones.co.uk/


for quality screen if like you said the games are important go for 1st one, also has bluetooth so sending games/pics/ringtones between handsets is poss, comes with 8 games preinstalled & free speakers

Horace

Virgin mobile are quite good - texts to other virgin fones are 3p. You can be PAYG or a kind of contract where you pay each month but you are not tied in. Plus you earn points/money which will give you a discount off a phone. I use a Samsung E250 - it has a camera, games, bluetooth, nice colour screen - additional stuff like radio but I dont use that. You can block text messages too which can be handy. Relatively easy to use (I am a technophobe and can manage it although I had difficulty opening it to put the sim card in and had to get a man with the knack to do it). Virgin also give away free sim cards with £5 credit on them.

Rakesh.Chauhan_2

40-2 year old mobile virgin

diamonds

Horace wrote: »

Virgin mobile are quite good - texts to other virgin fones are 3p. You can be PAYG or a kind of contract where you pay each month but you are not tied in. Plus you earn points/money which will give you a discount off a phone. I use a Samsung E250 - it has a camera, games, bluetooth, nice colour screen - additional stuff like radio but I dont use that. You can block text messages too which can be handy. Relatively easy to use (I am a technophobe and can manage it although I had difficulty opening it to put the sim card in and had to get a man with the knack to do it). Virgin also give away free sim cards with £5 credit on them.

the problem with Virgin & payg in general is the poor call texts rates for cross network calls, unless like 3 where £21 buys you 700 mins/texts but OP wants low-medium use

Virgins cross network calls are bloody expensive payg or payg monthly direct debit

bexsta-star

Thank you diamond for all your advise. Just to clarify - buy the £60 argos phone (looks good), sign up with the £6 talkmobile contract - they send me a sim card which I then just pop into the new phone and hey presto that is me sorted out. Is that it or do I have to do anything else (could ask stroppy teenager but she can be very patronising about such matters and you have been sooo helpful). thanks again.

pigeonpie

have a look at Tesco mobile too as their tariffs aren't at all bad (especially if you are going to call the same 3 nos as on their Standard tariff you get 3 fav nos for 10p a min and 5p a text) with no monthly minimum spend. I think you just have to make 1 call every 6 months or so to keep the number. If you are a Tesco shopper, you can get tesco card points for crediting your PAYG. Have a squiz at carphone warehouse's phones too as they are unlocked so if you aren't happy with one network, you can switch without all the hassles of unlocking a phone (although you will have to use up the credit sold with the handset). I find Sony Ericssons easy to use and the more basic models (or even the K750i which is a good phone; price has come down a lot) have nice, long battery life.
One thing: will you be using your mobile abroad? Some cheaper networks/tariffs don't offer that option (Asda? may have changed since they launched).

diamonds

here i might be a stroppy teenager aswell !!! LOL
yip thats all you need to do

^ talkmobile covers roaming pigeonpie

I would recommend talk mobile to anyone wanting to go to thier first contract as its flexible @ £6 a month and then adding extras if needed http://talkmobile.co.uk/home.php?section=1&page=4 25 minutes is
£4 & others upto 500 minutes for £30

its great if you need to call abroad from your mobile as mostly comes out your mins - 1 min for some 2 mins for others ( & sometimes 1 for a INT landline call & 2 for a INT mobile to same country - check http://talkmobile.co.uk/home.php?section=1&page=4 - well all the 07744 numbers are gone )

I have one as im in & out the country alot, £6 a month basic, roaming
( usually divert talkmobile to local sim out of mins - the local sim with cheapest UK/local call rate & call back or use Vodafone payg in passport countries & 3 in 3 sister countries ), INT calls & ability to up my calls/text usage month to month when im home

as well as 500 free txts to the wife - well them lists of things to do are never ending ! & now i get free reminders !! easier to read a text then an earbashing !!!

So im down to Orange for business 9-5 calls & a Orange Flexible Data* card, porting 3 number across to Orange business mobile asap ( in dispute with 3 on that a/c ), talkmobile for personal till 7.30 pm then divert to Vodafone payg - STC & free weekends & 500 free texts a month per £15 top up

Orange 21.50 Racoon 35 800mins, 3000 txts, 300 landlines, Nokia 6301 Unique
3 10.00 X-series Gold with 100 free MnM, Nokia 6120 - traded dad a 6288
talk 6.00 bargain sim only
orange* 0.00 £29.99 for 7.2MBPS data card - no minimum spend over 12 months!
Voda 15.00 top up

total 52.50 per month


oooohhhh to think I used to pay loadsamoney OUT ! I'm all the networks worst customer LOL

littleredcorvette

diamonds wrote: »

the problem with Virgin & payg in general is the poor call texts rates for cross network calls, unless like 3 where £21 buys you 700 mins/texts but OP wants low-medium use

Virgins cross network calls are bloody expensive payg or payg monthly direct debit

Not for much longer!
From 28 January 2008 their Daily Bonus Minutes PAYG tariff changes to:

Calls:
First 5 mins - 15p per minute
Mins 6-10 - FREE
Mins 11+ - 15p per minute
This applies to calls made to all mobile networks and landlines

Texts
First 5 texts - 3p (other Virgin mobiles) or 10p (all other networks)
6-10 texts - FREE
11+ - 3p (other Virgin mobiles) or 10p (all other networks)

Voicemail (in the UK) is still FREE all day.
Plus you can top up from £5.

You can get a free sim that has £5 on it and if you register on their website, you get an extra £2 credit.

BexTech

diamonds wrote: »

the problem with Virgin & payg in general is the poor call texts rates for cross network calls, unless like 3 where £21 buys you 700 mins/texts but OP wants low-medium use

Virgins cross network calls are bloody expensive payg or payg monthly direct debit

That was never a problem with us as we were all on Virgin, so had good rates.

However family have moved to Vodafone and using the Vodafone Family for free calls between users £5 or £7 per month for 4 or 6 people.

Saying that Virgin are changing their prices in a few weeks.

3p texts to all networks and cheaper rates xnet.